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THE 

WORLD'S RELIGIONS 



A Comprehensive Popular Account of all the Principal 
Religions of Civilised and Uncivilised Peoples; 



DESCRIBING 



their doctrines, rites, priesthoods, 
sacred books, and moral teachings, 



TOGETHER WITH 



LIVES OF their FOUNDERS, GREAT TEACHERS AND REFORMERS. 



.'<;«YOFc 






/ J G irBETTANY, M.A., B.Sc, 



Atithor of " The World's Inhabitants^'' etc. 



WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY 



THE REV. JOHN HALL, D.D., LL.D., 

Chancellor of the Vriversity of the City of New Vori, and Pastor of the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church. 



Copiouslg IIIustrHteb feU^ (i[«ll-pnge anb otjjer €ugraljings. 



NEW YORK : 

THE CHRISTIAN LITERATURE COMPANY. 

1891. 



•^3 



Copyright, 1891, by 
The Christian Literature Company. 



CONTENTS. 



Intkoductton V 

Preface • . . . . -xi 

Authorities Quoted • • . xiii 

BOOK I. 
EELTGI0N8 OF UNCIVILISED PEOPLES. 

CHAPTER 

I. Races wititout a Religion 23 

II. Religious Beliefs and Practices in Australasia, Polynesia, and 

Melanesia 25- 

III. Aboriginal Religions of Africa ^^ 

IV. Aboriginal Religions of America 61 

V. Aboriginal Religions of India and other Parts of Asia .... 83 



BOOK II. . 

RELIGIONS OF CHINA AND JAPAN. 

I. Life of Confucius 102 

II. The Chinese. Sacred Books 115 

III. The Chinese Modern State Religion, and Confucianism . . . 132 

IV. Lao-tze 144 

V. Development and Present Condition of Taoism 150 

VI. Shin-toism (Japan) 167 



BOOK III. 



BRAIIMANISM, BUDDHISM, 



I. The Early Vedic Religion 

II. The Brahmanism of the Codes 

III. Modern Hinduism. I. 

IV. Modern Hinduism. II. ... 
V. Life of Buddha 

VI. The Buddhist Doctrines, Order, and Sacred Books 

VII. Modern Buddhism. I. . . . 

VIII. Modern Buddfiism. II. . . . 

IX. Jainism 

X. Zoroaster and the Zend-Avesta 

XI. The Zoroastrian Books — Mithraism 

XII. Modern Parseeism .... 



AND PAUSEEISM. 



176 
196 
213 
231 
255 



274 
293 
313 
337 
343 
356 
365 



CONTENTS. 



BOOK IV. 
E UROPEA N AE YAJV BELIGI0N8. 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I. The Ancient Greek Religion : The Gods 871 

II. (iiiEEK Sacrifices, Priests, Temples and Festivals, and Morals . 387 

III. Socrates, Plato, and other Greek Philosophers . . . • . . 407 

IV. The Roman Religion 418 

V. The Religion op the Teutons (including Scandinavians) . . . 439 

VI. The Religion op the Slavonians 451 

VII. Celtic Religion • . 456 



EGYPTIAN AND SEMFPIC RELIGIONS. 



I. The Egyptian Religion . 

II. The Babylonian, Assyrian, and Phoenician Religions 

III. Life of Mahomet. Part I. . . . 

IV. Life of Mahomet. Part II. . 
V. The Koran and its Teachings 

VI. Modeijn Islam. Part I 

VII. Modern Islam. Part II 



Am 

468 
500 
515 
527 
539 
565 



BOOK VI. 

THE JEWISH RELIGION. 

I. Early History— Moses . ' 585 

II. The Jewish Religion : Legislation, Festivals, Morals .... 601 

III. The Jewish Priesthood and Temples ; the Psalms and Philosophical 

Wisdom 621 

IV. The Prophets of Israel 637 

V. Judaism after the Prophets 649 

VI. Modern Jewish Ritual— The Karaites and Samaritans .... 670 



BOOK VII 
THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 

I. The Founder of Christianity 687 

II. The New Testament 705 

in. The Apostolic Times 717 

IV. Christianity Persecuted : Second and Third Centuries .... 730 

V. Christianity as a State Church : Fourth Century ..... 755 

VI. The Church in the Fifth and Sixth Centuries 766 

VII. CflRISTIANITY TO THE SEPARATION BETWEEN EaST AND WeST (SEVENTH TO 

Tenth Centuries) 784 

VIIL The Eastern Church — Russian and Greek 797 

IX. The Roman Church in the Middle Ages 813 

X. Religious Persecutions and the Reformation 835 

XI. The Council of Trent and Modern Romanism . . . . . . 849 

XII. The Lutheran, Reformed, and Presbyterian Churches . . . 865 

,XIII. The Church op England and the Nonconformists . . „ . . 881 



INTRODUCTION. 



By rev. JOHN HALL, D.D., LL.D., 



AVENUE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 



THE influence of Paganism, in its various forms, upon struggling Chris- 
tianity as it made its way among the races of mankind has been 
noticed, of course, by thoughtful writers, but has not received the careful 
attention to which it is entitled. This is due, in part, to the little attention 
given to early Christian literature, and in still greater degree to the little 
exact knowledge in the average community regarding the religious beliefs 
and rites grouped under the general name of heathenism. But the New 
Testament does not ignore the manifestations of religious feeling among 
the nations. Paul, an educated man before he became an apostle, speaking 
to educated men — typical devotees of culture and philosophy at Athens — 
refers to men " feeling after God if haply they might find Him ;" but he 
pays no compliments to their enlightenment, for he describes their days as 
** times of ignorance;" and when he writes to churches partly Jewish, but 
mainly Gentile in their constituent elements, he does not hesitate to warn 
them against the " philosophy and vain deceit" which sometimes accepted 
Christianity in part and then added to it corrupting elements that made it 
" of none effect." These statements might easily be verified and illustrated 
from ecclesiastical history, and they lead to the conclusion that even in this 
nineteenth century the study of the religions of human devising may throw 
light on the holy oracles, and on the historical modifications of our divinely 
revealed religion. 

The notion is sometimes vaguely suggested and thoughtlessly accepted 
that the religion associated with the prophetic name of the Son of God, our 
Saviour, is one of the many forms into which the natural religious faculty 
of man has developed, higher and better, indeed, from many causes than 
others, but yet the same in kind as in origin. How the acceptance of this 
view as a proved truth would work ; how it would weaken the force of all 
appeals to the conscience based on Bible truth, it is easy to calculate. It 
is all the more plausible, because, like many popular errors, it contains some 
admitted truth. There is a religious element in man's nature. Explain 
it as men may, there is a sense of dependence upon and accountability 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



to some other higher Power. But Christianity is the completion of a di- 
vine, distinct revelation to us, not an outcome and product of natural man. 
That revelation began in the dispensations reported in the Old Testament, 
was completed when, in these last days, men were spoken to by the Son 
and His apostles, and is commended to men as divine by adequate and 
appropriate evidence. One of the ways in which the supernatural religion 
can be. vindicated as such is by the careful study of humanly devised sys- 
tems. " If these systems be the best that men, however gifted, can devise, 
then the Gospel of God predicted in the Old and unfolded in the New 
Testament must have an origin higher than the human." So a candid 
student of The World's Religions will feel and say. 

For, to return to the grain of truth in the generalization just referred 
to, men everywhere have some religious feeling more or less definitely ex- 
pressed. It is not always displayed, say to a Captain Cook touching, for 
a day or two, an island of savages. The men who come into contact with 
new and barbarous tribes are not always interested in religious matters, and 
their new acquaintances, with bows and arrows and defective dress, are 
generally thinking — not so much of their devotional, as of their material 
conditions ; not so much of the amount of religious light they can give the 
strangers, as of the attractive goods they can get from them. The writer 
once sat at a dinner-table where a British officer, who once served in India, 
but had long resided in London, was decrying the work of Christian mis- 
sionaries in the region of which he spoke authoritatively. He had been 
there, and it had not attracted his attention. The Christian auditors were 
a little discouraged and silent, when the question was put to him : '' By 
the way, do you know how the London City mission goes forward?" *' I 
never heard of it," was his frank reply. He had lived in London, was an 
Englishman, spoke the vernacular, but moved on a plane not much trav- 
ersed by the missionary. No more was said, but it was easy to see that 
his testimony as to missions in Bengal or Katiawar was not very intelligent. 
Everywhere the religious element exists, more or less plainly expressed. 
Our author, while giving place to the common impression (p. 25) that the 
Australian natives when discovered by Europeans '' had no worship, nor 
any idea of a Creator," yet furnishes details regarding their sorcerers, their 
theories of creation, their notions about ghosts, and the Tasmanian hope 
that in the future life they v/ould be happy hunters (p. 27), or go to the 
stars, or to an island where their ancestors were, and where they would be 
turned into white people. So races everywhere look to a world outside 
their own, and believe in a being or in beings — sometimes good and some- 
times malevolent — who must be conciliated or guarded against. Men some- 
times set aside natural laws by artificial means, and so individuals may, by 
intellectual opiates, deaden the religious element within them. But God 
has not left Himself without a witness. '' The heavens declare His glory 
and the firmament showeth His handywork." Nor is it only by His works 
without that a basis is laid for natural religion. '' Man was made in the 



IN TROD UCTION. 



image of God, and he reveals his parentage as unmistakably as any class of 
inferior animals reveal the source from whence they sprung." The outward 
and sensible signs of religion may be obscure, vague, secret, or, to a casual 
observer, even conspicuous by their absence ; but the religious intuition 
exists all over, and vindicates the inspired testimony. This truth is illus- 
trated in the volume which describes TJic World's Religions. 

In examining the various types of religious thought, one finds, as might 
be expected from the facts just mentioned, certain elements common to 
many of them, or, to make the idea more definite, finds points in them 
which are emphasised in the divine revelation. Explanations of these 
coincidences are sometimes at hand. Mohammed, e.g., was in close and fre- 
quent contact with Hebrews and Christians, and it is easy to see to what 
an extent both the style, the method, and the substance of his alleged 
rev^elation in the Koran have been shaped by our Scriptures. In other 
cases the materials of history are not available, but there is no difificulty in 
accounting for the coincidences. God hath made of one blood all nations 
of men. The race in its beginning had certain deeply seated convictions, 
modified by circumstances, and becoming more obscure and indefinite as 
the generations came and went, but, like physical features and common 
habits, retaining throughout some of the original characteristics. A tribe 
has its deity, and it forms an alliance with another tribe, which also had its 
object of worship. As the tribes coalesce their deities are retained, and so 
*' lords many and gods many " are perpetuated, while the radical ideas of 
dependence and the applications of the religious beliefs to the affairs of life 
will remain. A race with its local deities is vanquished and its territory 
taken by another. The new-comers, used to the notion of local deities, 
not unnaturally fall into the belief that now that they have come into this 
new region it is politic to stand well with the deities of the place, mountain 
or flood, and yet they will retain their conceptions of the divine, and of the 
course proper for them to pursue. So asceticism, monastic vows, temples, 
shrines, priests, offerings, and other expressions of devotion are common to 
religions widely different. The early Vedas had sacred fires, offerings of 
rice and clarified butter, which the offerer, after washing the feet of the 
priests, and giving them perfumes, invited them to eat, at once suggesting 
arrangements made in the Hebrew ritual. But the earliest date assigned to 
the Rig-Veda is 1200 B.C., and many bring it down to B.C. 800. Take which 
you will, and you have centuries intervening between its rise and the setting 
up of that Mosaic ritual which the Queen of Sheba had the curiosity to in- 
quire about and the opportunity to see ; and if her admiration was sincere, 
we can well understand her spreading it among the northern countries from 
India and Africa, whose people, with their gold and diamonds, incense and 
cassia, traded with the Sabaeans, and whose Bedouin population at a later 
time struck out and founded kingdoms on the Euphrates, and in the Hauran 
Mountains. (See Fr. W. Schultz on Arabia, in the Schaff-Herzog Encyc.) 
A comparison of the Latin Deus and the Devas, or ^' shining ones," of the 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



Vedas ; of the Zeus of Greece and the Jupiter of Rome, with the Dyansh- 
piter, or Heaven.father, of the Sanscrit, and other Hke sacred names, will 
show how not only Greek and Latin mythologies coincide, but that there 
was much in common between the European and Hindoo Aryans, whether 
they are demonstrably of one stock or not. The human race was one at 
the beginning, and the religious elements of the early history, though end- 
lessly modified in form as tribes and kindred spread, divided, and sometimes 
came together again, are perpetuated in essential features and root prin- 
ciples. There is something suggestive of even later forms of worship than 
the Greek and Roman in the invocations and ^' adoration of the beneficent 
Father and that mighty inherent power of the Mother " (p. 179). On one 
other line of interesting inquiry the reader will be aided by the study of 
The World's Religions. Did the religious systems develop and rise in 
amount of truth as man rose from animal savagism ? or did they lose 
their simplicity, become varied, complicated, mixed, and the reverse of ele- 
vating, as man has gone down ? In other words, did God make man upright^ 
man sinning and wandering and seeking out many inventions, or did man 
come into existence as a human animal in a condition of untrained barba- 
rism, and did he gradually work himself up religiously and otherwise, as the 
generations proceeded ? The evolution theory as frequently, though not 
always accurately expounded, raises questions like these. The study of 
man on the religious side of his nature furnishes aids to a definite opinion. 

Turning in another direction, as one looks at the latter part of The World's 
Religions as a book, one must expect some good to come from its careful 
perusal. Our country is new. We have been making, rather than reading 
history. George Washington's hatchet typifies the point to which some 
have gone back, and have gone no farther. We are a busy people, and the 
present gives many of us as much to do as we can accomplish. Various 
considerations, including our differences of opinion about religious things^ 
have kept history, even civil history, from a prominent place in our com- 
mon schools. It is not wonderful, then, that Church History is confined as 
a study to seminaries, and religious teachers. Now our author has aimed^ 
as he tells us, at reporting facts without pronouncing opinions ; but it will 
be a gain to get the facts into the minds of many of our people. Human 
conditions and '' environments " change, but human nature does not. Moral 
principles are the same in this century as in the nineteenth before Christy 
and He who controls the universe is '' without variableness or shadow of 
turning." There is, in a true sense, nothing new under the sun. Hence 
the positive gain of seeing how principles have worked themselves out and 
how men have been affected by their operation in the ages that are gone. 
The study cannot fail to throw light on the present, on duty, privilege, and 
prospects. The history of churches touches man on the deepest side of his 
life, and unfolds the working of the strongest force in the shaping of society. 
The examination, therefore, of the religious life of European and other na- 
tions, and the comparison of moral, and even civil and social conditions 



IN TROD UCTION. 



since the Reformation, as here presented, of course with necessary concise- 
ness, will be profitable in a high degree to the average American reader. 

But there are other, and in a sense, more tender and even practical in- 
fluences under which one may come in the reading of this book, and a rapid 
statement of these will fittingly close this paper. 

The common elements in men's religious systems, a deity or deities 
outside ourselves, dependence thereon, and accountability thereto — these 
remind us that the race is one. Then we have a basis for wide humanity of 
feeling. Then clime or color, station or speech, must not limit our sympathy 
or our regard. Let there be ignorance anywhere ; we must try to banish 
it. Let there be misery anywhere ; we must seek to lighten it. Let there 
be good anywhere ; we must rejoice over it. Let there be opportunity to 
do good anywhere ; then we must try to do it. To us as human beings 
there is to be neither Jew nor Greek, barbarian nor Scythian, bond nor free. 
As in God's new-creating grace all are made one in Christ when they trust 
Him, so in His original natural creation all are one. 

But not only will sympathy with our brother-man be developed, but on 
the way to make it practical and useful some light will be cast. It is not 
enough that we pity, and would fain help. How to do it is a practical 
point. The physician has to make the diagnosis before he decides on the 
remedies. We must understand the moral condition of our fellow-men and 
their formative beliefs before we can hope to do them enduring good. Now 
the churches throughout Christendom are moving in the direction of spread- 
ing Christianity. To think and feel intelligently, they must understand, in 
some degree, the mental and moral state, the convictions and the emotions 
of their fellow-men. This fact is well appreciated by the zealous pro- 
ducers and disseminators of our religious and missionary literature^ Never 
was the religion of the Cross so aggressive on a large scale as at this time. 
What a gain it will be when they who bear the name of the Great Divine 
Teacher have not only a general idea of the superiority of their faith, but 
when they can tell the reason for their convictions, and assign cause for self- 
denying effort to enlighten those who are yet without its light ! What a 
quickening of interest in certain forms of disease the announcement of Dr. 
Koch's specific has produced ! How eagerly it is scrutinised, and how 
anxiously will it be tested by actual sufferers ! Is the religion of the Cross 
the best remedy for the world's evils ? Then let us understand them, pity 
the victims, and intelligently seek the world-wide application of the remedy. 

For how easy it is to see that men and women may go to the believers 
in Confucius or to the followers of Mohammed, full of zeal and earnestness, 
but if they betray ignorance of the beliefs they would fain supplant by 
Christian truth, they will not only be disliked, but despised. " He teach us 
a good religion better than ours ! Why, he does not know what ours is !" 
How natural would such a criticism be where the well-meaning toiler has 
never learned the nature of the errors he would dispel ! 

And finally, the eyes of many are on the hundreds and thousands of 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



men and won^en, of teachers and physicians, who are facing the masses of 
heathenism ; and in some instances, perhaps, there is an expectation that is 
not quite satisfied with the results. Let such anxious ones make themselves 
acquainted with the deeply rooted, long-continued, widely spread systems 
against which the Christian laborer has to work, and there will be sympathy 
with the worker ; there will be a deep sense of dependence on divine aid ; 
and there will be the earnest prayer that the life-giving Spirit may be with 
the laborer, breathing on the dead that they may live. 



PREFACE. 



THE aim of this work is to give an account of the principal reHgions 
or rcHgious systems of mankind, past and present. Historic fact 
is followed as far as it can be ascertained, and theorising has little place. 
The author's endeavour has been to state simply and impartially what is the 
faith professed by various peoples or associations, what are the objects of 
their worship, what are their practices, their ceremonies, their institutions. 
Where they have religious books, some account of them is given, together 
with the history of and main doctrines taught by their principal founders. 

It has seemed unnecessary to discuss the various opinions held as to 
the origin of religion ; whether it arose from a divinely implanted instinct 
given to all mankind, or from distinct verbal revelation to particular men, 
or from the worship of natural forces felt to be superior to man, or from 
the honour paid to chiefs and ancestors, and the propitiation of their ghosts 
as seen in dreams. It has been the author's desire to produce a work 
useful and interesting to persons of all shades of opinion, and one tending 
to make them better acquainted with each other. A disposition to recog- 
nise the human nature in all man's ways and thoughts — a human nature 
capable of error, yet having good impulses — a human nature which, in the 
main, progresses, in spite of all drawbacks — a human nature which in many 
ways has sought, has prayed to, has. worshipped the Power which created 
and maintains the universe — a disposition toward toleration will, it is be- 
lieved, be found pervading these pages. The intention has been to give 
such an account of various religions as their own adherents can acquiesce 
in, and their critics allow to be just ; a difficult task, confessedly ; but im- 
perfection in the attainment of such an aim is better than a distinctively 
partial or prejudiced account. The author believes that others have an 
equal right with ourselves to respect and fair treatment as to their religious 
opinions, and that we may be as blameworthy or faulty in our conceptions 
of others as they in their conceptions of us. He promises what Keshub 
Chunder Sen, the founder of the Brahmo Somaj, declared as principles of 
his Church : " No created being or object that has been worshipped by any 
sect shall be ridiculed ; no book which has been acknowledged by any sect 
to be infallible shall be ridiculed or contemned ; no sect shall be vilified, 
ridiculed, or hated." On the contrary, the study of religions is here taken 
up with a sympathetic interest in all. With Max Muller,* " if wc will but 

* Introduction to the Science of Religion, 1882, p. 14. 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



listen attentively, we can hear in all religions a groaning of the spirit, a 
struggle to conceive the inconceivable, to utter the unutterable, a longing 
after the Infinite, a love of God." And if in many cases the struggle takes 
strange forms and grotesque attitudes, and the religion enforces absurd 
beliefs and superstitious observances, we are compelled to own that man is 
as much characterised by his proneness to religion as by his being a tool- 
using or a reasoning creature. 

If a man is a reasoning creature, it is certainly to be expected that he 
should bring his reason to bear upon his religion ; and St. Paul recognised 
this, and asked for a ''service of the reason" (Rom. xii. i). The use of the 
reason in studying religion, its doctrines', its observances, its benefits, or its 
variations in different ages, is not to be given up or blamed because the 
name " Rationalism" has been attached to it. To seek to explain, to 
understand, is a necessary condition of the growth of that which can under- 
stand. 

Much use has been made of the invaluable " Sacred Books of the East," 
and the learned introductions prefixed to them. Many other works which 
have been consulted are mentioned throughout the book. Some of these 
have been named simply as the most generally accessible, but by no means 
as the only or the chief authorities on the subject. Many other books have 
been consulted ; but it has been thought undesirable to overload the text 
with references. In several departments living specialists have been re- 
ferred to ; and the author desires to acknowledge their valuable aid, while 
he refrains from naming those to whom he is under obligation, from a de- 
sire not to identify them with any opinions or representations in which they 
may not concur, or for which the author ought to be solely responsible. 

The history of Christianity has been sketched more fully than that of 
the other religions, partly because Christianity, as now understood, has very 
largely resulted from a long process of development ; and partly because 
the various branches into which it is now divided can be best understood 
by studying each in relation to the period when it originated. At best 
such a sketch can be but imperfect, and many things have been necessarily 
omitted which would throw much light on difficulties and obscurities. 

The author's personal opinions have been obtruded as little as possible, 
impartiality and fairness being aimed at. No doctrine is sought to be en- 
forced, no creed to be dictated. Every reader is left to draw his or her 
own conclusions. But it is hoped that in return the author may not have 
imputed to him any beliefs or opinions which, he does not clearly avow. 

G. T. B. 

DuLWiCH, November lo, 1890. 



The List of Authorities Quoted in this Volume. 



Titles Filled Out and Classified 

BY 

Rev. Samuel Macauley Jackson, M.A. 

Editor of The Concise Dictionary of Religious Knowledge. 



The place of publication is in all cases London where not otherwise stated. 



I. ON THE SUBJECT IN GENERAL. 

Darwin, C. : " Descent of Man," 1871, 2 vols. (17th 1000, 1883). 

Frazer, J. G. : " On Certain Burial Customs as Illustrations of the Primitive Theory of 
the Soul." 
"Totemism," 1887. 
Lubbock, Sir J. : " Prehistoric Times," 4th ed. 1878. 

" Orig-in of Civilization," 1874. 
JMuLLER, Max : " Science of Religion," 1873. 

" " Comparative Mj'-thology," 1881, 2 vols. 
" " Edited "Sacred Books of the East" series, 1879 sqq. (taking in all the 

Oriental Nations in English translation). 
Robertson, J. M. : " Religious Systems of the World." 

TiELE, C. P. : " Outlines of the History of Religion," Eng. trans. 4th ed. 1888. • 
Tylor. E. B. : " Primitive Culture," 2d ed. 1873, 2 vols. 

Wallace, A.. R. : " Contributions to the Theory of Natural Selection/' 2d ed. 1871. 
TJie Journal of tlie Anthropological Institute. 

IL ON THE ISLANDS IN THE PACIFIC. 

CoDRiNGTOX, R. H. : " Religious Belief and Practices in Melanesia." 

Ellis, W. : "Tour through Hawaii," 1826. 

Erskine, J. E. : " Journal of a Cruise among the Islands of the Western Pacific, ' 1883. 

FiTZROY : '•' The Fijians." 

Gill, W. Wygatt : " Myths and Songs from the South Pacific," 1879. 

Low, Hugh : " Sarawak," 1848. 

Saint John, S. : " Life in the Forests of the Far East," 1862. 2 vols. 

Williams, John, and Calvert, George : " Fiji and the Fijians," 2d ed. 1860, 2 vols. 

III. ON SAVAGE AFRICA. 

Andersson, C. J. : ' Lake Xgami," 1856. 

Baker, Sir Samuel : " Albert Nyanza." 1866, 2 vols. 

Beecham, John : " Ashantee and the Gold Coast," 1841. 



THE LIST OF AUTHORITIES QUOTED. 



Burton, li. F. : " Two Trips to Gorilla Land," 1875, 2 vols, 

"A Mission to Gelele," n. e. 1864, 2 vols. 
Ellis, A. B. : " The Tslii-speaking Peoples of the Gold Coast of West Africa," 1887. 
Johnston, H. H. : " The Kilimanjaro Expedition," 1886. 
Galton, Era. : "Narrative of an Explorer in Tropical South Africa," 1853. 
Livingstone, David : " Travels and Researches in South Africa," 1861. 

" " "Expedition to the Zambesi," 1865. 

Skertchly, .1. A. : " Daliomey as it is," 1874. 

IV. ON THE INDIANS IN GENERAL. 

Bancroft, H. H. : "Native Races of the Pacific States," New York, 1875, sqq. 

Bates, H. W, : "Naturalist on the Amazon," 3d ed. 1873, 2 vols. 

Brett, W. H : " Indian Tribes of Guiana," 2d ed. 1868. 

Catlin, George : "Manners, etc., of American Indians," 1846, 2 vols. 

Charlevoix, P. P. X. de : "History and General Description of Nev/ France," Eng. 

trans. New York, 1866-72, 6 vols. 
Falkner, Thomas : "Patagonia," Hereford, 1774. 
Im Thurm, Everard : " Among the Indians of Guiana," 1883. 
Schoolcraft, H. R. : "Indian Tribes of the United States," Philadelphia, 1851-54, 5 vols, 

V. ON INDIA AND ADJACENT COUNTRIES. 

Alabaster, H. : "The Wheel of the Law," 1871. 

BosE : " The Hindus as they are," 2d ed. 1884. 

Butler, J. : "Travels and Adventures in Assam," 1855. 

Calcutta Remeic. ""s-- 

Chevers, N. : "Medical Jurisprudence for India," Calcutta, 1870. 

Fergusson, James : " History of Indian Architecture," 1876. 

Geiger, W. : " Civilization of the Eastern Iranians in Ancient Times," Eng. trans. 1885. 

Gill, W. : "River of Golden Sand," 1880, 2 vols. 

Hardy, Spence : " Eastern Monachism, 1850." 

" Manual of Buddhism," 1860. 
Harkness, H. : "A Description of a Singular Aboriginal Race Inhabiting the Summit of 

the Neilgherry Hills, South India," 1832. 
Hi&LOP, S. : "Aboriginal Tribes of the Central Provinces," Nagpore, 1866. 
Hunter, W. W. : Imperial Gazetteer of India, 2d ed. 1885, 5 vols. 
"' Annals of Rural Bengal," 5th ed. 1872. 
" " " Statistical Account of Bengal." 

Joarnal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. 

Karaka, Dosabhai Framji : " History of the Parsis," 1884, 2 vols. 
Metz : " Tribes Inhabiting the Neilgherry Hills." 
MiTRA, Lala : " Orissa," 1880. 
MuiR : " Original Sanskrit Texts," 1867-71, 5 vols. 
MuLLER, Max : " History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature," 1859. 

" " "Lectures on the Origin and Growth of Religion as Illustrated by the 

Religions of India," 1878. 
Oldenberg, H. : " Buddha," 'Eng. trans. 1882. 
Rhys, David : " Buddhism," 1878. 

" Hibbert Lectures," 1881. 
SiNNETT, A. P. "Esoteric Buddhism," j6th ed. 1888. 
Slater, T. E. : " Life of Keshub Chundra Sen," 1884. 
Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society. 

Ward, W. : "View of the History, Religion and Literature of the Hindus," 3d ed. 
1817-20, 4 vols. 



THE LIST OF AUTHORITIES QUOTED. 



WiLKixs, W. J. : " Hindu Mythology," 1882. 
"Modern Hinduism," 1887. 
Williams, Monier : " Indian Wisdom," n. e. 1876. 
" " "Hinduism," 1877. 

" Religious Thought in India," 1887. 
Wilson, H. H. : "Hindu Sects," Calcutta, 1846. 
YoE, Shway : " The Burman." 
Yule: "Mission to Ava," 1858. 

VI. ON CHINA. 

Chalmers, J. : "The Speculations on Metaphysics of the Old Philosopher Lau-tse," 1868. 

DooLiTTLE, J. : " Social Life of the Chinese," New York, 1865, 2 vols. 

Douglas, R. K. : " Confucianism and Taoism," 1879. 

Edkins : " Religion in China," 2d ed. 1877. 

Faber, E. : " The Mind of Mencius," 1882. 

Giles, H. A. :" The San-Tzu ching," 1873. 

" " " Gems of Chinese Literature," 1884. 

Johnson : " Oriental Religions : China," Boston, 1877. 
Legge : " Life and Teachings of Confucius," 4th ed. 1875. 

" The Religions of China," 1880. 
Williams, S. Wells : " Middle Kingdom," 5th ed. 1883, 2 vols. 
Williamson, I. : " Journeys in North China," 1884. 

VII. ON JAPAN. 

Murray : " Handbook for Japan," 2d ed. 1884. 
'Reports of the Asiatic Society of Japan. 

VIII. ON ANCIENT GREECE AND ROME. 

Berens, E. M. : "Myths and Legends of Greece and Rome," 1879. 

BoissiER, G. : " Roman Religion from Augustus to the Antonines " (in French), Paris, 

1874. 
Cox, G. W. : " Mythology of the Aryan Nations," 1870, 2 vols. 
CuRTius, E. : "History of Greece," Eng. trans. 1870, sqq. 
DuNCKEU, M. W. : "History of Greece," Eng. trans. 1883. 
Grote, G. : " History of Greece," n. e. 1862, 8 vols. 
Lang, A. : " Myth, Ritual and Religion," 1887, 2 vols. 
Mahaffy : " Social Life in Greece," 2d ed. 1877. 

" Greek Life and Thought," 1887. 
Mommsen, Theodore : "History of Rome," Eng. trans. 1862, sqq. 
Newton, C. T. : " Greek Religion Illustrated by Inscriptions." 
Xenophon : "Memorabilia of Socrates," Eng. trans., n. e., 1862. 
Zeller, E. : " Socrates and the Socratic School," Eng. trans. 1868. 
" " "Plato and the Older Academy," Eng. trans. 1876. 

IX. ON THE TEUTONS AND CELTS. 

Anderson, R. B. : "Norse Mythology," Chicago, 1875. 
Grimm, J. : "Teutonic Mythology," Eng. trans. 1879. 
Rhys: " Celtic Heathendom," 1888. 
Rydberg : "Teutonic Mythology." 
Saxo : " Historia Danica." 



THE LIST OF AUTHORITIES QUOTED. 



X. ON RUSSIA (GREEK CHURCH). 

Erman, G. a. : " Travels in Siberia;" 1848, 2 vols. 

Maclear G. F. : " Conversion of the Slavs," 1879. 

MiLMAN : " Sects of the Russian Church." 

Ralston, W. R. S. : " Songs of the Russian People," 2d ed. 1872. 

" Russian Folk-Tales," 1873. 
Stanley, A. P. : "Eastern Church," 2d ed. 1862. 
Wallace, D. M. : " Russia," 1878. 

XI. ON THE EGYPTIANS. 

Lane, E. W. : " Modern Egyptians," n. e., 1890. 

" Memoirs of the Egypt Exploration Fund." 

Murray :" Handbook for Egypt. " 

Renouf, p. L. p. : " Hibbert Lectures on Religion of Ancient Egypt," 1880. 

TiELE, C. P. : ''Egyptian Religion," Eng. trans. 1882. 

XII. ON THE BABYLONIANS. 

Boscawen : "Religious Sj^stems of the World." 

Rawlinson, Henry: " The Cuneiform Inscriptions of Western Asia." 

Rawlinson, George : " Five Great Monarchies," 1862, sqq. 

" Religions of the Ancient World," 1882. 
Sayce, a. H. : " Religion of the Ancient Babylonians," 1887. 

" " " Ancient Empires of the East," 1884. 

Smith, George : " Chaldean Genesis " (Sayce edition), 2d ed. 1884. 
Records of the Past (for XL and XII.), 2 series. 

XIII. ON MOHAMMEDANISM. 

Blunt, Lady Anne : " A Pilgrimage to Nejd," 1881, 2 vols. 

Blunt, W. S. : " The Future of Islam," 1882. 

Blyden : " Christianity, Islam and the Negro Race," 1887. 

Brown, J. P. : "The Dervishes," Philadelphia, 1867. 

Hughes : " Dictionary of Islam," 1885. 

Morier : " Second Journey through Persia." 

Muir : " Life of Mahomet," 1858-61, 4 vols. 

MuLLBR, A. : " Sunnites and Shiites." 

Palmer, E. H. : " Oriental Mysticism," 1867. 

Translation of "The Qur'an," 1880, 2 vols. 
RoDWELL : Translation of " The Koran," 2d ed. 1876. 
Schuyler, E. : " Turkestan." 1876-77, 2 vols. 

Smith, R. Bosworth : " Mohammed and Mohammedanism," 3d ed. 1889. 
Wellhausen : " Life of Mahomet." 

XIV. ON THE BIBLE. 

Beet, J. A. : Commentaries on Romans (5th ed. 1885), Corinthians (3d ed. 1885), Gala- 

tians (1885), and Ephesians (1890). 
Deutsch, E. : " Literary Remains," 1874. 

EvTALD, H. : " History (Eng. trans. 1837-74, 5 vols.) and Antiquities of Israel," 1876. 
Geden, J. D. : " Doctrine of a Future Life as Contained in the Old Testament Scripture,' 

2d ed. 1877. 
GiNSBURG, CD.: " The Kabbalah," 1865. 
Hershon, p. I. : "Genesis : with a Talmudical Commentary," 1883. 



THE LIST OF AUTHORITIES QUOTED. 



Hatch, E. : " The Organization of the Early Christian Churches," 2d ed. 1882. 
KuENEN : " Prophet and Prophecy in Israel/' Eng. trans. 1877. 
LiQHTFOOT : " Apostolic Fathers " (Text and Commentary), 1869, sqq. 
Mills, John : " The British Jews," 1862. 

" " " Three Months' Residence in Nablous," 1864. 
NuTT, J, W. : " Fragments of a Samaritan Targum," 1874. 
Salmon : " Introduction to the New Testament," 4th ed. 1890. 
ScHUERER : " Jewish People in the Time of Clirist." Eng. trans. 1886, sqq. 
Schwab : English Translation of the Palestinian " Talmud," 1885, sqq. 
Smith, Robertson : " Old Testament in the Jewish Church," 1881. 
" Prophets of Israel," 1882. 

" '' " Religion of the Semites," 1890. 

Stanley : " Jewish Church," 1863-79, 3 vols, (later edd.). 
Weiss : "Life of Christ," Eng. trans., Edinburgh, 1883-84, 3 vols. 
Westcott : " Introduction to the Study of the Gospels," 6th ed. 1882. 

XV. MISCELLANEOUS. 

GiLLY, TV. S. : "Excursion to the Mountains of Piemont," od ed. 1826. 

" " " Waldensian Researches," 1831. 

Rink : " Greenland," 1877. 
Schaff's Works. 



3\ 




Feet. 

75 

70 
. 68 
. 55 
. 70 
. 66 
54 



Obelisk, Laxor 

Propylon, Luxor 

Cleopatra's Needle ... 
Temple of Vesta, Tivoli 
Arch of Coastantine, Rome... 
Parthenon, Athens ... 
Tomb of Absalom, Jerusalem ... -- 
Tomb of Theodoric, Ravenna, about 50 
Eleanor Cross, Waltham ... ••. &^ 
1 Tomb at Mylasa, Caria ... about 50 

1 Temple of Bacchus, Teos &^ 

'Tower of the Winds, Athens ... f 

' Chapel of St. Peter, Montorio, Rome 40 
Choragic Mon. of Lysicrates, Athens 34 
Erechtheum, Athens ... ... abou*35 

Temple on the Ilissus, Athens, about 25 




„je Cathedral 

2 Old St. Paal's, Loudoa 

3 Great Pyramid 

4 Kjuea Oattedral 

5 St. MartiQ, LaudsUut 

6 St. Peter's, Rome 

7 Strasburg Cathedral 

8 2ad Pyramid (Ghizeh) 

9 SU Stephen's Cathedral, Viea 

10 St. Stephen's Abbey, Caau ., 

11 Amieas Cathedral 

12 Antwerp Cathedral 

13 Salisbarv Cathedral ... 
14, 15 St. Mary's, Lubeok 

16 Torazzo of Cremona ... 

17 Victoria Tower, Weatiuiustet 



! Malines Cathedral 

» Chartrea Cathedral 

) St. Peter's, Hamburg, about 

I Freiburg Cathedral 

i The Daomo, Florence 

} Hotel de VUle, Brussels 

i Torre Asiuelli, Bologna 

5 St. Paul'a, Loudon 

S Frankfort Cathedral 

7 St. Isaac's Church, St. Petersburg .. 

8 Bell Tower, St. Mark's, Venice .. 

9 St. Theobald's, Thaua 

U Norwich Cathedral 

1 Hotel des luvalides, Paris ... 

2 Pantheon, Paris 

3 Bell Tower, Florenoa 



van Veliki, Mosoo w 

5 Boston Church, Lincolnshire ... 292 

5 Chichester Cathedral 271 

7 Central Spire, Lichfield Cathedral ... 252 

8 Taj Mahal, Agra 220 

9 Bell Karry Tower, Canterbury ... 235 
I) Porcelain Tower (late). Nankin ... 200 

1 Bow Church, London 235 

2 Pyramid of Myceriuus 218 

3 Central Transept, Crystal Palace ... 198 
1 The Monument, London 202 

5 Mosque of St. Sophia, Constantinople 182 

6 St. Nicholas', Newcastle-on-Tyue ... 201 

8 York Cathedral 198 

9 Albert Memorial, Hyde Park ... 180 
The Baptistery, Pisa ,,. 190 



51 Leaning Tower, Pisa 

54 Column of July, Paris 154 

55 Part of Coliseum, Borne 157 

56 Alexandrian Colmn., St. Petersburg 154 

57 Pantheon, Rome 143 

58 Royal Albert Hall, London ... 154 

59 Part of Taj Mahal (38) 

60 Obelisk in Piazza St. John of 

Literan, Rome 153 

61 Trajan's Column, Rome 134 

62 Science Schools, South Kensington 110 

63 Temple of the G-iants, A^igentum 116 

64 Temple of the Sun, Baalbec ...120 

65 St. George s Hall, Liverpool ... 85 

66 Temple of Jupiter Stator, Rome ... 98 

67 Pompey's Pillar, Alexandria ... 100 



68 Obelisk, Luxor 

69 Propylon, Luxor 7 

70 Cleopatra's Needle 6 

71 Temple of Vesta, Tivoli 5 

72 Arch of Coustantiue, Rome 7 

73 Parthenon, Athens 6 

74 Tomb of Absalom, Jerusalem ... 5 

75 Tomb of Theodoric, Ravenna, about 5 

76 Eleanor Cross, Waltham 5 

77 Tomb at Mylasa, Caria ... about 5' 

78 Temple of Bacchus, Teos 5i 

79 Tower of the Winds, Athens ... 4: 

80 Chapel of St. Peter, Montorio, Rome 4( 

81 Choragio Mon. of Lysiorates, Athens 3- 

82 Erechtheum, Athens about 3i 

83 Temple on the Ilissus, Athens, about 25 








mm 
m 



BEGINNING OF ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL : WICLIF's VERSION, 1380. 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



Jntroiurtion* 

Man a religious being— Definitions of religion— Need of impartial study— Development in all re- 
ligions-Facts our object— A book for all classes— A very modem study— Human interest in 
all religions— Relation to missionary eflFort— Animism— Spirits in natural forces— Spirits of 
deceased human beings— Conclusions from dreams— Continued existence of the dead— Angels 
and demons — Ancestor-worship —Nature-worship —Anthropomorphism— Idolatry — Fetishism— 
Totemism— Omens— Tot sm ceremonies — The taboo — Demonology— Witchcraft— Divination — 
Shamanism— Priesthoods— Temples— Sacrifices— Gifts— Animal and human sacrifices— Substitu- 
tion and expiation — Sacramental mysteries — Theism — Deism — Monotheism — Pantheism — 
Atheism— Theology— Science of religion — Theosophy— Classification of religrions — Personal 
founders— Universal or missionary religions— From nature religions to monotheism —Groups 
of religions. 

THAT man in his present condition is essentially a godfearing and god- 
worshipping creature, is certain in spite of many contradictory appear- 
ances. That he has been largely the same in the past is assured ; Man a re- 
that he will be so in the future is most highly probable. The 1^^°^^ ^®"^8^ 
rapt devotion of the mystic, the mortification of the ascetic, the zealous 
benevolence of the philanthropist, the ceremonial of the ritualist, the 
sublime flights of the theologian, the intense cry of the penitent, and the 
confident trust of the most abject in a benevolent Ruler of the universe, all 
declare that in modern times man believes, man trusts, that somehow 
good shall be the final goal of ill, that there is one Almighty Ruler who 
also cares for His creatures. Nay, we venture to claim that the doubt of 

1 B 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



the sceptic, the disbelief of the atheist, the suspense of the agnostic, are in 
themselves noteworthy signs that the subject is one of great importance, 
not to be passed over with neglect, and that the human soul feels un- 
easy about the matter and is not content without some attitude towards 
the great questions: "What am I? Whither am I going? Does any 
Providence care for me ? " The more true that it ever is, that man can- 
not by searching find out God, the more persistently does he inquire, 
saying, " Who will show me any good thing? " And so, in the evolution 
of things, the human heart puts forth all the varieties of thought and feel- 
ing of which it is capable, "varies in every direction," to use Darwin's 
phrase, and beneficent forms are perpetuated. So large a space, so important 
an influence has the religious attitude of man, that it is safe to say that it 
constitutes one of the most important factors, perhaps the most important, 
in his progress. 

We may define religion broadly as man's attitude towards the unseen, 
and whatever consequences his belief or attitude produces on his conduct or 
Definitions of o^ liis relations to fellow-men. It has been otherwise defined as 
religion. ^^ outer form and embodiment of an inward devotion, and as a 
system of doctrine and worship which its adherents regard as having divine 
authority ; but these are definitions too limited for our purpose. Darwin, 
in the " Descent of Man," Part I., chap, iii., describes the feeling of religious 
devotion as a highly complex one, consisting of love, complete submission 
to an exalted and mysterious superior, a strong sense of dependence, fear, 
reverence, gratitude, hope for the future, and perhaps other elements ; and 
he says that no being could experience so complex an emotion until con- 
siderably advanced in his intellectual and moral faculties. Consequently 
this view, including only the higher types of religion, is not sufficiently 
comprehensive for our purpose. We must include not only beliefs in un- 
seen spiritual agencies, fetishism, polytheism, monotheism, etc., but num- 
erous superstitions and customs and practices associated with such beliefs — 
human sacrifices, trials by ordeal, witchcraft and sorcery. Although it was 
long the fashion to condemn unsparingly all these beliefs and practices, to 
leave them unstudied and term them worthless and degrading, yet we 
would suggest that even superstitions should be tenderly handled in dis- 
cussion (although vigorously opposed or discouraged in practice) by a lover 
of his kind ; for in most cases they may be considered to be based upon 
some genuine experience of mankind, some fear, calamity, or uprising of 
soul, some correspondence with felt want, some desire or possibility of 
improving man's position in the present or in a future " state. Of course 
there has been much practising upon human credulity, much quackery and 
humbug in connection with superstitions. But we would seek to view 
religions, not from the standpoint of a party or a sect, but rather from that 
Need of ^^ friends of all mankind, who would fain find some good in 
impartial everything ; and if no positive good be discoverable in a particular 
^ ^ ^* instance, let it, if possible, be the negative good of representing 
an effort or a desire after better things. There is need of all the charity, 



INTRODUCTION. 



all the impartiality we can summon to our aid in this survey, for it is 
undoubtedly true that too much of the history of religion is a history of 
prejudice, of narrowness, of quarrelling, of passion, of evil in many forms. 
Yet, hoping all things, we would hope that even from these evils a better 
state arises than could have arisen otherwise. As in the general affairs of 
human life, so in religion, there is needed movement, circulation, some 
kind of change or progress, if life is to continue. Religions stereotyped, kept 
rigid and undeveloping by some worldly force or for some supposed con- 
servative rightness, have become baneful in many of their influences, lead- 
ing ultimately to death by inanition or revolt. 

Thus at the outset we must note that development marks more or less 
all religions that live or have lived. Just as mankind has grown and 
developed in other directions, the mental and emotional faculties ^^ . ^ . 
becoming developed have led to corresponding religious develop- in all 
ments. It cannot be otherwise. The Christian religion is not 
exempt from this law, which is recognised by the greatest teachers in all 
ages of the Church. G-ranting, of course, that the documents of Christianity 
are the same that they have been for very many centuries, the conceptions 
derived from them are continually developing and expanding ; and it is this 
expansion and expansibility which many recognise as the peculiar glory of 
Christianity. That this development takes different directions in different 
Churches may be seen by the modern doctrines of the immaculate concep- 
tion of the Virgin Mary, and of the infallibility of the Pope, and by the 
assertion of the right of private judgment and of refusal to swear before 
courts of justice in Protestantism. The sooner people recognise that re- 
ligion develops, like everything else, the sooner improvement will be pos- 
sible in many backward communities. How often, like ostriches burying 
their heads in the sand, religious bodies have died out because they ceased 
to discern the march of events, and never realised that there might be other 
true things in religion besides their special creed. 

Thus, while endeavouring to stick rigidly to facts, we may be per- 
mitted in some measure to study them as examples of the development of 
ideas and practices. It is true that for a full study of religious development 
we should need many volumes, and must include all extinct as well as exist- 
ing religions. The former would be impossible, for it can hardly be doubted 
that there have been forms of religion which have left no records. But 
even those which survive in records, or in actual existence, are so numerous 
and include so much that only a brief review of some of them is possible. 

It is not the mission or aim of this book to account for the religions 
which it describes. Its aim is to give information — ^to describe what is seen 
or known about their external phenomena, their present influence, Facts our 
their doctrines, their ordinances, their ritual, with a brief summary object, 
of their history. It may be thought that the study of the religions of the 
world for the purpose of giving an account of them, should lead to some 
explanation of them. No doubt the explanations of some facts are so obvious 
that they cannot but occur to an observer. But we disclaim any obligation 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



to furnisli an explanation of the manifold forms of religion, and leave tlie 
task to those who may be more confident or more in-seeing. The time during 
which religions have been studied in any comparative sense is too short as 
yet to afford grounds for sound general reasoning on the subject. The best 
history available is the best explanation ; and in so far as the history becomes 
perfect and accurate may the explanation be approximately true. But be- 
hind all human history, as behind the mystery of life, is that other side, that 
infinite unknown, which we shall none of us know in this life, which would 
most probably alter so many of our notions. 

A further remark must be addressed to those who look for their own 
views in these pages. This book is intended to be read by all classes of 
A book for readers, of all schools of rehgious thought. It cannot therefore 
au classes. £^]y "j^q \\^q vehicle of any special school ; it cannot take up the 
rationalist's parable, and say every religion is a human or a natural product, 
or the view that one religion is exclusively divine and true, and all others 
are false and born of evil, or the other view, that one religion is as good as 
another. As far as possible we shall deal with facts, and leave them to teach 
their own lesson. It is only in the present century that the comparative 
study of religions can be said to have come into existence, it being previously 
considered useless to study " false religions," or forms of idolatry. These 
were very curious facts noticed by travellers, but they remained merely 
curious marks of the savage or pagan or heathen condition of the 
modern countries or peoples concerned. Studies of anatomy, of language, 
^ ^ ^" and of civilisation, and the doctrines of evolution or development 
as applied to mental phenomena, have all contributed to lead up to the 
comparative study of religions. The belief that man forms a single species, 
that his mental constitution is fundamentally the same everywhere, and 
that there may have been one original common language has suggested 
the study of the common elements in man's religions all over the world. 
Indeed, to obtain a view of man's development from a primitive condition, it is 
necessary to obtain a classification of his religions, and to find out what part 
they have played in his history. In this age we cannot rest content with 
knowing our own race, and its social and religious history. Our 
interest in sympathies have expanded, our inquisitiveness has grown, till we 
re igions. ^^^^ -^^ ^ mankind, and want to explain as we want to sym- 
pathise with all. And to justify such an interest, such a curiosity, it is not 
necessary to prove that there is good in everything and in every form of 
religion. The belief that there is mu.ch that is bad everywhere, and even 
that some forms of belief or practice are wholly bad, is not inconsistent with 
a keen interest in knowing what our fellow-men have thought and done in 
niatters pertaining to religion. Rather should we say with the old Roman, 
" I am a man ; I consider nothing human is outside my sympathy and 
interest." 

But in a higher sense even than knowledge, classification, scientific ex- 
planation, we may claim that the study of religions is essential in reference to 
all efforts at evangehsation of non-Christian peoples. How often missionaries 



INTRODUCTION. 



have found that their efforts have been fruitless because of their not under- 
standing the religious state of mind already existing in the people t> , +• 
to whom they have preached. How often they have denounced missionary 
a people as utterly given to barbarism, as having no religion but ® °^ ' 
the grossest idolatry, when the fact was, that they never succeeded in 
gaining any admission to their religious rites, or in learning from the people 
themselves what their beliefs were. Let us imagine the attitude which 
many Christians would assume if a foreign missionary of some unknown 
religion should advance some totally different conception of the Deity from 
that which they and many generations of ancestors had believed in and 
reverenced, with which their most cherished hopes and aspirations were 
bound up, and which was ingrained in their moral and spiritual nature. 




ST. PETER'S, ROME, AND CASTLE OF ST. ANGELO. 



We can realise this to some extent by recollecting the excitement created 
in modern times by the publication of the works of Strauss, Eenan, Matthew 
Arnold, Colenso, and others. How then can we expect that unlearned, 
prejudiced, uncivilised savages should patiently listen to and accept what a 
foreigner teaches, if he proves that he knows nothing about their own belief, 
and does not appreciate any part of it? Especially is this important in 
dealing with the religious views of old and highly-civilised peoples like 
the Chinese, the Hindus, and others. "We believe that it is now almost 
universally recognised that missionaries ought to begin by learning all they 
can about the religious beliefs or superstitions of the peoples to whom they 
are sent, and showing as much tolerance as possible to their views, and 
every encouragement to what is correct or beneficial in them. Not less 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



important is it for English-speaking people, who are in contact with men 
of many religions all over the globe, to have a knowledge, tolerance, and 
even respect for the religions convictions of other races. Those who send 
out missionaries are equally bound to study the conditions under which 
they are expecting these devoted men to work, and to have correct views 
of the difficulties they may experience. Finally, it may be claimed that 
we rise in the scale of reasonable beings in proportion as we take larger and 
more comprehensive views of our whole species, and especially of the atti- 
tude of mankind towards religion ; and this can only be fully done after a 
rational study of the forms under which they reverence or regard the 
powers above and about them, seen or unseen. 

Before proceeding to give a rough classification of religions, there are 
a number of terms which it is desirable to explain or define, and which 

. . , are of importance in our study. The first we will take is 
Animism 

" animism '^ (Lat. anima, soul), which has been brought into its 

present use by one of our greatest anthropologists, Dr. E. B. Tylor, and 

which represents in a convenient way the part played by the doctrine of 

souls and spiritual beings. No other term includes the same ideas without 

some other special reference : thus, " spiritualism " has acquired quite a 

peculiar meaning in reference to the doctrine of spirits, indicating a belief 

in the possibility and actual occurrence of direct communications between 

human beings and the spirits of the dead or other spirits. 

Some kind of animism is found to be almost if not quite universal, 

being believed to have two main sides — the idea of spirits being in natural 

„ . .. . objects or working in natural phenomena or forces, and the idea 

natural of a spirit or soul being in human beings when living, and 

^^^^^' becoming separate from them at death. It is the most natural 

reflection for mankind to make when viewing the dead body of a relative 

or friend, that something has departed from it which was the animating 

principle. When, from whatever cause, unconsciousness has occurred in 

Spirits of any individual, and after a more or less prolonged period, the 

human^ consciousness has returned, it is equally natural to conclude that 

toeings. the spirit had for a time departed ; and if any operations have 

been resorted to, be they prayers, incantations, divinations, or sacrifices, 

during the interval, it is natural to believe that these processes have been 

the cause of the return of the spirit. Then, when death has really taken 

place, there is a tendency to repeat the same performances, in hope of 

bringing back the spirit ; and thus a very simple origin of worship (from 

the natural point of view) is given, and one not inconsistent with the view 

of those who see in worship the result of a Divinely implanted instinct. 

The phenomena of dreams must here be considered, for these must 

from the first have had a powerful influence. The absolute reality of 

things seen in dreams is never doubted by many savage races ; 

from and the fact that the figures of themselves and other human 

dreams, i^^ij^gg^ ^nd also those of animals and plants, can be seen in 

dreams, taking part in itatural or in extraordinary actions, strengthens 



INTRODUCTION. 



the belief in a spirit world. The belief in a ghostly semblance of itself 
being separable from the body may be inferred from appearances in dreams 
being coincident with the absence of a person at a great distance, or taking 
place when the body is dead, buried, or even wholly disintegrated. 

Thus the ghost or spirit is imagined to be an image of the human 
or other being, unsubstantial but real ; and it would be very natural to 
imagine such a spirit for all animals ; it is even transferred to weapons and 
objects of luxury, or food and drink, for these are sacrificed to the dead in 
order that their '' spirits " may be bestowed upon the dead. The bearing 
of this conception of spirits upon the idea of ghosts is evident, though we 
will here express no opinion as to the reality or nature of such phenomena 
as apparitions of the dead. 

It is obvious that if animals and plants can be conceived to have souls 
or spirits, it is possible to transfer the same conception to grand material 
objects, especially such as perform or take part in visible changes on the 
earth or in the sky. Thus rivers, seas, clouds, sun, moon, and stars are 
imagined to have, or be inhabited by, spirits ; and the basis is afforded for 
all kinds of religious developments. 

From this soul-belief has arisen a whole series of beliefs about the 
dead, the state of existence of the departed, their relation to the living, 
and a future existence. We must be understood, of course, here continued 
to prejudge no question, and to imply nothing as to this having existence of 
arisen by "inspiration" of the Creator. But in this connection we 
may mention the ideas of the spirits of the dead remaining in the neigh- 
bourhood of the survivors, or being removed to a distance, to some region 
where they continue to live a life much like the present, or a life either 
much more happy or much more miserable, according to their conduct or 
merit here. So that much of all moral teaching has come to be connected 
with the doctrine of a future life. 

Then further, from such an idea of souls, the imagination has risen to 
the conception of a number of spirits of more or less power, but distinct from 
any being represented on earth or in the material heavens. So Angels and 
we get angels and demons and varied subordinate deities. Thus demons, 
every phenomenon could be accounted for as the work of some deity or 
spirit, without any belief having necessarily arisen in a supreme Deity. 
Storms, floods, lightning, diseases, and all calamities came to be laid to 
the charge of special spirits ; and the desire to expel these spirits has given 
rise to many forms of sorcery, divination, exorcism, etc. Many of these 
spirits are, — for what reason it is difficult to say, — held to be those of human 
beings, hving or deceased ; and thus the appeasing of their anger or se- 
curing of their propitious action has been combined with rites for or in 
connection with death. And here we have one of the springs, though 
probably not the only one, of the widely-extended ancestor-worship, es- 
pecially that of powerful men or leaders of tribes. These men Ancestor- 
were conspicuous for their qualities while alive ; and their souls worship, 
are judged to possess the same great or powerful qualities (sometimes ma- 



7HE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



lignant) after deatli. Thus they must be revered and propitiated, or 
appeased, in the manner judged most desirable or successful. 

Nature worship in its infinite variety of forms arises from the belief 
in spirits animating everything, or from a reverence for the inexplicable 
Nature powers at work in the world. A flood bearing away with irre- 
■worsiiip/ sistible force the works of man, the fire which in torrid climates 
burns up vegetation and devours man and beast, the lightning which kills 
in the twinkling of an eye, the sun which prostrates at noonday, all these 
were mysteries which we cannot be surprised that man in a low state 
of civilisation should worship. Nor is it astonishing to find that these 
spirits are classified into good and evil, favourable and malignant, or that 
the phenomena of the universe are attributed to great antagonistic powers 
of good and evil deities. By whatever influence it arises, we shall see how, 
in communities worshipping many gods, some one has gained pre-eminence^ 
while in others, it may be, one of the tribal gods or the single god wor- 
shipped by the tribe has later been conceived as the universal God. 

Anthropomorphism (Greek, anthropos^ man, morphe^ form) is in religion 
the representation of the Deity as having the form and performing the 
Anthropo- actions of a man, or in a similar way to a man. And it may be 
morpMsm. extended to every case where a spirit, more than human or other 
than human, is represented as like a man or as acting like a man in any 
way. The term is in philosophy extended still more widely, but we need 
not concern ourselves with this further development. It is evident that man 
being man, it is impossible for him to conceive God except through human 
faculties ; and even the purest and best representation of the Godhead which 
he can have, must be tinctured by his own human qualities. Consequently 
attempts to entirely do away with anthropomorphism have resulted in the 
idea of God being reduced to an impalpable imagining which is ill-calculated 
to produce reverence or worship, such as the late Mr. Matthew Arnold's 
"the eternal not-ourselves which makes for righteousness." Here a middle 
course seems pointed out. Being human, it is impossible to keep ourselves 
from anthropomorphism to some extent ; but we must remember, while dis- 
cussing or thinking about the Deity, that our best ideas must be faint 
shadows of the truth, and cannot reach the full truth. 

The term idolatry originally designated all worship such as is forbidden 
in the Second Commandment, " Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven 
image ; to no visible shape in heaven above, or in the earth be- 
neath, or in the water under the earth, shalt thou bow down or 
render service." Such a prohibition could have had no meaning, apart from 
the fact that such worship and service were frequent and prevalent in the 
world in which the Israelites moved. That it has existed, and does still 
exist, may be taken as an axiom in the study of religions. An "idol" 
included every object of reverence or worship among the people with whom 
the Israelites came in contact ; and "idolatry" came to be used among the 
early Christians to designate all the practices connected with the forms 
of religion which they found existing around them, and antagonistic to 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS.' 



Christianity. Thus the term idol, according to many, includes not merely 
images, or representations made by human workmen, whether in the form 
of pictures or sculpture, of any person. Divine or otherwise, taken from 
actual life or derived from the imagination, and made use of in religious 
services ; but also any natural objects, living or dead, either worshipped or 
revered, though (it may be) only as signs of something not seen. It may 
be said with truth, that in most cases it is not the idol or image at all which 
is worshipped, for it is believed in merely as the representation of an absent 
god, or as the symbol of an idea, or as the dwelling-place, temporary or 
permanent, of a god, without being supposed to possess any supernatural 
quality itself. Nevertheless the more ignorant and degraded people have 
largely regarded the idol as itself embodying power of some sort, generally 
supernatural. 

We thus come by a natural transition to fetishism, which is generally 
understood to signify a belief in peculiar or supernatural powers residing in 
certain ordinary material objects, which are consequently wor- 
shipped. This idea is specially connected in European minds 
with the alleged casual selection by West African negroes of any kind of 
object for adoration, prayer and sacrifice being made to it, while, if any 
calamity befall the worshipper, the fetish is accused of having brought it 
about, and may be deposed, and even beaten or destroyed. Now the word 
"fetish" was not a negro but a Portu.guese word, feitigo^ an amulet or charm; 
and the early Portuguese voyagers to Western Africa, finding small objects 
reverenced or worshipped by the negroes, somewhat resembling those so well 
known as amulets among themselves, spoke of them as the feitigos of the 
natives. Thus the word is properly restricted to inanimate objects, wooden 
figiires, stones, etc., and is only improperly used to designate local nature- 
spirits or animals held in reverence. The fetishes of West Africa are, in 
fact, believed to be the ordinary abode of the deities either of village com- 
panies or of individuals. The local gods are believed, through the priests, 
to present those who require tutelary deities with certain objects (fetishes) in 
which they usually abide. These may be wooden figures, stones, calabashes, 
earthen pots, or even the most insignificant objects. The fetishes of village 
companies are deposited in some accessible place, and protected with 
branches as fences, which, when grown, constitute so-called fetish trees, 
which become sacred to the deity. Offerings of food, drink, and other 
things are regularly made to the fetishes. Families may obtain their 
fetishes as the result of dreams, but always through priests ; if persistent 
ill-luck attends the family, the fetish may be burnt ; the fact that it will 
burn or become injured by fire, being taken as proof that it is no longer the 
abode of a spirit. Individuals may also obtain, make, or select fetishes for 
themselves, and call upon a spirit to enter the object, which is then re- 
verenced if good luck follows; these fetishes may work various ills upon 
enemies through the intervention of other objects, as charms. 

" Totemism " is a term which has in recent years become important both 
in the studj^ of religions and in that of tribal organisation and social life 



INTRO D UCTION. 



among uncivilised peoples. A totem is defined as a class of material ob- 
jects which a savage regards with superstitions respect, believing 
that it protects him ; he in return never kills it if an animal, or 
injures or gathers it if a plant. The more usual form of totem is a species 
of animal or plant, but sometimes a kind of non-living object. Totems 
are either common to a whole tribe or clan, the male or female sex of a 
tribe, or belong especially to an individual. As regards the clan, it is found 
that there is a belief that all members are descended from a common 
ancestor, more frequently the totem itself, by whose name they designate 
themselves in common. All of the same totem recognise certain obligations 
to one another and to the totem. Sometimes, in addition to not killing or 
injuring the totem, it is forbidden to touch it or look at it. In consequence 
of these ideas we frequently find that injurious or troublesome animals are 
allowed to multiply to an enormous extent, and are even fed and protected. 
When dead, they are mourned for as if they were human beings belonging 
to the tribe. Various penalties are incurred by disrespect to the totem, 
such as diseases and death. Correspondingly, if proper respect is shown to 
the totem, it will protect and refrain from injuring the members of the 
tribe. Sometimes if the totem (for example, a snake) injures a man, he is 
supposed to have offended it, and is put out of the tribe. In many cases 
signs given by or derived from the totem are made use of as omens ; and 
in various ways they may be pressed to give favourable indications, or even 
punished for not doing so. Frequently the savage dresses himself 
in the skin, feathers, tusks, etc., of the totem animal, or imitates 
it in various ways, scarring, painting, or tattooing himself with this object. 
The totem sign is also used as a signature to treaties or agreements, and it 
is carved upon dwellings, canoes, weapons, and other possessions. 

Birth, marriage, and death ceremonies are largely tinctured by totemism, 
the different ceremonies being chiefly explicable by a desire to secure pro- 
tection from dangers which cannot otherwise be guarded against. Totem 
and are supposed to be supernatural. At death the idea is, to csremonies. 
become one with the totem. Similarly, to celebrate the coming of age of 
a youth, he is formally and fully admitted into the totem. Sometimes 
attempts are made to recall a dead man to life by pronouncing his totem 
name ; and other ceremonies may occur in which the totem is supposed to 
die and be restored. In some cases this ceremony is elevated into something 
which suggests that the totem becomes a god, dies for his people, and is 
revived again. When a totem is adopted by one sex only, it is said to be 
still more sacred than the totem of the tribe ; for it will be ferociously 
defended against injury by the opposite sex, even though the same people 
may tolerate the killing of the clan totem. A special individual totem is 
frequently the first animal dreamt of during the fasts and solitudes marking 
the coming of age : in some tribes a man may not kill or eat his personal 
totem. 

Totemism is very widely distributed, but it is not a system ; rather, it 
is an indefinite growth, founded in certain natural or primitive notions of 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS, 



uncivilised man. As a subject it is the creation of students who have found 
in practices of mankind all over the globe common features, which may 
possibly, in many cases, have their root in a common origin of race, and 
have been developed in different directions owing to the migration and 
intermingling of tribes. But many of its characteristics are peculiar to 
isolated tribes. It is certainly largely connected with terror of or reverence 
for natural objects, and is believed in with a superstitious fear. It is best 
to regard it as a subject pertaining to religions, though not to be definitely 
classed as a religion. 

The word taboo refers to the system of religious prohibitions formerly 
so largely in force in Polynesia ; it means primarily, " sacred," separate 
from ordinary use. It was an essentially religious observance, 
imposed by a priest or chief, and might be temporary or per- 
manent, general or special. Thus idols, temples, chiefs and priests, and 
their property, were " taboo," or sacred ; many things were specially tabooed 
to women. The penalties for disobedience were diseases or various punish- 
ments by the rulers. It became in practice a method by which the priests 
and chiefs took advantage of animistic beliefs to secure their power or their 
own ends. Extensive traces of similar practices have been found all over 
the world. Even the Nazarites' vow and the prohibitions of work or 
special actions on the Sabbath have been identified with taboo rules ; and 
the Latin word '' sacer " (meaning either sacred or accursed) is regarded 
as having essentially the same meaning as taboo. 

Demonology may be separated as a subject of study in relation to 
religions, and has many curious facts and practices within its province. 
The Greek word daimon originally meant a spirit or deity, with- 
emono o . ^^^ reference to good or evil quahties. Then it was applied to 
the spirits of the deceased, who become guardians of the living ; next . 
they were regarded as good and evil beings occupying a position between 
gods and men. It is almost special to Christianity to regard demons as 
exclusively evil. Among savage races it is common to regard diseases, 
especially of the hysterical, epileptic, and maniacal kind, as caused by the 
entry of some other spirit into the sufferer. Convulsions appear to be due 
to the possession of the body by some other spirit ; again, wasting diseases 
are readily accounted for by the action of some intruding or some malevo- 
lent spirit ; and it is a simple transition to consider such calamities as 
brought about by the spirits of deceased enemies, or spirits which are to 
punish some evil conduct of the sufferer ; and in such cases the particular 
spirit concerned may be identified by the conscience-stricken one. Thus 
many ideas of demonology are derived from beliefs about human departed 
spirits. In some cases this goes so far that the possessed one speaks in the 
character of the deceased person who is supposed to possess him. The way 
in which possessing demons are in many tribes talked to, threatened, cajoled, 
enticed, driven away by blows, etc., shows that they are regarded as spirits 
of human beings, still capable of being influenced by similar motives to the 
survivors. Consequently exorcism, or the expulsion of devils or spirits, has 



T4 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS, 

its place in nearly all savage systems. It is only the progress of medicine 
which has .disclosed the real nature of many of the cases formerly attributed 
to demoniacal possession ; and the belief in the latter lasts to our own times 
not only in many foreign countries, but also among the less intelligent rural 
folk in our own country. As late as 1788, a solemn exorcism of seven devils 
out of an epileptic, by seven clergymen, was performed at the Temple Church, 
Bristol. 

Among adjuncts of demonology, sorcery and witchcraft claim a place, 
though we cannot here enlarge upon them. All the practices included in 
Sorcery and ^^L^se terms spring from the belief that spirits influence mortal 
witchcraft, affairs and can in turn be influenced by mortals who possess the 
right method. Special ceremonies at regular intervals are frequently held, 
to drive out all the demons from a locality. Guardian angels, on the other 
hand, are believed in widely, far beyond regions where the belief has been 
countenanced or encouraged by Christianity. The latter has also been con- 
nected with some of the most dreadful incidents in medieval history, 
witches and sorcerers having been subjected to most cruel treatment. Many 
of these have accounted lor their performances by the influence of familiar 
spirits, which can be summoned by particular methods ; and very many 
persons class modern spiritualism under the same heading. In many cases 
savage religions are almost entirely affairs of the good and bad spirits who 
manage most or all human affairs, the supreme deity being not concerned 
directly in such matters. Among the highest forms in which we find the 
conception of evil spirits is the Ahrinian of the Parsees, and the Miltonic 
Satan with his attendant demons of various grades. Often the devils of one 
religion represent more or less closely the good deities of their enemies. 

Divination signifies the obtaining of knowledge about unknown and 
future events or facts by means of omens or oracles, the idea being, that some 
divine knowledge is communicated to the diviner or soothsayer, 
or person who becomes the means of communication. " Signs 
sent by the gods," include all communications by what were called 
" oracles," examination of entrails of animals killed in sacrifice, the flight 
of birds, behaviour of animals, prodigies, lightning, dreams, palmistry, 
astrology, etc., each of which might be made the subject of an entire book. 
We can devote only incidental mention to them under the various religious 
beliefs of nations, or the more important subjects of religion ; but they all 
testify to the belief in a god or gods and in supernatural spirits. 

Shamanism is not the name of a religion, but of a form of religious beliet 

and practice belonging to the old Mongolians, and which may almost be 

applied to the corresponding: beliefs of the American Indians. A 
Shamamsm. ^^ • i • i ^ • -, i • n • i 

shaman is a kind oi priest whose resources are chieny wizardry 

and sorcery, apart from idols or fetishes. His influence (and that of the 

medicine-man of the Indians) rests on his assumed powers of influencing 

the good and evil spirits believed in (many of whom are ancestors). He 

has a ritual of magic and sorcery, procures oracles from the spirits, and 

offers sacrifices. 



INTR on UCTION. t 5 



The priest has developed on the one hand out of the medicine-man, 
shaman, exorcist, etc., and on the other out of the head of the family, the 
patriarch, the leader. The elder and the cleverer men naturally 
gained most influence, and their words were most attended to, 
and the rites they inculcated were performed. Gifts were given either to 
the gods or priests or both ; and the offering of the gift became essential to 
gaining the favour of gods and priests. When once priests existed, no one 
could gain admission to the order without some special claim or discipline, 
which was made severe in most cases ; but unauthorised priests have always 
existed in all grades, down to wizards and devil-doctors. From their ful- 
filling high functions and gaining high rewards, priesthoods have always 
attracted many of the ablest men ; and in most religions they have included 
genuine and sincere believers in their worship and teachings. But they 
have also as a rule been conservative of established ordinances and very 
hostile to reformers, especially of religion. The traditional knowledge was 
almost exclusively in their hands till comparatively modern times ; they 
alone knew how to appease or please the gods, or could perform the due rites, 
and thus their power has been enormous. On the other hand, numerous 
peoples have never had any powerful priesthood. 

The word temple includes many kinds of buildings, all agreeing in one 
character, that they are supposed to be the special dwelling of a god or gods. 
In many cases the temple has not our modern signification as a 
meeting-place for worshippers ; often it is only open to priests, 
and the altar or stone of sacrifice is set up in front of (outside) the entrance. 
In most religions the temple contains a statue of the god, or other sacred 
symbol indicating his presence ; and treasures, chiefly gifts from worship- 
pers, are accumulated in and around it. Hence the temple becomes 
pecuharly sacred ground, protecting the priests from all insult, injury, or 
removal for punishment, and usually acquiring in addition the power of 
protecting those who take refuge in it. No doubt the idea of a place sacred 
to a god or to spirits arose very early, as may be seen by the numerous 
cases in which unhewn stones, placed in certain positions, have probably 
served as temples in pre-historic times. We must look to a far-distant 
past for the beginnings of external worship around sacred trees or stones, 
which were only gradually fenced or covered in. 

The temple naturally suggests sacrifice, which originally meant any act 
or thing sacred to the gods, and only by specialisation came to signify gifts, 
or atonements to the gods. In very many rehgions the gods 
or spirits worshipped are honoured by gifts of vegetable food, 
libations of wine and oil, and consecration of animal flesh ; and these are 
distinguished from gifts of treasure, garments, images, lands, 
temples, etc. Expiatory sacrifices, not found in all religions, 
form a distinct class ; and in these the life of a victim is oflered to appease 
the anger of the gods, or to gain their favour. The sacrifices or gifts in 
honour of the gods signify a view of the gods which is quite sure of 
their friendliness if properly worshipped and sacrificed to ; and in a vast 



,6 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

number of cases, these gifts mean an offering of banquets to the gods, from 
which their servants are not excluded. The appropriate gifts are like 
a tribute to an earthly king. Often the seasons suggest the fitting oc- 
casions for special offerings — harvest, vintage, the birth of young animals. 
"We find all stages of view as to these sacrifices, from that in which the god 
is supposed to really need the food given, to that in which it becomes only 
a conventional mode of showing respect. 

Animism pervades sacrifice very largely, especially when the sacrificial 

offerings are burnt ; their spirit-essence being believed to ascend to the 

gods, and to satisfy them. From this, to the idea of slaughtering 

^man^ animals for sacrifice, i.e. that the god may have a meal of meat. 

Sacrifices. ^^ ^ natural transition. When, in any case, the faith in the old 
p-ods declined, and the sacrifices became diminished, a revival of religion, 
or its new development, included a demand for animal, and finally for 
human sacrifices, as expiation of the sins of the people ; and the fact that 
human sacrifices primarily and generally consisted of enemies, is connected 
with the same practice in cannibalism. 

"When a religion manifests a strong sense of sin, certain offences are 

deemed incapable of expiation, otherwise than by the sacrifice of life, either 

of the offender or of some one of his kin or tribe. When any 

andexpia- great calamity occurs, it is believed that the deity has been 
tion. offended, and nothing but the sacrifice of life will avail. Why, 
in certain cases, men sacrificed their eldest son is not clear ; but it may have 
been on the principle of offering first-fruits or firstlings, or in the idea that 
only the blood of a very near kinsman would satisfy the god. The person 
held guilty can or will not be sacrificed, being important to the tribe, or in 
his own eyes, and so the idea of substitution arises, perhaps being stimulated 
by the idea that an innocent victim is more worthy than a guilty one. 
Often the substitute, when an animal, has been dressed up to resemble the 
guilty person, or the appropriate animal (sometimes the totem). Sometimes 
these human and expiatory offerings have become regular and periodic, to 
avert the anger of the gods, or to expiate sin frequently committed ; often 
animals are regularly sacrificed as substitutes for human life ; sometimes 
these sacrifices have degenerated into mere puppet sacrifices. 

A further development consists in sacramental feasts or sacrifices, as 

when paste idols or slain victims are eaten by the worshippers, with the 

tai ^^^^ ^^^^ ^^® sacred animal being eaten makes the worshippers 

mysteries, one with the deity to whom it is sacrificed. Such sacrifices 
often take place in connection with initiation or celebration of blood- 
brotherhood. 

" Even the highest forms of sacrificial worship," says Prof. Robertson 
Smith, in the "Encyclopaedia Britannica," " present much that is repulsive 
to modern ideas; and in particular it requires an effort to reconcile our 
imagination to the bloody ritual which is prominent in almost every 
religion which has a strong sense of sin. But we must not forget that 
from the beginning this ritual expressed, however crudely, certain ideas 



INTROD UCTION, 



17 



which lie at the very root of true religion, the fellowship of the wor- 
shippers with one another in their fellovvship with the deity ; . . . and 
the piacular forms, though these were particularly liable to distortions 




disgraceful to man and dishonouring to the Godhead, yet contained the 
first germs of eternal truths, not only expressing the idea of divine justice, 
but mingling it with a feeling of divine and human pity." 

c 



1 8 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

The word and the subject " Theism " is of the highest importance 
in religions. The word in combination enters into pantheism, polytheism, 
monotheism, and atheism. By itself it has a signification which 
it has not always when in combination. In its widest ex- 
tension it includes the whole subject of Divine Being or Beings; but 
ordinarily it is restricted to much the same range as monotheism, the 
belief in one God. It then contradicts and is antagonistic to polytheism, 
pantheism, and atheism. Again, theism has been used as the contrary of 
deism, a form of belief in one Grod by the light of nature, or from natural 
religion. Deism is generally distinguished from pantheism in 
regarding 'God as distinct from the material world, and from 
theism, in imagining that the Divine Being has created the world and 
endowed it wdth certain powers and potentialities which are left to work 
out their results uninfluenced by the direct interference or action of God. 

It would detain us too long to expound the history of theism since 
Christianity arose. It will be to some extent referred to later. We must 
. note here that Christianity and Mohammedanism are the only 
two truly theistic or monotheistic religions ; and that this title 
has been denied to Christianity by those who consider the doctrine of the 
Trinity, or Three Persons in the Godhead, as excluding it from monotheism. 
In past times many regarded monotheism as the primitive religion, from 
which mankind had fallen away by sin and degradation. Now-a-days a 
, great proportion of students of man and religion beheve that monotheism is 
a later growth than polytheism, or belief in more than one God. There is 
some ground for the belief that, in some religions at least, the idea of one 
supreme God arose by the exaggeration of the qualities of some particular 
god already worshipped, or out of the belief in a tribal God, originally 
peculiar to them and hostile to their enemies ; but it is questionable if we 
can ever arrive at the true Origin of religion, for the ancient races are dead 
and have left no records behind them, and there are no data for saying that 
all those peoples who had a religion have left records of it. The traces 
of religion in the oldest words and the earhest remains and records left 
show that animals, ancestors, powers of naimre, .and deities were then wor- 
shipped ; and beyond this we cannot go. 

Pantheism is a mode of looking at itihe luniverse which identifies the 
creation with the Creator, regarding all finite things as different modifications, 
or aspects, or manifestations of one eternal, self-existent being, 
from which they are derived. Within or around this conception 
are grouped many views which represent the universe very diversely, some 
approaching very near to monotheism, or even being very properly described 
as forms of monotheism. 

Atheism (a, without, Theos^ God) again, takes several forms. Dogmatic 

atheism, which has extremely few adherents, denies the existence of a 

Divine Being : critical atheism says that He has not been proved 

to exist; while philosophical atheism says that it is impossible 

for finite beings to know in any real sense that the Divine exists. 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



Theology, as a technical term, needs a definition ; it is as old as Plato 
and Aristotle, signifying " a discourse or doctrine concerning divine things." 
Thus the term may be used to include non-Christian as well 
as Christian systems. Its special use in Christianity will be 
referred to later. It is now generally understood to mean the system of 
doctrines which concern the person, attributes, and works of Grod. Theology 
which accepts the Bible as containing a revelation of and from God, is 
distinguished from natural theology, which only includes arguments derived 
from human thought, observation, and reasoning apart from revelation. 
Some persons would define theology as the study of what mankind have 
thought or felt about religion or about Grod ; but it is more correct, as well 
as more in agreement with the feelings of most intelligent people, to make 
the term imply belief in God, and the attainability of knowledge about 
Him. A mere study of the phenomena of religion can never be as vitally 
interesting as one which regards it as of the utmost concern to know what 
is to be known on the subject. 

Is there then such a thing as a science of religion or religions ? Not 
yet, but there may be in the future ; and we are working towards it. We 
Science of ^^y be told that this can never be a true science, for the ultimate 
religion, object of religion cannot be comprehended by mortals ; but that 
objection would be fatal to all other sciences, for the Infinite First Cause 
of all natural forces cannot be comprehended. The science of religion will 
be an explanation or comprehension of religion, mental, natural, or revealed ; 
but the study which is to produce it must be free and intelligent, and its 
conclusions must be based on sufficient evidence, the sources of that evidence 
being found in the natural world, in the thoughts of men's minds, in 
history, and in all teachings purporting to be, or accepted as. Divine 
revelations. 

"We must just briefly indicate the term " theosophy " as designating a 
" divine wisdom," or wisdom about divine things, which is supposed to have 
special knowledge about the Divine nature and modes of working, 
either as the result of speculative philosophy or of special revela- 
tion ; we can here have little to say of such systems. Hegel, Spinoza, Sweden- 
borg, Boehme, Schelling, may be named among prominent theosophists. 

We may next recognise the broad distinctness of primitive or nature 

religions, and those which are either tribal, national, or universal in their 

ciassificaticn scope. It is only a certain number of the latter which are 

of religions. gpQ(3ig^ljy associated with a certain name — that of Confucius, 

Lao-tze, Buddha, Mohammed, Moses, Jesus : although it cannot be shown 

that others were not quite as truly the product of individual minds, whose 

Personal names have not been preserved. The great founders of religions 

founders, mentioned above have given rise to ethical religions, religions 

putting prominently forward certain moral teachings ; and further, preach- 

Universai or ^^^ a way of salvation, and producing an organisation for the 

missionary promotion and increase of the religion. Three religions now 

re gions. j^^jj^^^^ which may be called world-religions in their scope, Budd- 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



hism, Mohammedanism, and Christianity ; all aiming at converting the 
world, and professing to be able to satisfy the needs of the world. 

As regards other than universal religions, we may quote the view of Prof. 
Tiele of Ley den (" Outlines of the History of Religion "). " It is on various 
Fromnat grounds probable that the earliest religion, which, has left but 
religions to faint traces behind it, wag followed by a period in which animism 
■ generally prevailed. This stage, which is still represented by 
the so-called nature religions, or rather by the polydsemonistic tribal reli- 
gions, early developed among civilised nations into polytheistic national 
reUgions, resting upon a traditional doctrine. Not until a later period did 
polytheism give place here and there to nomistic religions, or religious 
communities founded on a law or holy Scripture, and subduing polytheism 
more or less completely beneath pantheism or monotheism. These last, 
again, contain the roots of the universal or world-religions, which start 
from principles and maxims." "We give this, not as in any way indicating 
a doctrine that ought to be accepted, but as a speculation of an earnest 
student. There is much more in religion than can probably be com- 
prehended in any simple classification. We now proceed to give a classifi- 
cation of religions into families, which may be of some service in com- 
prehending the following pages. 

Animism, the primitive philosophy of spirits, has special manifestations 
among the Polynesians, Australians, negroes, Hottentots, Melanesians, 
Groups of Americans, the highest forms being reached by the Chibchas, 
religions. ]^^ Mayas, the Mexicans and the Incas, and by the Finns. The 
Chinese and Japanese religions, Confucianism, Taoism, and Shin-toism, form 
a special class. The Egyptian religion stands almost apart, including much 
animism and magic, with features of a higher kind. The remaining principal 
religions may be classified into Aryan and Semitic respectively ; the former, 
the Aryan or Indo-European group, including Brahmanism and Hinduism, 
Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, Greek and Roman, "Wendic, Slavonian, Celtic, 
Teutonic, and Scandinavian religions ; the latter including Chaldean and 
Assyrian, Phoenician, and Canaanitish religions, besides Judaism, Christi- 
anity, and Mohammedanism. Where so much is unknown or controversial, 
we shall not attempt what is called a genealogical arrangement ; nor shall 
we give any further classification before proceeding to describe the several 
religions or religious practices. All that has hitherto been said, except the 
explanation of the meaning and significance of certain terms, may be taken 
only in so far as it may be borne out by the accounts which follow, or as 
interpreting the facts in a reasonable manner. No attempt is made to 
say what must or must not be believed. Every one should form his or 
her own conclusions as freely and independently as possible. 

For further information on the subjects dealt with in this chapter, see Tylor's " Primitive 
Culture" and "Anthropology." Articles: Theism, Theology, Anthropomorphism, Animism, Totem- 
ism, Taboo, Demonology, Sacrifiee, Priest, Temple, in " Encyclopgedia Britannica," ninth edition. 
Tide's " Outlines of the History of the Ancient Eeligions." J. G. Frazer's " Totemism," and his 
valuable paper " On Certain Burial Customs as illustrations of the Primitive Theory of the Soul" 
(" Journal of Anthropological Institute," vol. xv.). Max Miiller's " Science of Eeligion," " Com- 
parative Mythology ;" Hibbert Lectures. 



BOOK I. 

RELIGIONS OF UNCIVILISED PEOPLES. 



I 



CHAPTER I. 

a^acfsi toitbout a Jaeltgion* 

T was long believed that no race was entirely withont religion. But 

it is impossible to resist the weight of evidence which shows that 
numerous tribes and peoples have been or are without anything in the shape 
of distinct religious belief or observance. The evidence is that of the most 
distinguished and accurate travellers, the most credited scientific investi- 
gators, and the most enlightened missionaries. Charles Darwin says 
(" Descent of Man," i. 143) : — " There is ample evidence, derived, not from 
hasty travellers, but from men who have long resided with savages, that 
numerous races have existed, and still exist, who have no idea of one or 
more gods, and who have no words in their languages to express such an 
idea. ... If, however, we include under the term " religion" the belief 
in unseen or spiritual agencies, the case is wholly different; for this belief 
seems to be universal with the less civilised races. ^^ 

Several tribes of Brazilian Indians are said, by Bates- Wallace, and 
Burmeister, to have no religion whatever. The G-rail Chaco Indians (South 
America) were declared by the early missionaries to have '' no American 
religious or idolatrous belief or worship whatever; neither do they ^^^i^^^. 
possess any idea of God or of a Supreme Being. They make no distinction 
between right and wrong, and have, therefore, neither fear nor hope of any 
present or future punishment or reward, nor any mysterious terror of some 
supernatural power, whom they might seek to assuage by sacrifices or super- 
stitious rites." Central and South Africa have furnished numerous 
examples of the absence of religious ideas. A Zulu once said, '' If any 
one thinks ever so little, he soon gives it up, and passes on to Zulus, 
what he sees with his eyes." Burchell found a tribe of Kaffirs Kaflars. 
with no form of worship or religion. They thought that everything made 
itself, and that trees and herbage grew by their own wilL 

The Caroline Islanders in the Pacific were without religion, having no 
temples, altars, offerings, nor sanguinary rites. The Queensland 
natives, according to Lang, had no idea of a Supreme Being, 
creator of the world, the witness of their actions and their judge. 

The Arafuras (Papuans) in the Aru islands have not the least conception 
of immortality. When questioned they said : " No Arafura has ever re- 
turned to us after death, therefore we know nothing of a future 
state, and this is the first time we have heard of it." Their idea 
was, When you are dead, there is an end of you. " Neither have they any 
notion," says M. Bik, " of the creation of the world. To convince myself 
more fully respecting their want of knowledge of a Supreme Being, I 
demanded of them on whom they called for help in their need, when their 



24 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

vessels were overtaken by violent tempests. Tlie eldest among tliem, after 
having consulted the others, answered that they knew not on whom they 
could call for assistance ; but begged me, if I knew, to be so good as to 
inform them." 

A conversation recorded by Sir Samuel Baker, in his '' Albert Nyanza," 

The is an excellent exemplification of this non-religious state of mind. 

Latookas. jj^ -g interrogating Commoro, a chief of a Nile tribe, the Latookas. 

'' Baker : Have you no belief in a future existence after death ? 

Commoro : Existence after death ! How can that be ? Can a dead man 
get out of his grave unless we dig him out ? 

BaTcer : Do you think man is like a beast, that dies and is ended ? 

Commoro : Certainly ; an ox is stronger than a man ; but he dies, and his 
bones last longer; they are bigger. A man's bones break quickly — he is weak. 

Baker : Is not a man superior in sense to an ox? Has he not a mind to 
direct his actions ? 

Commoro : Some men are not so clever as an ox. Men must sow corn to 
obtain food ; but the ox and wild animals can procure it without sowing. 

Baker : Do you not know that there is a spirit within you more than ilesh? 
Da you not dream and wander in thought to distant places in your sleep ? 
Nevertheless, your body rests in one spot. How do you account for this ? 

Commoro., laughing : Well, how do you account for it ? It is a thing I 
cannot understand ; it occurs to me every night. 

Baker : Have you no idea of the existence of spirits superior to either 
man or beast ? Have you no fear of evil except from bodily causes ? 

Commoro : I am afraid of elephants and other animals when in the 
jungle at night, but of nothing else. 

Baker : Then you believe in nothing, neither in a good nor evil spirit ! 
And you believe that when you die it will be the end of body and spirit ; 
that you are like other animals ; and that there is no distinction between 
man and beast ; both disappear, and end at death ? 

Commoro : Of course they do. 

Baker : Do you see no difference between good and bad actions ? 

Commoro : Yes ; there are good and bad in men and beasts. 

Baker : If you have no belief in a future state, why should a man be 
good ? Why should he not be bad, if he can prosper by wickedness ? 

. Commoro : Most people are bad ; if they are strong, the}^ take from the 
weak. The good people are all weak ; they are good because they are not 
strong enough to be bad." 

But while thus asserting that some tribes have been or are without belief 
in religion in the higher sense, it must be admitted that there are but few, 
if any, of whom it cannot be said that they believe in spiritual beings of 
some kind. This phase of the religious sense has already been referred to 
in our Introduction, under the term '' Animism " (p. 6). 

Further proofs may readily be found in Sir J. Lubbock's " Prehistoric Times " and " Origin of 
Civilisation ; " Archdeacon Farrar's paper on " The Universality of Belief in God and in a Future 
State " (Anthropological Review, 1864 : ccxvii.) ; and Tylor's "Primitive Culture" (p. 35). 




MOEAI OF OAMO AND OBEREA, TAHITI. 



CHAPTER IL 

ilflicjionsJ 33fliefs aiiD piartuess m Sfus^tralasJia, polpnesia, 
anir ifldanes^ia* 

The Australians— Absence of worship— Sorcerers— Ideas of creation— Mode of discovering en- 
chanters—Idea of becoming white after death— Burial— Ghosts— The Tasmanians— The future 
life an unwearied chase— Burial customs— Exorcists' methods— The New Caledonians — Feasts 
for spirits — Prayers —Rain-making priests — Strange burial customs— The Maoris— Deified 
ancestors —Legend of Maui— Atuas— Mythology— The abodes of spirits of the dead— The priests* 
duties— Modes of burial and mourning— The Friendly Islanders— Superior and inferior gods— 
Spiritual chief descended from the gods— Spirits of the dead— The Samoans— Guardian and 
village deities — Traditions — A stone rain-god -Functions of priests— The spirit land— The 
Hervey Islanders— Rev. W. W. Gill in Mangaia —Ideas of the universe and spirits— The father 
of gods and men— No idea of a Supreme Creator —Deified men and their exploits— The gods 
the life of men— The king's idols— Origin of a priesthood— Death due to sins— Exploits of Maui 
the fire-god— The dead thrown into chasms -Ideas of spirit-world— Mourning customs— The 
death-talk— The Society Islanders— Various deities— The future state— The priesthood— The 
Sandwich Islanders— Volcanic deities —Power of the taboo— The Fijians— The two spirits of 
man— The Fijian heaven— Passions of the gods— Human sacrifices— Fijian gods— The chiefs' 
funerals— The Papuans— Papuan idols— Burial of Papuans— The Dyaks of Borneo— The Sea- 
Dyaks' beliefs— Medicine-men— Superstitions of Land-Dyaks— Burial of Dyaks— Sumatran deities 
—Priests of the Battas— The Malagasy gods— Malagasy charms— Divination and sacriflces— 
Sikidy— Ideas of a future life— Burial rites. 

THE AUSTRALIANS. 

TiHE Australian natives are among tlie lowest in their conceptions re- 
lating to creation, nature, and religion. When discovered by Europeans 
they had no worship, nor any idea of a Creator ; and it is not Absence 
necessary here to give an account of various conceptions since °^ worship, 
developed, which resulted from their contact with white men. They have 
some belief in evil spirits who walk abroad and may be seen at night. 
Against the diseases caused by them, the aid of sorcerers was 
invoked ; and they, by various performances and incantations, ex- 
tracted the disease from the patient. The sorcerers were middle-aged or 
elderly men, specially initiated from some supernatural source, from ances- 
tral ghosts, or spirits, and supposed capable of transporting themselves 
through the air, or rendering themselves invisible. The production of rain, 
wind, thunder, etc., was believed to be within their province. These 
men were not without some medical attainments of a rude kind. But they 
were believed to have the power, by various devices, of causing an enemy's 



26 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

ruin or destruction. A valuable account of Australian medicine-men lias 
been given by Mr. A. W. Howitt in tbe " Journal of the Anthropological 
Institute," vol. xvi. (1887). The reality of dreams is strongly believed in by 
the Australians ; during sleep the spirit is supposed to wander from the 
body and meet other spirits. 

Various Australian tribes are stated to have believed that: (1) Some things 
are self-created, and these created other things. (2) Everything was made 
Ideas ^y ^ father, who lived among the clouds, and had three sons. 
of creation. (3) A huge serpent is the cause of everything. The South 
Australians believed that the sun,>moon, and stars are living beings who 
once inhabited the earth. 

Sudden deaths are attributed to the enchantments of hostile tribes. " The 

method of finding out the enchanter is to clear the space round the deceased's 

Mode of g^^^®7 ^^<i smooth it so that the least traces of an animal passing 

discovering over it may be detected — those of a beetle will suffi.ce. The 

direction taken by this creature indicates the direction in which 

the enchanter lives ; and one of the nearest of kin to the deceased sets out 

on his mission, travelling some hundreds of miles. Arrived at a place where 

there are natives encamped, he fraternises with them, staying with them for 

days till an opportunity presents itself of slaying the enchanter, who is 

already known by having coughed when eating some of the food which the 

stranger has taken care to distribute all round." ^ The souls of those who 

have not been buried are supposed to haunt the earth as evil spirits. One 

tribe of Australians believe that their ghosts people the islands in Spencer's 

Gulf. 

A Queensland tribe had the idea that their dead became white, because 

they saw this to be the case when they were flayed for eating ; and when 

they first saw white men they actually believed they were the 

becoming ghosts of their own dead that had returned. Sir Greorge Grey 

^^deattL*^^ was thought to be a returned son formerly speared to death at 

Swan River. " Yes, yes ; it is he ! " cried an old woman, who 

leaned her head on his breast and burst into tears. 

The funeral rites of the Australians are simple, but very varied. The 
chief modes are burial, placing the body in a tree, and burning. Widows 
often shaved the head. White is their mourning colour, worn 
in the form of white clay. Eulogy of the departed in hymns and 
songs takes place after their death, according to their merits. Many Aus- 
tralians believed that at death the ghosts or souls survived, sometimes 
passing into some other person, or wandering about ; and they 
begged it to cease its wanderings and enter some person. Some 
believed that they ascended to an upper region of the heavens, but could 
still visit their earthly abodes. Many of the detailed beliefs recorded about 
the Australians in modern times are, in fact, due to the influence of white 
men's visits and missionaries' teaching. 

^ Trans. Ethnological Society, New Series, vol. iii., p. 246. 



RELIGIONS IN AUSTRALASIA AND POLYNESIA. 27 

THE TASMANIANS. 

The aboriginal Tasmanians, now extinct, had very little more idea of 
religion than the Australians. They had an idea of a future life, where 
they should pursue the chase with unwearied ardour and un- The future 
failing success, and enjoy in vast abundance and with unsated unwearSd 
appetite the pleasures which they sought during life. Some chase, 
thought they were to go to the stars, or to an island where their ancestors 
were, and be turned into white people. They also believed in malevolent 
spirits inhabiting caves and forests. They did not like to move at night. 
In burial their customs varied, like those of the Australians; but Burial 
they sometimes built a funeral mound, or placed a spear by the customs, 
deceased, for him " to fight with when he is asleep." In mourning, the 
women would plaster their shaven heads with pipe-clay and cover their 
faces with a mixture of charcoal and fat, weeping and lacerating their 
bodies with sharp stones. Flowers were thrown on the graves, as well as 
the shaven hair of the women. Some of the bones of the deceased were 
often carried about in a bag hung round the neck. They believed in the 
return of the spirits of their departed friends to bless or injure them. 
During the whole of the first night after the death of one of their tribe, 
they would sit round the body, uttering a low, rapid, continuous recitative, 
to prevent the evil spirit of an enemy from taking it away. 

Wise men and exorcists exercised considerable powers over them. They 
used charms and arts like mesmerism to expel diseases, terrified by the 
rattle of dead men's bones, twirled round a magic mooyumbarr. Exorcists' 
or oval piece of wood. They also kept sacred stones, which must ^^^^o^^^- 
on no account be seen by women. They had a superstitious regard for the 
sun, moon, and various constellations, but could not be said to worship them. 

THE NEW CALEDONIANS AND SOLOMON ISLANDERS. 

The New Caledonians exhibited a more definite religious belief. 
They had a word which represented " dead men " as a sort of deity ; and 
their deceased chiefs were prayed to by name. The living chief Ancestor 
acted as high priest, praying aloud to this effect : "Compassionate worship, 
father, here is some food for you ; eat it ; be kind to us on account of it." 
Feasting and dancing followed this ceremony. The natives of Aneityum, 
New Hebrides, supposed, says the Eev. W. Turner (" Nineteen Years in 
Pol^^nesia "), that the spirit at death leaves the body, goes to the west end 
of the island, plunges into the sea, and swims away to a place of spirits 
called Umatmas, where it is believed there are two divisions, one for the good 
and another for the bad. Their heaven consists in abundance of good food. 

In New Caledonia, however, the spirits of the departed are supposed to 
go to the Bush. Every fifth month they have a spirit night, when heaps of 
food are prepared. The old men and women hide in a cave, and Feasts for 
represent the spirits of the dead to the credulous juniors, singing spirits, 
in an unearthly fashion, which is followed by wild dancing outside. These 



28 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



Prayers. 



people are not without definiteness in tlieir prayers. They pray to one god 
for the eye, that they may see the spear as it ilies towards them; 
to another for the ear, that they may hear the approach of the 
enemy. Certain disease-makers are believed to produce sickness; and this 
was especially found to be the case in the island of Tanna, where they burn 
the refuse of food, the idea being that when it is all burned the person dies, 
" Whenever a person felt ill, a shell was blown for hours, as a call or prayer 
to the disease-maker, to stop burning the rubbish, and a promise of 
presents." 




SA.CBED IMAGE, NEW GEORGIA, SOLOMON ISLANDS. 

There is also a rain-making class of priests in New Caledonia. Their 
method is to pour water on the skeleton of a body exhumed. Almost every 
Rain-making family has its priest, and the chief is high-priest. In Tanna no 
priests. i(Jols were found. The people used the banian-tree as a sacred 
grove, and they venerated some sacred stones. In Mallicolo, New Hebrides, 
however, there were in every village, in the sacred house, three or four 
images, life size, dressed as men, and painted like mummies, which appeared 
to be held sacred. All the deities are supposed to be malignant beings. 
Sorcery and witchcraft are universally believed in. They have a tradition 



RELIGIONS IN AUSTRALASIA AND POLYNESIA. 29 

that their islands were fished up by the gods, who afterwards made men 
and women. 

Captain Cook found the grave of a New Caledonian chief decorated 
with spears, darts, paddles, etc., stuck upright in the ground. According 
to Turner, the body of the deceased is decorated with a belt and - 
shell armlets. They raise and cut off the finger and toe nails burial 
whole to preserve as relics. They spread the grave with a mat, ^^^ °^^' 
and bury all the body but the head. After ten days the friends twist off the 
head, extract the teeth as further relics, and preserve the skull also. 

In the Solomon Islands predominant reverence is shown to the spirits 
of dead men — practically not extending beyond grandfathers. Common 
men are believed to have gone to a neighbouring island where they 
wander about aimlessly ; the more distinguished are believed to remain 
in the neighbourhood of their friends, and to give them help when praj^ed 
and sacrificed to. Certain prayers, handed down from father to son, are 
muttered. Witchcraft and charms are much believed in, and sharks are 
much reverenced. The canoe- houses often appear to be in the way to 
become sacred buildings, and they are ornamented by carved wooden 
figures, representing ghosts of various deceased people. Food is sometimes 
set before these, and their removal would be held to bring punishment 
from the dead man ; but many of the carved figures of the Solomon Islands 
have no religious significance. See Rev. R. H. Codrington's valuable paper, 
'' Religious Beliefs and Practices in Melanesia," Journal of AnthrojpoJogical 
Institute^ vol. x. 

THE MAORIS. 

The Maoris of New Zealand were not much beyond the New Cale- 
donians. When Captain Cook visited them, he saw no appearance of 
religious ceremonies, except that once he observed a basket con- Deified 
taining fern roots hung up in a small enclosure, and said to be ancestors, 
an offering to the gods, to render them propitious, and obtain a good crop. 
Their chiefs appeared to become deified, and even the living chiefs were be- 
lieved to be deified, or to express the opinions of gods. Te Heu Heu, a New 
Zealand priest and chief, once said to a European missionary : " Think not 
that I am a man, that my origin is of the earth. I come from the heavens; 
my ancestors are all there : they are gods, and I shall return to them." 
Maui was said to be their great ancestor, who drew the island out Legend of 
of the sea with a fish-hook. Spirits of the deified ancestors were ^^ui. 
beheved sometimes to visit the earth in the form of lizards, spiders, and 
birds. 

The Maoris applied the term atua to every kind ot supernatural beings, 
but also included in it all active agencies of nature. They ex- 
tended the same term to Europeans and their watches. The 
ghost of a departed chief was an atua, and might be benevolent or male- 
volent in the shadow world. 

A certain mythology has been discovered among the New Zealanders, 



30 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



Mjrthology. 



strangely reminding one in some of its features of the old Greek mythology. 
Rangi and Papa — the Heaven and the Earth — begot six children 
or gods, and fathers respectively : (1) of men and war; (2) of food 
arising without cultivation ; (3) of fish and reptiles ; (4) of winds and 
storms ; (5) of cultivated food ; (6) of forests and birds. A conspiracy 
between these gods resulted in the separation of heaven from earth. 

The New Zealanders believed there were two distinct abodes for the 

spirits of the dead : Rangi, in the sky, and Reinga, in the sea, the entrance 

™^ ^ . beine: at the northern extremity of the island. They ascribed 

The aoodes o ipti iiit_ 

of spirits internal diseases to sorcery or witchcraft, and they could only be 
of the dead. ^^^^^ ^^ incantations. Evil deeds were punished in this world, 
and the punishments were sent from deified ancestors. 




CORPSE, AND COBPSE-PBAYING PRIEST, NEW ZEALAND. 

There was not much distinction between priests and chiefs ; sometimes 

the chiefs brother was priest. The priests' duties were to see the laws of 

The priests' the tapu ^ enforced, to heal the sick, attend at funerals and 

duties, births, to tattoo people, to instruct children in songs and traditions, 

to advise in time of war, and to interpret omens. They were also supposed 

to converse with the dead.^ 

In Cook's time the New Zealanders did not bury their dead. At Queen 

1 Taj)u^ from which we derive our " taboo," meant sacred, or separate from common 

' 2 For an interesting account of the Maori Eace, see Mr. Kerry-Nicholls's paper in 
Journ. Anthrop. Inst., vol. xv. 



RELIGIONS IN AUSTRALASIA AND POLYNESIA. 31 

Charlotte's Sound they threw them into the sea. The dead chiefs were 
wrapped in mats, put into canoe-shaped boxes, along with their jyjQ^gg ^^ 
club, and placed on elevated stages or suspended from trees, or burial and 
interred in the houses where they died. Mourning by the °^°^^^^^^^^- 
relatives went on, with cutting of the body, for weeks. About a year after- 
wards the bones were cleaned and secretly deposited by priests in sepulchres 
on hill tops, in forests, or in caves. Food and water were placed at the 
graves of the dead, the spirit being believed to come at night and feed 
from the sacred calabashes. 

THE FRIENDLY ISLANDERS, 

Eeligious belief in the Tonga or Friendly Islands assumed a yet more 
developed aspect. The people believed in superior beings or gods, who 
dispensed good and evil to mankind according to their merits, superior and 
and inferior gods who are the souls of deceased chiefs, with inferior 
inferior powers. All evils were ascribed to the anger of the good 
gods, or the mischievous disposition of the bad gods. Mankind, they said, 
originally came from Bolotoo, the abode of the gods. They believed in a 
human soul (except for the lower classes), existing in Bolotoo in the form 
and likeness of the body, the moment after death. 

The Tongans had a spiritual chief, alleged to be descended from gods. 
The priest, when consulted, became emotional and " inspired," and declared 
the will of the god. Most of the gods had a separate temple and spiritual 
a separate priest ; but there appeared to be no public or private cMef 
rehgious rites without kava drinking as a part of it. They from the 
believed in omens and charms, and sacrificed to the departed ^^^^' 
spirits of chiefs, and consulted the gods before commencing any important 
undertaking. 

Among these people we meet with private and reserved burial grounds 
for the chief families. Like so many other races, they showed their 
mourning by cutting themselves with clubs, stones, knives, or sharp shells, 
shaving the head, and burning the cheeks. 

THE SAMOANS. 

The Samoans were conspicuous for the great number of their gods. 
Every one from birth had a protecting god ; every village had its god, the 
names borne by them being, among others, " The Swift One," q^^^j.^^ ^ 
" The Sacred One," " Destruction," " The God of Heaven." They and^vmage 
were supposed to appear visibly as some animal, the rainbow, 
shooting stars, etc. Scarcity of food they ascribed to one particular god. 
They had traditions of a time when the heavens alone were inhabited, and 
the earth was covered with water. The heavens a long time ago 
fell down. Fire was obtained from the earthquake god. In one 
district they had a stone rain-god. When there was too much rain, those 
who kept the stone put it to the fire to dry, and cause the rain to a stone 
stop. If there was great drought, they took the stone to the ^'^^s^^- 
water and dipped it, thinking that would bring rain. 



32 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 




TAHITIAN BIEB. 



The priests were either the chiefs, or the office was hereditary. The 
priests decided on peace or war, fixed the feast days of the gods, and 

received the of- 
ferings. Taboo 

Functions of W a S 

priests, large- 
ly practised. To 
protect pro- 
perty, a rude re- 
presentation of 
an animal or of 
some plague, by 
which it was 
hoped the de- 
predator might 
be killed, was 
hung up. Thus 
there were the 
white shark, the 
sea pike, the 
ulcer, and the 
cross -stick ta- 
boo, the latter representing a disease running right across the body. 

The Samoans believed that the souls of their chiefs were immortal, and 

that they were conveyed by spirits to an 
Ttie spirit abode of ghosts beyond their 
land. islands, and very much like 
them. There was an imagined chief 
ruler of this land. At night these ghosts 
are able to revisit their old homes, and 
give counsel and predict the future to 
members of their family ; to others they 
would carry disease and death. 

THE HERVEY ISLANDERS. 

By far the most complete and ac- 
curate account we have of the religion 
Rev.w.w. ^^^ mythology of any Poly- 
Giu in nesian people, is that given by 
Mangaia. ^^^ ^^^ ^ WjM Gill, in 

" Myths and Songs from the South Pa- 
cific." Having lived for many years in 
Mangaia, one of the Hervey Islands, and 
gained the confidence of the last of their 
priests and of many others, he has been 
enabled to present us with an almost complete account, which is of extreme 




FUNEEAL-DBESS OF THE NEAREST BELATIVE 
OP THE DECEASED PERSON, TAHITI. 



RELIGIONS IN AUSTRALASIA AND POLYNESIA. 



33 



interest, and will enable us materially to shorten the accounts given of 
other Polynesians. 

The Mangaians conceived of the universe as like the hollow of a vast 
cocoanut shell. The interior has a single aperture above, where the 
Mangaians dwell. At the bottom of the supposed cocoanut shell ^^^^^ ^^ ^^^ 
was a thick stem, tapering to a point, which was a spirit or universe 
demon, without human form, named " The Eoot of all Existence." ^^ ^^ 
Above this extreme point was a stouter spirit, called " Breathing or Life " ; 




HUMAN SACRIFICE IN FORMER TIMES, TAHITI. 



above again, a thicker spirit, " The Long Lived." These three were fixed 
sentient spirits, who together supported all the universe. In the interior of 
the supposed cocoanut Hved a female demon, "The very Beginning," anxious 
for progeny. One day she plucked off a bit of her right side, The father 
and it became the first man, Vdtea^ the father of gods and men. of gods 
Subsequent births from both her right and left sides by " The 
very Beginning," gave rise to lords of the sea, of the winds, etc., and one, 
named Tu-metua, " Stick-by- the-parent," living with the mother in " the 
mute land." Tu-metua, shortened to Tu, is a principal god in many 
Polynesian islands. A whole series of mythological events was assigned to 
these gods, almost as complex as the Greek mythology, and as in- 
teresting. 

According to Mr. Gill, the Polynesians had no idea of a Supreme Being 



34 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

creating a universe out of nothing. Co-ordinate witli the spirits or demons 

._ , , - above mentioned were deified men ; and birds, fish, reptiles, 
No idea of a , .,,..,. t i if i 

supreme msects, and specially inspired priests were reverenced as incar- 
nations, mouthpieces, or messengers of the gods. There are 
numerous traditions about the exploits of these deified men, evidently 
D ifi d former chiefs. E-ongo, the offspring of Yatea, was the chief god 
and their of Mangaia, reigning in the night or " shades." Motoro was 
exp 01 s. ^^ ancestor god termed " the living god," co-ordinately wor- 
shipped. Makitaka, the last priest of Motoro, embraced Christianity. The 
image of Motoro is in the museum of the London Missionary Society. 

'' The word * io,' commonly used for ' god,' " says Mr. Grill, " properly 

means pith or . core of a tree. What the core is to the tree, the god was 

The gods the believed to be to the man. In other words, the gods were the 

life of men. j^fg Qf mankind. Even when a worshipper of Motoro was slain 

in fair fight, it was supposed that the enraged divinity would, by some 

special misfortune or disease, put an end to the offender." On entering the 

The king's god-house of the king, a rude reed hut, the first idol was Rongo, 

idols. --^^ ^Q form of a trumpet shell ; next came the honoured Metoro ; 

then came eleven others, thirteen being the number admitted as national 

gods. The term applied to them, '' dwellers by day," signified that they 

were continually busy in the affairs of mortals. These alone had carved 

images. Those who " dwelt in night " were, however, supposed frequently 

to ascend by day to take part in affairs. 

A strange explanation is given of the origin of a priesthood. The gods 
were said to have first spoken to man through small land birds ; but their 
Origin of a utterances were too indistinct for guiding men, and consequently 
priesthood, priests were set apart, in whom the gods took up temporary 
abodes. Hence they were called god-boxes^ or briefly gods. When con- 
sulted, an offering of the best food, and a bowl of an intoxicating liquor had 
to be brought. The priest, in a frenzy, gave his response in language in- 
telKgible only to the initiated. No one being supposed to die a natural 
Death due to death except from old age, the people inquired of the priests 
sins. ^hat sins had occasioned any one's illness. If the priest bore 
any one a grudge, he had only to announce that the divinity willed it, and 
he was put to death. 

The exploits of Maui, the fire-god, are some of the most famous. He 

first captured fire from the nether world, raised the sky, and made the sun 

captive. Many other arts of mankind are traced by the natives 

Exploits of -"^ , . , r ,T T rrn • ; • ^- t i , 

Maui, the to achievements 01 the gods. The intoxicating draught even is 
fire-god. (^Qj.j^yQ^ from that which the mistress of the invisible world gives 
to her victims. Thieving is taught by Iro, coming up on moonlight nights 
from spirit land. Everything in earth, air, or sea is traced to a super- 
natural source. 

The dead were thrown down the deepest chasms, in which 

thrown Mangaia abounds, and these were supposed to be openings into 

into chasms, ^j^^ ^^^^ hoUow, the repository of the dead. The Mangaians be- 



RELIGIONS IN AUSTRALASIA AND POLYNESIA. 35 

lieved tlie spirits occupied themselves like mankind — marrying, multi- 
plying, sinning, quarrelling. Birds, fisli, rats, beetles, cocoanuts, yams, 
all abound in tbis Hades. The high road tbitber is closed. Tbe spirits bad 
so molested men, brougbt disease and deatb upon tbem, stolen j^gj^g ^^ 
tbeir food, etc., tbat to put an end to tbese annoyances a royal ^P"^* world, 
person rolled berself alive down tbe great opening, wbicb tben closed up. 
Since tben tbe spirits of mortals descend by a different route, and tbe in- 
habitants of Hades no longer molest mankind. 

It is said that tbe first who ever died a natural deatb in Mangaia was 
Vectini, tbe only and beloved son of Tueva and Manga, who died in early 
manhood. Tbe parents established those mourning customs Mourning 
wbicb were ever afterwards observed. All tbe relatives blackened customs, 
their faces, cut off tbeir hair, gashed tbeir bodies with sharks' teeth, and 
wore native cloth dyed red and dipped in black mud, forming a most 
odoriferous garment. Their heads were surrounded with fern singed with 
fire. These ceremonies occupied from ten to fifteen days. 

Sometimes, in honour of distinguished persons deceased, grand tribal 
gatherings took place, to recite songs in their honour. This was called, a 
talk about tbe devouring, or a death-talk ; for when a person ^he death- 
died, it was customary to say he was eaten up by the gods. As *^^- 
many as thirty " weeping-songs " were often prepared : each adult male 
relative must recite a song. Numerous most interesting specimens of tbese 
are given by Mr. Gill. We can give only a few lines from one of them. 

" Speed, then, on thy voyage to spiritland, 
Where a profusion of garlands awaits thee. 
There the bread-fruit tree, pet son, is ever laden with fruit ; 
Yes, there the bread-fruit tree is ever in season, my child." 

Human sacrifices were formerly offered by the Mangaians, and votous 
families were at different periods condemned to furnish the victims ; and 
horrible tales of atrocities in connection with them are preserved. 

THE SOCIETY ISLANDERS. 

The natives of tbe Society Islands worshipped many gods, some being 
gods of war and peace, others employed as heralds between gods and men, 
others in healing. Some were gods of localities or of professions, varied 
The gods even presided over games, wrestling, dancing, and deities. 
archery, offerings being made to tbem both before and after the games. 
Earthquakes were believed to be under tbe control of a special divinity. 
Fishes and birds were also among their divinities. The turtle was always 
held sacred, and dressed with sacred fire within tbe precincts of the temple, 
part of it being always offered to tbe idol. Spirits of deceased chiefs and 
relatives were also worshipped, though with certain distinctions. Each 
notable spirit was honoured with an image, through which his influence 
was believed to be exerted. Tbese images were kept in tbe Maraes, in 
houses raised from tbe ground on poles. The gods were believed to watch 



36 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

the people jealously, to be ready to avenge any disobedience to their injunc- 
tions conveyed through the priests. They attributed every calamity to 
the anger of the gods. Every disease was supposed to be inflicted for some 
crime against the taboo, or some offering made by an enemy to procure 
their destruction. 

The Tahitians had a vague idea of a future state. They imagined the 
spirit was seized by other spirits, conducted to the state of night, and 

The future usually eaten gradually by the gods. Some, however, were not 
state. eaten, but Hved with the gods as deified spirits. They imagined 
a most beautiful heaven near a certain mountain : but they did not seem to 
assign this heaven to the good only, or to imagine that actions in this 
world influence the future state at all. A resemblance to other peoples far 
away is to be found in the fact that if, after repeated offerings for a chiefs 
recovery, the god still refused to exert his influence, the Tahitians execrated 
the idol and banished him from the temple, and chose some other who they 
hoped would be more favourable. 

The hereditary priesthood had great power in Tahiti, and the king was 
sometimes chief priest and personified the god. The worship of their chief 

The priest- god Oro was attended by frequent human sacrifices. Before 
hood. going to war these were especially offered. Religious rites were 
practised in connection with all the principal acts of life ; and the priests 
received considerable offerings for their services. The Tahitians' maraes 
were used for burial as well as worship. In many respects their funeral 
customs resembled those described by Mr. Gill. 

THE SANDWICH ISLANDERS. 

The Sandwich Islanders did not differ very markedly from their more 
southern relatives in their religious ideas ; but they attached great import- 
Voicanic ance to certain volcanic deities, whose worship was doubtless in- 
deities. spired by the volcanic phenomena by which they have often 
suffered. These deities were asserted never to journey on errands of mercy; 
their only excursions being to receive offerings or to execute vengeance. 
Their idea of heaven was of a low order. A native remarked to Mr. Ellis, 
" If there is no eating and drinking, or wearing of clothes in heaven, 
wherein does its goodness consist ?" They supposed that after the death of 
any member of a family, the spirit of the departed hovered about the places 
of its former resort, appeared to the survivors sometimes in dreams, and 
Avatched over their destinies. Captain Cook was worshipped by the Sand- 
wich Islanders as a god, and his bones preserved as sacred. 

The taboo was as powerful in the Sandwich Islands as anywhere. Idols, 
temples, the person and name of the king, the persons of the priests, the 
Power of the houses and other property of the king and priests, and the heads 
taboo. Qf jj^Qjj^ j^^^2ii were devotees of any particular idol, were tapu or 
sacred. The flesh of hogs, fowls, turtle, cocoanuts, and almost everything 
offered in sacrifice was sacred, and forbidden to be eaten by women. 



RELIGIONS IN AUSTRALASIA AND POLYNESIA. 



37 



Certain seasons were kept tapu, from five to forty days in duration. These 
were either before some religious ceremony or war or during sickness. 
During the season of strict tapu, says Mr. Ellis ('' Tour through Hawaii"), 
every fire or light must be extinguished. No canoe must be launched on 
the water, no person must bathe ; and except those whose attendance was 
required at the temple, no individual must be seen out of doors. No dog 
must bark, no pig must grunt, no cock must crow. So the dogs' and pigs' 
mouths were tied up, and the fowls' eyes covered. The kings and priests 
must touch nothing, their food being put into their mouths by other 
persons. The priests and the chiefs united to keep up this system of taboo 



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MARAE AND ALTAR AT HDAHINE, SOCIETY ISLANDS. 



by the rigid infliction of the death-penalty for its violation. The priests 
also acted the part of sorcerers and doctors, receiving of course heavy fees, 
a cloth, mat, pig, dog, etc., usually paid beforehand. 



THE FIJIANS, 

Coming back to the islands within a large circle round Australia, we 
have very extensive information about the religious ideas and practices of 
the Fijians before their conversion to Christianity. They be- 
lieved in a future existence not only for all men, but also for spirits of 
animals, plants, houses, canoes, tools. '^ Some speak of man as ™^°' 
having two spirits," says the Rev. T. Williams ("Fiji and the Fijians"). 
" His shadow is called ^ the dark spirit,' which they say goes to Hades. The 



38 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 




other is Lis likeness reflected in water or a looking- 
glass, and is supposed to stay near tlie place in wliicli 
a man dies. I once placed a good-looking native 
suddenly before a mirror. He stood delighted. ' Now,' 
he said softly, ' I can see into the world of spirits.' " 

In the Fijian's heaven he expected to lead a life of 
activity, with sailing, fishing, sporting, etc. He did not 
The Fijian lc>ok for a separation between the good and 
heaven, the bad, although men who had slain no 
enemy would be compelled to beat dirt with their 
FIJIAN TEMPLE. <^vh^ Si most degrading punishment ; and women not 
tattooed would be pursued by other women and finally 
scraped with shells and made into bread for the gods. The journey to the 
other world was imagined as being a journey to another distant island, 
attended with great danger. The Fijian peopled every lonely spot with 
invisible spirits, who however assumed the human form at will and 
appeared frequently. 

Each island, even each locality, had its own rival gods, who were 
of like passions with the natives, loving and hating, proud and revenge- 
Passions of ^^\ making war, killing and eating each other. They were said 
the gods, -to tumble out of canoes, pay tribute to each other, trip each other 
up, go gaily dressed, etc. The priests asserted strongly that the people's 
success in war depended on their desire to gratify the appetite of the god, 
who was a great lover of human flesh. In fact in no religion was cannibalism 
Human n^ore strictly enjoined. Chiefs sometimes killed some of their 
sacrifices, -^iyes in order to supply the sacrifices for the gods. Capt, Erskine 
("Journal of a Cruise among the Islands of the "Western Pacific") describes 
canoes launched over the living bodies of slaves as rollers, houses built on 
similar foundations, the immediate massacre of all shipwrecked persons, as 
having been strictly enjoined and enforced by the priests. Any man who 
could sufficiently distinguish himself by murdering his fellow-men could 
certainly secure deification after death. 

Among the Fijian gods may be mentioned Ove, the maker of all men ; 
BatnmaimhulUj who caused fruitfulness, during whose month it was tapu to 
sail, to go to war, to plant, or build houses ; U-dengei, represented 
as a serpent merging into a stone, and having no passion but 
hunger. Some of the gods were mere monsters, one having eight arms, 
one eight eyes, and one eighty stomachs. In fact, every object that is 
specially fearful, vicious, or injurious was likely to be placed among the 
lower class of Fijian gods. 

If a Fijian chief died, one or more of his wives, his principal friend, and 

often many more, were strangled, to accompany him to the world of spirits. 

The chiefs' That he should appear there unattended was a most repugnant 

funera s. {^q^^^ The wives were killed even at their own request, knowing 

they would be insulted, and perhaps starved, if they lived. A club was 

placed in the dead man's hand, to enable him to defend himself against 



RELIGIONS IN AUSTRALASIA AND POLYNESIA. 39 

his enemies ; and whale's teeth were added, in order to propitiate the 
spirits. 

Certain tribes in Fiji, according to the Eev. L. Fison {Journ. Anthrop, 
Inst. J vol. xiv.), had a set of mysteries known as the Nanga, into which 
young men were initiated at full age, and which were performed 
in a sacred enclosure, where the ancestral spirits were to be found 
by their worshippers, offerings being taken thither on all occasions when 
their aid was invoked. 

THE PAPUANS. 

The Papuans of Dory, New Guinea, according to Mr. Earl, worship an 
idol called Karwar, with which every house is provided, a figure rudely 
carved in wood, about eighteen inches high, hideously dispro- 
portioned, and holding a shield. They regularly consult this idol, 
squatting before it, clasping their hands over the forehead, and bowing re- 
peatedly, at the same time stating their intentions. It is considered 
necessary that the Karwar should be present on all important occasions, 
such as births, marriages, or deaths. They have also a number of carved 
figures which may be denominated fetishes. They are usually figures of 
reptiles, which are suspended from the roofs of the houses ; the posts are 
also ornamented with similar figures, cut into the wood. All the natives 
possess amulets, which may be carved pieces of wood, bits of bone, quartz, or 
some trifle. 

When a death occurs among these people, the body is buried in a grave, 
resting on its side, and with a porcelain dish under the ear. If Biiriai 
the head of a family is dead, the Karwar is brought to the grave °^ Papuans, 
and loaded with reproaches, and when the grave is filled up, the idol is left 
to decay on the roof built to shelter the grave, 

THE DYAKS OF BORNEO. 

The Sea-Dyaks of Borneo have a chief deity called Batava, " a pure 
Sanskrit term for God, and probably a relic of their former intercourse with 
the Javan Hindus " (Low's '' Sarawak "). They have a number The sea 
of good and bad spirits, to both classes of which they make offer- Dyaks' beuefs, 
ings, the larger share going to the wicked spirits. All sicknesses, misfortunes, 
and deaths are credited to them. At certain seasons these people go to the 
woods to commune in private with the spirits. Work is stopped at certain 
seasons of the moon ; and what with bad omens, sounds, signs, dreams, and 
deaths, they lose a great deal of time from their work. 

The Land-Dyaks have a principal deity called " Tuppa," or " Jerroang," 
who is beneficent, and always invoked at their agricultural and peaceful 
feasts ; but in association with the sun and moon, and also with Rajah 
Brooke, who is worshipped by aU classes of Dyaks who have come under the 
spell of his influence. The war-gods are malevolent, and imagined to be of 
fierce and wild appearance, covered with coarse red hair like an orang. 



40 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS, - 

Superstitions are abundant among tlie Sea-Dyaks ; and, as a natural con- 
sequence, medicine-men or priests flourish. The medicine-man is often old, 

« ^ , . sometimes blind and maimed: fees not unfrequently make him 

Sea Dyaks . ' u »/ 

; mjdicine rich. At the launching of a new boat, preparatory to head-hunt- 

^®^ ing, the spirits presiding over it are appeased and fed. The 

building of a house is sometimes attended by the sacrifice of a slave-girl to 

the spirits. The sick are pretended to be cured by the medicine-man, who 

assembles a great horde of people to make as much noise as possible with 

gongs. 

It is impossible to mention here more than a small part of the superstitions 
current among the Land Dyaks. One belief of theirs was, that man and the 
Superstitions ^P^^^^^ were at first equal, and fought on fair terms ; but that, on 

of one occasion, the spirits got the better of man, and rubbed char- 
^ ' coal in his eyes, so that he can no longer see his spirit-foes, except 
in the case of the priests. They believe that a piece of cloth from Eajah 
Brooke, or the water in which his feet have been washed, put into the soil, 
or his presence at their village, will ensure good crops. Tapu exists among 
them, and they always have a superstition to explain events, especially 
accidents. Traces of the Hindu religion are to be found among them. 

Both burial and cremation are practised by the Dyaks. In some cases 
bodies are placed in coffins raised on posts, or on a raised platform. 
Burial of Weapons, ornaments, food, and property are frequently buried 
Dyaks. "w-ith them. Sometimes boats decorated with flags are placed 
near the graves for the use of the departed spirits in their migrations. On 
the death of a chief, or even of a prominent man, several tribes of Dyaks 
offer human sacrifices ; the victims, mostly slaves, are destined to attend 
the chief in the other world. " Among some Dyak tribes it was a custom, 
for a chief at least, when one of his children died, to sally oat, and kill the 
first person he met, even if it were a brother."^ 

THE SUMATRANS. 

The Sumatrans have scarcely as much religion as the Dyaks. Mr. 
Marsden found the Rejangs with no kind of worship, but vaguely believing 
Sumatran i^ superior beings, visible or invisible at pleasure, causing them 
deities, good or evil. The Sumatrans generally venerate the tombs of their 
ancestors ; but they have no images of them. They imagine tigers to be 
inhabited by the spirits of departed men. The Battas have three deities 
which rule the world, the first bearing rule in heaven, the father of all 
mankind, the second ruling . in the air, the third on earth. But their in- 
ferior deities are as numerous as earthly objects or circumstances. They 
believe also in four evil spirits, dwelling in four mountains, and causing all 
their evils. They regard insanity as due to possession by an evil spirit, 
which they attempt to drive away by putting the insane person into a hut, 
which they set fire to, leaving him to escape as best he can. 

^ Spencer St. John, " Life in the Forests of the Far East." ' 



RELIGIONS IiV AUSTRALASIA AND POLYNESIA. 



41 



The Battas 
have a kind of 
priest, occupied in 
foretelling lucky 
and unlucky days, 
making sacrifices, 
performing funeral 
rites, and adminis- 

t er in g Priests of the 
oaths. Ba"^- 
They sacrifice to 
the gods horses, 
buffaloes, goats, 
dogs, fowls, " or 
whatever animal 
the wizard happens 
on that day to be 
most inclined to 
eat." Oaths are 
administered by 
preference in the 
ancestral burying- 
ground, as most 
sacred. They 
swear by an old, 
rusty hris^ a broken 
gun-barrel, or any 
old thing that is 
valued, dipping 
them in water, 
which the person 
swearing drinks of. 
Both the Javans 
and Sumatrans 
hold wakes and 
have prolonged 
funerals for the 
chiefs. 




SOUTH SEA IDOL. 



THE MALAGASY. 



It is astonishing, considering their separation by such a wide distance, 
how closely the Malagasy beliefs resembled those of the Fijians and the 
Malays ; but this is readily understood when we realise how near qq^s of the 
akin they are by race. Drury described them as worshipping a Malagasy, 
supreme god whom they called " The Lord Above," and four other lords of 
the four quarters of the world, the mediators between men and the god 
above. Ellis says that whatever was new or useful or extraordinary was 



42 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



called god ; as silk, rice, money, thunder and lightning, and earthquakes, 
their ancestors, a deceased sovereign. It is related of King Radama " that, 
in a heavy thunderstorm, he amused himself with firing cannon. The 
British agent asked him his reason. ^ Oh,' said he, ' we are answering one 
another — both of us gods. Grod above is speaking by his thunder and 
lightning, and I am replying by my powder and cannon.' " (Ellis.) 

The Malagasy had idols or charms belonging to each house, family, and 
even individual, some being pieces of wood of a human shape, others quite 
Malagasy shapeless. When they caught sight of a herd of cattle, while 
charms, hunting, they would implore the god to whom the herd belonged 
to grant them a few of his flock. They believed that snakes are the special 
agents of their gods, and they regarded the crocodile with superstitious 
veneration. Altars to the mighty dead are found erected on the principal 
mountains, and were till recently visited for prayer and sacrifice. 

The Malagasy had a great belief in divination, which was largely in the 

hands of the king and the chief man of each place. The idols were under 

Divination ^^ sovereign's special protection. Their temples were not con- 

and sacrifices, gidered places of worship. Sacrifices were made on the sacred 

stone of every village, or at a specially sacred grave. 

They had a form of divination called sikidy.^ worked out like a game of 
chess, by beans, rice, straw, sand, or any other objects that could be easily 
counted or divided, names being given to the different positions 
the numbers or lines formed. There were definite rules, the 
object being to ascertain what must be done in cases of real or imaginary, 
present or apprehended evils. The directions usually concerned a kind of 
offering to obtain favours, or a thing to be thrown away, so as to avert evils. 
Diseases could be averted by supplicatory offerings directed by the sikidy, 
which was also consulted to ascertain the destiny of a new-born child. 

In almost the same breath, says the Rev. "W. Ellis, a Malagasy will ex- 
press his belief that when he dies he ceases altogether to exist, and yet 
Ideas of a confess the fact that he is in the habit of praying to his ancestors, 
future life, which are supposed to hover about their tomb. They believed 
that if the funeral rites were duly performed, the ghost of the deceased 
would not associate with wild cats and owls, and with evil spirits, but enter 
on a state of rest or enjoyment. In Radama's tomb were placed a table, 
two chairs, a bottle of wine and one of water, and two tumblers. They 
religiously regarded dreams, thinking that the good spirit came and told 
them in their dreams when to do a thing, or to warn them of some danger. 

Before entering a burial-place to inter a deceased person, the Malagasy 
used formally to call on each dead member of the family who had been 
buried there, to say that a relative was to be buried there, and to 
' express the hope that the new-comer might have a good reception. 
Large quantities of property were deposited in the graves, especially such 
as the deceased had been attached to. Dishevelled hair, ashes, coarse gar- 
ments were the outward marks of extreme grief. The hair was torn, the 
breasts struck, and the deceased was called upon in an impassioned manner. 




A BONGO CHIEF'S GRAVE. 



CHAPTER III. 

afaorigmal ^Keligions of afnra. 

The Bushmen— Superstitions— The Hottentots— The Namaqua Heitjeebih— Hottentot superstitions— 
The Damaras— Reverence for trees— Ideas of the future— The sacred fire— Ill-treatment of the 
sick— The Bechuanas— Morimo— The Kafllrs- Deities and priests— The East Africans— Mulungn — 
Return of spirits in dreams— Idols of the Balonda— Witchcraft and trial by ordeal— Beliefs of 
the Masai— The Congo tribes— Good and evil deities — Fetishism— Forms of fetishes— Witch-burn- 
ing— Vagueness of African religion— Dreary view of the future— The Gaboon and other West 
African tribes— Idols of the Mpongwe— Mbwiri worship— View of idol temple— Deities of 
Mpongwe— Multitudinous fetishes of Congo Tribes— The gold coast tribes— Bulloms and Tim- 
manees— Fanti superstitions— Fetish priests— No word for spirit or apparition— The other world 
— Removal of the sick— Horrible "medicine" — Interrogation of the deceased— Major Ellis on 
West African religion — Bobowissi and Tando— Nyankupon a new deity— Srahmantin and 
Sasabonsum— Local deities — The bohsum or tutelary deities— The family bohsum— The suhman — 
Alleged coercion of fetishes— The Dahomans— The grand customs— Their object— Deities— Snake- 
worship of Whydah— Tree and ocean worship— Dahoman fetishes— Head- worship —Initiation of 
fetish priests— Visiting dead-land— Fetishes as mediators— The Yorubas of Abeokuta— Beliefs— 
Shango and Oro— Olorun and other deities— Multitudinous impostures. 

IN comparing African religions, it will be found that general resemblances 
are frequent, as amongst the Polynesian islanders, and consequently it 
would be profitless to repeat details to a wearisome extent. The number of 
tribes of whom we now have records is so great that it will be impossible to 
describe more than typical representatives. Some of the older accounts are 
the best, as representing the state of things when native ideas were less 
influenced by intercourse with Europeans than they are now. As far as 
possible the records of those who have lived long among the people have 
been employed. 

THE BUSHMEN AND HOTTENTOTS. 

The Bushmen, perhaps the lowest African race, had httle or no idea of 

43 



44 THE WORLUS RELIGIONS. 

a god ; but tliey had a great belief in magic. They ascribed to some evil 

power all evil that happens, especially rain, cold, and thunder, 

tions of the latter of which they would violently abuse, shooting poisoned 

Bushmen. ^^^^.Q^g ^^ ^j^^ lightning or throwing old shoes at it. They had 

weather-doctors, but did not hold them very sacred, for if one predicted 

falsely several times in succession, he was thrust out of the kraal, and 

might be put to death. They held sacred some species of antelope, and a 

caddisworm to which they prayed for success in hunting. 

The Hottentots have considerably more developed ideas. They seem 

to have a notion of a supreme deity. ''The Namaquas," says Anderson 

{Lake Ngami)^ " believe in Heitjeebib, whom they consider to 

Namaqua have the power to grant or withhold them success or prosperity. 

®^ •'^^ ' But whether Heitjeebib is a deity, a goblin, or merely a deified 

ancestor, I shall not presume to say. At all events, they af&rm he exists 

in the graves of all deceased people : and whenever a Hottentot passes a 

burial-place, he invariably throws a stone, a bush, or other token of offering 

or affection, on the tomb, pronouncing the name of Heitjeebib, and invoking 

his blessing and protection." 

Peter Kolbe, who visited the Cape early in the last century, describes 

the Hottentots as worshipping an evil deity, the father of mischief, whom 

H ttentot ^^^^ called Tonquoa, and propitiated with offerings of an ox or 

supersti- a sheep. They have also been believed to worship the moon, 

which has been denied. They had a belief in the immortality 

of the soul, but not in a state of rewards and punishments after death. 

They believed that the spirit of the dead haunts the place of death. 

Sparrman says, writing before 1785, " The Hottentots shake, jolt, pummel, 

and cuff their dying countrymen, as well as such as are just dead ; at the 

same time shrieking and hallooing in their ears, and casting a world of 

reproaches on them for dying." 

The Hottentots elected their priests, who took charge of worship, 
marriage, and funerals, but strange to say received no fee. They believed 
in charms, such as teeth and claws of lions and other beasts, and even pieces 
of wood and bone, roots, etc. 

THE DAMARAS AND BECHUANAS. 

The Damaras, according to Mr. Francis Galton,^ have a creed which 

asserts that in the beginning of things there was a tree, of which came 

Reverence Damaras, Bushmen, oxen, and zebras, and everything living. 

for trees. Several great trees were treated with reverence. Omakuru is 

a sort of deity who gives or withholds rain. They have a vast number of 

small superstitions, and believe firmly in witchcraft and amulets. They 

bring provisions to the grave of a deceased friend, beseeching him to eat, 

Ideas of invoking his blessing, and praying to him for success against 

the future, enemies, abundance of cattle, numerous wives, etc. They believe 

^ " Narrative of an Explorer in Tropical South Africa," 1853. 



ABORIGINAL RELIGIONS OF AFRICA. 4$ 

the spirits of the dead appear after death, but seldom in their natural 
form, usually in the shape of a dog. Yet they do not appear to expect a 
future state, nor do they give evidence of a notion of right and wrong. 

The Damara chiefs are priests, and bless the oxen, and their daughters 
are priestesses, and have to keep alive the sacred fire, the ex- ^he sacred 
tinction of which is considered a great misfortune. Expiratory fi^®- 
offerings of oxen attend its relighting. 

Very few Damaras die a natural death, says Mr. Gal ton. *' A sick person 
meets with no compassion ; he is pushed out of his hut by his relations 
away from the fire into the cold ; they do all they can to expedite m-treatment 
his death, and when he appears to be dying, they heap ox-hides °^ *^® ^i°^- 
over him till he is suffocated." When a poor woman dies, leaving a baby, 
it is usually buried alive with its mother. 

The above description answered largely for the Bechuanas before their 
intercourse with Europeans and with missionaries. They did not practise 
any form of worship. They called their god Morimo, who was . 

considered cunning and malicious. They never hesitated to of the 
express their indignation at any ill experienced, or any wish 
unaccomplished, by bitter curses ; but when they had a good crop, they 
said he had blessed their fields. Some of their tribes practised divination 
by means of idols made of wood and clay. The priests are medicine men, 
and astrologers, and bless the cattle at the commencement of a war. 
Livingstone gives an account of their prophesying under the influence of 
frenzy, stamping, leaping, and shouting in a peculiar manner, or beating 
the ground with a club. 

THE KAFFIRS. 

Essentially similar is the Kaffir idea of the spirit world. They cannot 
be said to practise any form of worship. They believe in an invisible god, 
but do not represent him by an image. Their tradition speaks Ka^j, deities 
of a Being whom they call the Great-Grreat (Unkulunkulu) and ^^ priests, 
the first Appearer or Exister. They also believed in an evil principle. 
Their ancestor-worship is more definite, combined with a belief that the 
spirits of their ancestors inhabit serpents, which they reverence greatly. 
Prosperity is ascribed to the favour of ancestors, misfortune to their anger ; 
and they are believed to watch over their descendants only. Sacrifices of 
animals are made to them. The Koossas have no priests but enchanters, 
often old women. Oaths are sworn by Kaffirs, in the name of living or 
deceased chiefs. Only the chiefs and their wives are buried. The owner 
of a kraal is buried within it in a sitting posture, with many of his personal 
possessions. The deceased's assegais are broken or bent, so that the ghost 
when he returns may do no harm with them. 

THE EAST AFRICANS. 

The East Africans, including in that term paople up to Zanzibar and 



46 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

the Equator, may be described as very rudimentary worshippers. Many 

are said to have " neither god nor devil, nor heaven nor hell, nor 

soul nor idol." Mulungu is a word applied to a vague superior 

being, who is variously explained as " thunder," " the sky," "the being that 

causes diseases," while some believe that every man becomes a Mulungu 

after death. Sir E,. F. Burton says that the sentiment generally extracted 

from East Africans by a discourse on the subject of a Deity was a desire to 

see him in order to revenge upon him the deaths of relatives, friends, and 

cattle. They believe in the return of spirits in dreams, and the 

spirits in good spirits are propitiated by medicines or honoured by offerings 

reams. ^^ |^^^^ ^^^ meal, or anything they loved while in the body. A 

man with headache was heard by Livingstone to say, " My departed father 

is now scolding me : I feel his power in my head " ; and then he removed 

from the company, making an offering of a little food on a leaf, and praying. 

It is believed also that the souls of departed chiefs enter into lions and 

render them sacred. 

The Balonda have idols, among which are human heads fastened on 

a pole, figures of lions and alligators, made of grass and plastered with 

Idols of the ^^li ®tc- To these they make offerings, and ascribe the gift 

Balonda. of prophecy. 

Witchcraft is universally believed in, and trial by ordeal of poison 

frequently resorted to ; and they have the idea that books are the Europeans' 

^■•4. T. *x instruments of divination. They use bits of wood, horn, knuckle- 
Witcncraft p • • i • i • i i i 

and trial bones of various animals, etc., which are thrown on the ground, 

^ °^ ^ ■ and, according to the way in which they fall, the diviner answers 

inquiries. In some tribes, if a man is either bitten by an alligator or 

splashed by his tail, he is expelled from the tribe ; and they even pray to 

these reptiles. 

The Mganga or Mfumo in Eastern Africa is both doctor and priest, 
diviner, rain-maker or stopper, conjurer, augur, and prophet. " In elephant- 
hunts," says Burton, " he must throw the first spear and endure the blame 
if the beast escapes. He aids his tribe by magical arts in wars." He also 
loads guides with charms. 

The Masai, who are not Bantu, but more or less allied to the North 
Africans, call their vague supreme being Engai, whom they sometimes 
Beliefs of suppose to dwell on the top of Mount Kilima-njaro. With this 
the Masai, "being they especially associate rain and grass, and they pro- 
pitiate him with loud shouting, singing, and dancing. They also have a 
weaker divinity, a kind of earth-spirit, En-naiter Kob, which they often 
call upon to mediate with Engai, and obtain the granting of their prayers 
for rain, success in war, or many male children. They venerate the 
summits of the great snowy mountains, both Kilima-njaro and Kenia being 
the residences of these gods and fit places for mediation. After death, the 
name of a deceased person is never mentioned, lest his spirit should obey 
the call and return. Yet they have very little fear of or belief in ghosts. 



ABORIGINAL RELIGIONS OF AFRICA, 



47 



and they mock at the various Bantu people near them for their elaborate 
propitiation of the ghosts of the departed.^ 



THE CONGO TRIBES. 

Passing now to the West Coast about the Congo and the equatorial 
region, we find ourselves in the very home of fetishism, where the belief 
in a supreme deity is quite vague or absent, and where even Good and 
ancestor-worship is not very pronounced. The negroes believe ^^^ deities, 
in a good and evil principle, both supposed to reside in the sky, the former 
sending rain, the 
latter withdrawing 
it. They do not 
believe in a state 
of retribution, 
though they have 
a vague idea of a 
future state. In 
Loango the souls 
of the good are 
said to go to God ; 
those of the bad 
appear again, and 
rustle in the leaves 
of the bushes. 

The fetishes 
are little more than 
charms. 
The ne- 
groes have a fetish 
for the wind, 
against thunder, 
for sea-fish, for 
river-fish, against 
thorns getting into 
the feet, against worshipping fetishes, coi 

wild beasts, to protect from failing health, for good fortune, for clear eyes, 
for strong legs, for cheap purchases, etc. When a man is about to commit 
a crime, or do what he feels he ought not to do, he lays aside his fetish and 
covers it up, so that he may not know. 

It is not at all essential that a fetish should represent a human or 
animal figure. One common form is a red, round ball of cloth, in which the 
fetish priest has sewn a strong medicine, generally a vegetable porms of 
extract. Tuckey describes the village fetishes, above the Yellala fetishes. 
Falls, as the figure of a man, the body stuck over with bits of iron, feathers, 

* See H. H. Johnson, " The Kilima-njaro Expedition." 



Fetishism. 



, 


» 






1 


t 


^m 


^E 






^H 


i 


1 


w% 






I 


2&-^^^ 


4 


^^^m 






H 


^^' 


^1 


V^^^^^m 


^^^m 




^^ 


^^^ 



48 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

old rags, etc., and resembling nothing so much, as one of our own scare- 
crows. Some, however, are made even of buffalo's hair and dirty rags, or of 
plaited twigs. Certain things are said to be fetished, which reminds one 
of the tapu of the Polynesian. Children must abstain from certain foods ; 
if they eat of them, they are fetished. Women are fetished for eating meat 
the same day that it is killed. When a man applies to a Ganga or priest 
for a domestic fetish, he is instructed from what foods he must abstain. 

Witch or wizard-burning, according to Mr. Johnson, is very common 
among the debased tribes of the coast, and the poison-ordeal prevails 
Witch- largely. At Pallaballa, somebody or other is suspected of having 
burning, caused every death by supernatural means, and the witch-doctor 
is called upon to detect the guilty person, who, if unable to buy himself 
off, is compelled to swallow poison, which is either vomited, which means 
safety, or death takes place. Sometimes neither occurs, and the victim is 
hacked to pieces or burnt. Epileptic diseases are ascribed to the possession 
of spirits, and the medicine man professes to work a cure. 

The supposed inspiration of their priests is attended with great frenzy. 
In some parts the priest answers questions in the first person, as if he 
himself were the god. In most villages are one or two fetish-priests, 
generally with a group of pupils, who make the fetishes. When a person 
has died, the relatives will often question him for two or three hours as to 
why he died. In some parts the bodies of the chiefs are smoked, wrapped 
in a great quantity of cloth, which is increased as putrefaction goes on ; in 
this condition the bodies are kept for a long time. 

Sir R. F, Burton ^ has given some interesting general views of African 
religion. He says, '' The missionary returning from Africa is often asked, 
Vagneness ^^^^^ ^^ ^^ religion of the people ? " If an exact man, he will 
of African answer, ^'I don't know." A missionary of twenty years^ stand- 
ing in West Africa, an able and conscientious student, assured 
me that during the early part of his career he had given much time to 
collecting and collating negro traditions and religion. He presently found 
that no two men thought alike on any single subject. . . . Africans 
believe not in soul, nor in spirit, but in ghost. They have a material, 
evanescent, intelligible future ; the ghost endures only for a while and 
perishes. Hence the ignoble dread in East and West Africa of a death 
which leads to a shadowy world and eventually to utter annihilation. 
Dreary view Seeing nought beyond the present future, there is no hope for 
of the future, tkem in the grave ; they wail and sorrow with a burden of 
despair. " Ame-kwisha " — he is finished — is the East African's last word 
concerning kinsman and friend. " All is done for ever," sing the West 
Africans. Any allusion to loss of life turns their black skins blue ; " Yes," 
they explain, " it is bad to die, to leave house and home, wife and children ; 
no more to wear soft cloth, nor eat meat, nor ' drink ' tobacco or rum." 
"Never speak of that," the moribund will exclaim with a shudder. 

1 " Two Trips to Gorilla Land and the Cataracts of the Congo." 



ABORIGINAL RELIGIONS OF AFRICA. 49 



THE GABOON AND OTHER WEST AFRICAN TRIBES. 

The Mpongwe of tlie Gaboon river, says Burton, have advanced a long 
step beyond the East Africans. '' No longer contented with mere fetishes, 
the charms in which the dreaded ghost ' sits ' or is bound, they i^ois of the 
have invented idols. ... In Eastern Africa I know of but Mpongwe. 
one people, the Wanyika, who have certain images called ' Kisukas ' ; and 
they declare that this great medicine, never shown to Europeans, came 
from the West, and Andrew Battel (1600) found idols amongst the people 
whom he calls Giagas or Jagas, meaning Congoese chiefs. Moreover, the 
Gaboon pagans lodge their idols. Behind each larger establishment there 
is a dwarf hut, the miniature of a dwelling-place, carefully closed; I thought 
these were of&ces, but Hotaloga Andrews taught me otherwise. He called 
them in his broken English '' compass houses," a literal translation of ''Nago 
Mbwiri," and sturdily refusing me admittance, left me as wise as before. 
The reason afterwards proved to be, that ' Ologo, he kill man too much.' 

'' I presently found out that he called my pocket-compass ' Mbwiri,' a 
very vague and comprehensive word. Men talk of the Mbwiri of a tree or 
a river ; it is also applied to a tutelar god ; and it means a ghost. Mbwiri 
In Nago Mbwiri the sense is, an idol, an object of worship, ' a worship, 
medicine,' in contradistinction to Munda, a talisman or charm. Every 
Mpongwe, woman as well as man, has some Mbwiri, to which offerings are 
made in times of misfortune, sickness, or danger. I afterwards managed to 
enter one of these rude and embryonal temples so carefully shut. Behind 
the little door of matting is a tall threshold of board ; a bench lines the far 
end, and in the centre stands 'Ologo,' a rude imitation of a human view of idol 
figure, with a gum torch planted in the ground before it, ready temple, 
for burnt-offerings. To the walls are suspended sundry mystic implements, 
especially basins, smeared with red and white chalk-mixture, and wooden 
crescents decorated with beads and ribbons." During worship certain 
objects are placed before the image, the supplicant at the same time jangling 
and shaking the Nchake, a rude beginning of the bell, the gong, the rattle, 
and the instruments played before idols by more advanced peoples. 

The beliefs of the Mpongwe as to higher powers, according to Burton, 
are mainly these: — 1. The First Cause they call Anyambia, a vague being, 
too high and remote to interfere with human affairs, not addressed Deities of 
in prayer, nor represented in human form, nor lodged in temples. ^P^ngyfe. 
2. Subordinate to Anyambia is Mbwiri, the good god, and Onyambe, the 
bad spirit, whose name is never mentioned but with bated breath. '' They 
have not only fear of, but also a higher respect for, him than for the giver 
of good, so difficult is it for the child-man's mind to connect the ideas of 
benignity and power." 3. Ovengwa is a vampire, the apparition of a dead 
man, tall as a tree, always winking and clearly seen, which is not the case 
with Ibambo and Ilogo, the plurals Obambo and Ologo. There are vulgar 
ghosts of the departed, the causes of possession, disease and death, every- 
where worshipped and propitiated in private. 

E 



50 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

The superstitions of the Congo country have also been well described 
by Burton. "Ever^^ house is stuck inside and outside with idols and fetishes, 
Muititudi- each having its own jurisdiction over lightning, wind, and rain ; 
^°of congo^^some act as scarecrows; others teach magic, avert evils, preserve 
tribes, health and sight, protect cattle, and command fish in the sea and 
river. They are in all manner of shapes, strings of mucuna and poison- 
beans ; carved images stuck over with feathers and tassels ; padlocks with a 
cowrie or a mirror set in them ; horns full of mysterious medicine ; iron- 
tipped poles, bones, birds' beaks and talons, skins of snakes and leopards, 
and so forth. No man walks abroad without his protecting charms, Nkisi 
or Nkizi, slung or hanging from the shoulder ; these are prophylactics against 
every evil to which man's frailty is heir. Like the idols, these talismans 
avert ill-luck, bachelorhood, childlessness, poverty, and ill-health ; they are 
equally powerful against the machinations of foes, natural or supernatural, 
against wild beasts, the crocodile, the snake and the leopard, and against 
wounds of lead and steel. They can produce transformation and destroy 
enemies, cause rain or drought, fine or foul weather, raise and humble, 
enrich and impoverish countries, and above all things, they are sovereign 
to make man brave in battle." 

THE GOLD-COAST TRIBES. 

The BuUoms and Timmanees near Sierra Leone believed in superior 
and inferior spirits, the former inhabiting chiefly the deepest recesses of the 
BuUoms and forests. Remarkable natural objects, such as very large and 
Timmanees. venerable trees, rocks of peculiar form rising in the midst of 
rivers, etc., were dedicated to these. Before they began to sow their planta- 
tions they would sacrifice some animal to these spirits, to beg that their 
crop might abound ; for if this were neglected, they were persuaded nothing 
would grow there. The inferior spirits were said to reside in the outskirts 
or even within the villages. Every person was supposed to have one of 
them as his tutelary spirit, to which he never sacrificed except in case of 
sickness. 

In addition to remarkable natural objects, the Fantis regarded lakes as 
well as rivers with veneration. Numerous animals and serpents were con- 
Fanti sidered as messengers of the spirits or as incarnations of them, 
superstitions, jjj^ soifie places the crocodile is worshipped ; in one a number of 
flies are carefully preserved in a small temple and honoured as fetishes. 
Arbitrary forms are added to the vast variety <)f imitations, and covered 
with red ochre and eggs look sufficiently appalling. 

The fetish priests on the Gold Coast, as in .other quarters, are applied 

to in almost every concern of life — to detect thefts and all social misdeeds, 

Fetish to avert misfortune, to procure blessings, and to reveal future 

priests, events. As soon as a child is born the priest is sent for to bind 

it up, as a protection against sickness and other evils. Ventriloquism 

is regularly used by them as a means of maintaining their influence. 

Here as elsewhere the ancestor-spirits are extensively worshipped with 



ABORIGINAL RELIGIONS OF AFRICA. 51 

sacrifices and libations. Clay figures of departed chiefs are placed in groups 
under the village tree. The Bulloms and Timmanees, accord- j^o^oj-dfor 
ing to Winterbottom, had no fixed opinion respecting a future spirit or 
state, and did not believe that the spirits of their deceased friends ^^^^'^ 
returned to visit their former abodes, nor had they any word in their 
language to express "spirit" or "apparition." According to Bosnian, 
writing at the beginning of the last century, the Grold-Coast natives believed 
that immediately after death people went to another world, The other 
where they lived in the same character as here, and made use world, 
of all the offerings made by their friends and relations to them after death. 
They had little or no idea of future rewards and punishments. They 
attributed disease to the displeasure of the fetish, the malice of evil spirits, 
the incantation of some wizard, or the uneasiness of the spirit of some 
deceased relation, whose obsequies perhaps had not been properly performed. 
Among the Bulloms and Timmanees, when ^any person of con- Removal of 
sequence fell sick, he was immediately removed from his home to *^® ^^°^- 
a town at some distance, where the witchcraft which caused his illness was 
supposed to be ineffectual. If recovery did not take place soon, a hut was 
built in a deep recess of a forest, whither he was carried, and the place of 
his retreat was kept a close secret. 

The Ashanti fetishmen before a war m;ake a mixture of hearts of 
enemies, blood, and consecrated herbs. " All who have never be- Horrible 
fore killed an enemy," says Beecham,i " eat of the preparation ; it "maiicine." 
being believed that if they did not, their energy would be secretly wasted 
by the haunting spirits of their deceased foes." 

Sometimes a dead man's body i-s questioned by his neighbours as to the 
cause of his death ; sometimes he is reproached for leaving his friends ; 
sometimes his spirit is besought to watch over them and protect interrogation 
them from evil. Up to recent periods a chiefs death was followed of the 
by the slaughter of many of his slaves, and not unfrequently of 
his wives and friends, so that he might not be unattended in his new ex- 
istence. " At the end of the funeral customs," says Burton, " especially in 
the Old Calabar River, a small house is built upon the beach, and in it are 
placed the valuables possessed by the deceased, together with a bed, that 
the ghost may not sleep upon the fioor, and a quantity of food upon the 
table." 

Major Ellis has given an admirable account of the religious ideas and 

practices of the Grold Coast tribes speaking the Tshi group of languages, of 

whom the Fantis are the chief.^ His view is, that in these tribes^ . _„. ^„ 

' Major Ellis on 

religion is not connected with morals as we understand them. West African 
Sin to their minds means insult to or neglect of the gods ; while 
murder, theft, etc., are matters in which the gods take no interest, unless 
persuaded to do so in the interest of a faithful worshipper. The belief in 
the malevolent spirits of nature is strongly promoted by the priests and 

* " Ashanti and the Gold Coast." 

« " The Tshi-speaking peoples of the Gold Coast of West Africa." By A. B. Ellis. 1887- 



52 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

priestesses for their own gain. " They frequently talk about them and 
profess to have met them. They introduce their imaginary meetings with 
the local gods, artfully and without apparent design, into general conversa- 
tions. . . . Every misfortune proceeds from and can only be averted 
by the gods ; nothing remains for man to do but to propitiate them." 

Till the appearance of Europeans on the Gold Coast only two general 
deities were worshipped, one, Bobowissi, by the southern, and the other, 
Bobowissi Tando, by the northern tribes. These were believed to have 
and Tando. appointed all the local deities. A yearly feast, with human sacri- 
fices, was held in their honour ; and their stool, or local symbol of authority, 
was washed in human blood. At a later date these people adopted a new 
Nyankupon, god, with characteristics derived from intercourse with Europeans, 
a new deity, namely, Nana-nyankupon (Lord of the sky), superior to Bobo- 
wissi, but too distant from mortals to interfere directly in their affairs ; but 
he was especially considered to be the author of the dread disease, small-pox, 
introduced by the Europeans. He has, however, no special worship. In 
time of war, and when travelling, Bobowissi is still invoked, and sheep in- 
stead of human beings are sacrificed to him. 

Srahmantin and Sasabonsum are deities intermediate between the 
general and the local deities ; or rather, they are names for a class of deities, 
Srahmantin ^^^ ^^® believed in each locality to designate individual deities. 
and The former, a female deity, always lives among the huge silk- 
" cotton trees ; the latter may also be found in hills or forests where 
the soil is red ; both are malignant. Indeed, Sasabonsum is the most 
malignant of all the gods, and waylays and eats solitary travellers. Once 
angered, even unintentionally, he can never be propitiated. Hed soil is his 
special abode, the colour being caused by the blood of the victims he has 
destioyed. Originally human victims were offered to him, but within 
European influence a sheep is now the offering. He is also an earthquake 
god ; and in Ashanti several persons are always put to death after an earth- 
quake as a sacrifice to Sasabonsum and in hope of satiating his cruelty for 
the time. "In 1881 a slight earthquake shock threw down a portion of the 
wall of the king's residence in Coomassie. The king, Mensah, consulted the 
priests as to what should be done, and the latter declared that the damage 
was the act of Sasabonsum, and that the ruined portion must be rebuilt of 
mud {swish) moistened with the blood of virgins. Eifty young girls were 
accordingly slaughtered, and the wall was rebuilt with swish kneaded in 
their blood." Srahmantin also waylays solitary travellers, but does not eat 
them ; they are supposed to be kept by her for four or five months, learning 
the mysteries of her worship, when they are returned to mankind as fully 
qualified priests or priestesses of the deity. 

The multitude of local deities, termed Bohsum, apparently meaning "pro- 
ducer of calamities," is so great that we cannot mention them in any detail. 

^ , ^ .^. It is evident to residents on the Grold Coast that their maliffnitv 

Local deities. ,,.,. . ^,_ & J 

has climmished m proportion to the spread of European mfluence ; 

but beyond that area human sacrifices and licentious and cruel practices 




WITCH DOCTOR CURING WITCHCRAFT, CONGO. 
63 



54 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



continue in undiminished strength. Various days are sacred to local gods, 
and the priests are ready, for a sufficient consideration, to use their influence 
to gain for any individual the objects he may desire, or to avenge any injury 
or wrong done to him. It is the height of sacrilege to cut down a bush or 
a tree, or disturb the soil where a local deity resides, and such insult is often 
visited with death. Each god assists the people in his own manner : a war- 
god by stimulating their courage and destroying the enemy ; a god of pesti- 
lence by sending an epidemic among the enemy; a river-god by obstructing 
the passage of the enemy, or overwhelming him when crossing the stream. 
The name Bohsum is also given to the tutelary deity of particular com- 
munities of people, town or market companies, or 
families ; and these are supposed to be appointed by 
The Bohsum ^^ "^00,21 deities through the agency of a 

or tutelary priest. "While the local deities dwell in 
deities • 

their own local dwelling-places, — in forest, 

hill, river, or sea, — they sometimes enter the images 
which are their symbols ; but with regard to the 
Bohsums, they have their ordinary dwelling-place in 
certain material objects assigned by the local deities 
through the priests. It is to these objects that the 
term fetish (see p. 10) is generally applied, as well as 
to the Suhman of p. 55. 

The following is, in brief. Major Ellis's account 
of the mode of obtaining such an object at the pre- 
sent time. When a new town-company is formed, 
its members go to the priest of a local deity with 
presents, and acquaint him with their wishes. If 
their gifts are satisfactory, he goes with them to the 
abode of the local deity, with which he communicates 
by mysterious sounds and ceremonies. On a day ap- 
pointed for receiving an answer, the priest performs 
a weird dance, foams at the mouth, rolls his eyes, and 
utters strange sounds, as if possessed by the local god. 
He lets fall certain words which are the god's instruc- 
tions to go to a certain place and take from it a stone 
or some earth, or to make a wooden figure from the wood of a certain tree. 
Having carried out these instructions and poured some rum on to the 
ground, he takes the object, which is now believed to be the abode of a deity 
(Bohsum), to some spot near where the majority of the company live, and 
places it on the ground. Branches from some neighbouring tree are planted 
round it, and the whole is enclosed with a palm-stick fence. These branches 
become what are often termed fetish-trees, and supposed to be worshipped. 
When such a tree falls or is blown down, the company or the market is be- 
lieved to have lost the protection of its deity owing to some offence given to 
him ; and. on application to a priest, the offence is atoned for by ceremonies, 
and a new dwelling-place for the god is constructed. Very similar proceed- 




WEST AFBICAN FETISH. 

(With a rope round its neck, as 
if hanged.) 



ABORIGINAL RELIGIONS OF AFRICA. 55 

ings take place in relation to the guardian deities of towns and families, 
although, in the latter case, a dream often furnishes guidance as to the object 
to be selected as the abode of the deity. 

If a family should be visited with persistent ill-luck, sometimes the 
priests put the Bohsum to the test by fire ; if it is unconsumed, it is con- 
sidered to be genuine, and entitled to renewed gifts ; if it is even Tj^g family 
slightly injured by the fire, it is thrown aside, and a new one BoHsum. 
must be chosen. The head of the family looks after the Bohsum's wants, 
and its festival is held on appointed days, when all wear white, either cloth 
or paint, and appropriate offerings are made. 

But individuals also have their special deities, termed '' Suhman/' each 
of these being a subordinate spirit belonging to Sasabonsum, obtainable by 
the individual for himself without a priest. The chief function 
of these is to destroy persons who have injured or offended the 
individual. To get a Suhman, a man goes into a dark forest recess where a 
local Sasabonsum resides, and, after pouring a little rum on the ground, he 
cuts a small branch from a tree and carves it into a rough resemblance to a 
human figure, or he takes a stone and binds it. round with fibres (vascular 
bundles) of bamboos, or he takes the root of a plant or some red earth and 
makes it into a paste with blood or rum, putting it into- a little pan and 
sticking the red tail-feathers of a parrot into it. He then) calls upon a spirit 
of Sasabonsum to enter it, promising to pay it due reverence. It is then 
said that he picks some leaves and squeezes their juice upon- the object, say- 
ing, "Eat this, and speak." Then, if a spirit has entered it, a low hissing 
noise is heard. He then obtains answers in the same way to several ques- 
tions as to how the Suhman is to be kept and treated. But if after all this 
the man finds that things do not go well with him, he concludes that a 
spirit did not enter the object, and he throws it away, but not until he has 
made an offering to it in case it should be angry. It is, however, an ex- 
ceptional thing for natives to have these Suhmans, and those who have them 
are much dreaded, bsing supposed to be able to procure the death of those 
who offend them. This account supports Mr. Ellis's statement, " that the be- 
lief that the negroes of the Gold Coast take at random any ordinary object 
and invest it with the character of a god is entirely without foundation. 
. . . The indwelling god cannot bs lost sight of, because he so frequently 
manifests himself by leaving the object in which he ordinarily dwells and 
entering the body of a priest. . . . The negroes of the Gold Coast are 
always conscious that their offerings and worship are not paid to the inani- 
mate object itself, but to the indwelling god ; and every native with whom 
I have conversed upon the subject has laughed at the possibility of it being 
supposed that he could worship or offer sacrifice to some such object as a 
stone." It may be thought by some that it is immaterial to distinguish be- 
tween worship of an idol as a material object and worship of a spirit which 
has taken up more or less permanent abode in such an object. But besides 
the paramount necessity for accuracy, it will appear to most candid students 
that there is all the difference in the world between worship of a material 



56 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



object and worsliip of a spirit, however limited or degraded or evil in its re- 
sults tlie belief may be. Tliere has been too much, tendency in the past to 
estimate uncivilised peoples by their supposed low position as worshippers 
of inanimate objects selected at random. 

Major Ellis is also satisfied that the natives of the Gold Coast never 




MOON DANCE, CENTKAL AFRICA. 

think they can coerce their gods, nor attempt to do so. It is by propitiation 

AUeffed ^-"^^ flattery, and promises of offerings and worship that the deities 

coercion of are believed to be influenced ; and the natives so implicitly believe 

fetislies . '* jt »/ 

in the superhuman power of their gods, and hold them generally 
in such awe, that they would expect a terrible calamity to follow any ill- 
treatment even of the Bohsum or Suhman. In other respects the religion of 
the Gold Coast has a marked resemblance to the animism of otier raoes. 



ABORIGINAL RELIGIONS OF AFRICA. 57 



TRE DAH0MAN8. 

The extreme instance of human sacrifice as connected with religion at 
the present day is to be found in Dahomey. Extraordinary as it may 
appear, the horrible and frequent massacres which still exist in Dahomey, 
to the disgrace of mankind, are really manifestations of filial piety. The 
Dahoman sovereign must enter Dead-land with royal state, accompanied by 
a ghostly court of leopard wives, head wives, birthday wives, Afa wives, 
eunuchs, singers, drummers, king's devils, band, and soldiers. Tiie grand 
This is the object of the " Grand Customs," when the victims may customs, 
amount to five hundred. Every year, however, the firstfruits of war and 
all criminals must be sent to join the king's retinue, and this accounts for 
the annual customs. However trivial an action is done by the king, such 
as inventing a new drum, being visited by a white man, or even removing 
from one palace to another, it must be dutifully reported by some male or 
female messenger (slain) to the paternal ghost. The king of Dahomey on 
a certain day cut off the heads of four men, a deer, and a monkey. One 
man was to go to all the markets and tell all the spirits what the q^^^qq^ ^f 
king was about to make for his father ; the second was to go to the 
all the waters and tell all the animals there ; the third to all the 
roads and tell all the spirit- travellers ; the fourth to the firmament and tell 
all the hosts there ; the deer was to go to the forests and tell the beasts ; 
the monkey to go to all the swamps and climb the trees and tell all the 
animals there. A man had been previously killed at the late king's tomb 
to carry the message to him. 

The supreme deity of the Dahomans is Mau, '' the unknown god." 
Mau is also the moon, a feminine principle which, in conjunction with Lisa 
or Se, a male spirit, representing the sun, made man. Mau is too Deities of 
high to care for man, and is neither feared nor loved ; yet it is .i>aiiomans. 
believed that he can be influenced by the intercession of many fetishes or 
worshipped objects. All kinds of natural objects are among these. A man 
about to undertake anything new seeks supernatural aid, and, it is said, 
often takes the first object, bird or beast, stock or stone, seen in the morning 
on leaving his house, and makes it his fetish. If he is successful, it is 
worshipped ; if not, better help is sought. Mau is said to have an 
assistant who records the good or evil deeds of every person by means of a 
stick, the good being notched at one end, the bad at the other. When any 
one dies, his body is judged by the balance between the two ends of the 
stick. If the good preponderates, it is permitted to join the spirit in Dead- 
land ; but if the evil outweighs the good, it is utterly destroyed and a new 
body created for the spirit.^ 

The source of much of the Dahoman religion has been the little 
kingdom of Why d ah. We have a record of their religion dating ^^^^^ 
as far back as 1700, when Bosman wrote. They had then three worsiiip of 
orders of gods, the first the Danh-ghwe, a python, the supreme ^ 
' J. A. Skertchly : " Dahomey as it Is." 



58 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

bliss and general good, with a thousand snake-wives or priests of both 
sexes ; its influence cannot be meddled with by the other orders, which are 
subject to it. Formerly, whoever killed one of these pythons was put to 
death. This snake is believed to be almost omnipotent in procuring the 
welfare of its devotees, and no important undertaking is begun without 
sacrificing to it. A number of living pythons are kept in the snake-house 
in every considerable village. The worshipper goes to the snake-house 
and pays his fee to the priest, who assures him that his praj^er shall be 
heard. The second order, the Atin-bodun, is represented by various lofty 
and beautiful trees, especially the silk-cotton (Bombax), and the 
ocean Loko or poison tree. They are believed to be able to cure and 

worship. ^^^^^ diseases. The third in order of the gods is Hu, the ocean, 
whose priest is a great dignitary at Whydah, and at stated times repairs to 
the beach to beg the sea-god not to be boisterous, and throws in rice, corn, 
oil, beans, cloth, etc. Sometimes the king sends as a sacrifice a man in a 
hammock with a special dress, stool, and umbrella ; he is taken out to sea 
and thrown to the sharks-. This system of deities is now established at 
Dahomey, with a fourth, "So," the thunder-fetish, who has a thousand 
" wives " or priests. 

Burton has given a list of some of the very numerous spirits and 
fetishes he found powerful in Dahomey.^ Afa is the messenger of fetishes 

Dahoman ^.nd of deceased friends. Its priests are called Bukonos. The 

fetishes, people say, '^ The priest who is most cunning takes to Afa," 
meaning that it pays best ; consequently Bukonos swarm. When Afa 
predicts evil, the following ceremony must be gone through. A mat is 
spread on some ground cleared near the house or in the bush, and a peg is 
driven through the mat. The priest taps a small cymbal with an iron rod, 
while the worshipper pours upon the- wood first water, and then the blood 
of a fowl, the body of which is then handed to the priest. The leopard, 
the crocodile, and the hippopotamus are of course included ; but among the 
most interesting are Kpate, the first Whydah man who brought a ship to 
anchor by waving a cloth tied to a long pole, and led the captain into the 
town ; and Aizan, one of the street gods, which protect the market and the 
gate, a cone of clay with a pipldn or a stone at the top or base, on which 
consecrated offerings are placed. 

The Dahomans also worship their own heads, in order to procure good 

fortune. The worshipper, after providing a fowl and other offerings, bathes. 

Head dresses in pure white-, and sits on a clean mat. Then an old 

worsMp. -Yeoman, with the tip of her middle finger dipped in water, touches 
successively his forehead, crown, neck, and breast. She then breaks a Kola 
fruit into its natural divisions, throws them down like dice, chooses a lucky 
piece, which she causes a bystander to chew, and with his saliva retouches 
the same parts as before. The fowl is then killed and boiled, its head and 
other parts being touched both before and after. Meanwhile rum and water 
are drunk by those present. 

^ " A Mission to Gelele, King of Dahome." 



ABORIGINAL RELIGIONS OF AFRICA. 59 

The adoption of the fetish-priest profession is, usually attended by an 
ecstasy, during which the candidate rushes in distraction to the idol and 
falls fainting to the ground. When he recovers, the chief priest initiation 
informs him what fetish has come to him, and this is adopted for of fetish- 
life. He removes to the priests' quarter and by degrees learns ^ ^ 
the special passwords and the ceremonies of fetishism. After two or three 
years, he is brought home by his relatives, who make large offerings to the 
fetish priests. Many retain ordinary callings, but they have many 
privileges. 

One of the mosb peculiar ideas of the Duhomans is that the next world 
is their home, while this is only their plantation, and the only world in 
which rewards and punishments exist. It is even pretended that visiting 
the fetish-priests can visit it. A man, when sick, often believes ^®^^-i^^^- 
himself summoned by some ancestral ghost. He consults certain priests, 
such as those of the small-pox or the poison tree, and pays a fee for him to 
descend to Dead-land and get him excused. The priest covers himself with 
a cloth, and after a trance reports that he found the ghosts eating, drinking, 
and merry-making. According to Skertchly, another singular belief is that 
of the possibility of the same spirit being in more than one place at the 
same time. This was exemplified in the So-Sin custom, where Gezu's 
ghost was in his shed, on his war-stool, and in his own fetish-priestess at the 
same time. Again, a ghost will sometimes remain in Dead-land and at the 
same time come back to earth in a new-born infant ; so nearly all the king's 
children are regarded as the spirits of the old kings. Their mind does not 
grasp the idea of a god incorporeal and omnipresent ; so the deity must be 
worshipped through a mediator in a tangible form. '' Their religion must 
not be confounded with polytheism, for they only worship one Fetishes as 
god, Mau ; but propitiate him through the intervention of fetishes, mediators, 
who are not inferior deities, but only beings of an intermediate order, who 
have powerful influence for good or evil with Mau. 

THE YOEUBAS OF ABEOKUTA. 

At Abeokuta, where another large branch of the Yorubas is settled, 
Burton found certain points of belief settled, others very variable. • Before 
two days' residence in the city, he says, you hear of Shango and BeUefs in 
Oro. The latter personifies the executive power, or public police, ^^®°^^*^- 
deified, or " punishment." When a criminal is killed, he is '' given to Oro." 
He is supposed to haunt the woods, and to appear nightly to shango 
strike terror. Women must fly within doors at the sound of his ^^^ ^^°' 
name in the streets, under penalty of a violent death. Shango is derived 
doubtless from an ancestor. He went alive to heaven, where he reigns, 
hunts, fishes, and fights. Whole series of relations are assigned to him ; 
he is the deity of thunder, lightning, and fire, and favours the good, 
especially hunters, fishermen, and warriors. 

The Creator is called Olorun, meaning lord of the sky. Though his 



6o THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

personality is vague, the Egbas say, '' Olorun bless you," " Olorun give 
oiorun y^^ children, farms, cowries," " Olorun aku," salutation to Grod. 

and other They talk of seeing him after death. It is doubtful, however, 

deities. «/ c:> 77 

whether some of these ideas may not have sprung from contact 

with Mussulmans. Among the subordinate deities Obatala is chief, who 

created the first man ; Afa is the revealer of futurity and the patron of 

marriage and childbirth ; Ogunis the god of blacksmiths and armourers, of 

hunters and warriors. The worshipper's own head is adored as " Ori " ; 

also the foot, when proceeding on a journey. Oriskako is the patron of 

farms. Eshu is an evil being, meaning " the rejected," often identified 

with the Hebrew devil. Egugun, meaning " bones," is supposed to be a 

Muititudi- ^®^^ t£l2.t^ risen from the grave. He is, however, an imposture, 

nous intended to terrify slaves, women, and children — like the Mumbo- 

■ Jumbo of Bonny. To these, as being palpable impostures, we 

cannot devote space, nor to the infinite variety of sorceries which only 

furnish examples of one world-wide subject. Beginning in a simple awe 

of unknown powers, and a tendency to believe those who imagined or 

professed that they knew their secrets, they have branched into all the 

variety of forms of imposture and quackery ; and when we know one, we 

know all, though we may be perpetually astonished at the depth of human 

credulity. 

A large number of the peoples of the Soudan and of Northern Africa 
have been converted to Mahometanism. Little is known of their primordial 
religion, or of the present beliefs of those who are not Mahometans. But 
it appears that many of them have beliefs similar to those held on the "West 
Coast of Africa, while others have no religious beliefs at all. The illustra- 
tion which heads this chapter represents a series of wooden figures, life-size, 
seen by Schweinfurth, erected over the grave of a Bongo chief. Roughly 
carved, they depict the chief followed in procession by his wives and 
children. ^ 

Many of the races visited by Schweinfurth, west of the Upper Nile, 
appeared to have little or no religion. The Niam-niam always take an 
augury before commencing anything important, by rubbing a smooth block 
of wood upon a smooth stool, the surfaces being moistened with a drop or 
two of water. The undertaking will prosper if the wood glides easily 
along. Many forms of ordeal are also in vogue. The forest is supposed to 
be the abode of malignant spirits, which talk to one another in the rustling 
of the leaves. 




MANDAN PLACE OF SKULLS. 



CHAPTER IV. 

aboriginal a^eIigion£( of amen'ra* 

Beliefs of the Eskimo— Tlie Angakoks— Witchcraft— North American Indians— General religious 
ideas— Gods of the Iroquois— The Creek Indians— The Haidahs— The Nootkas— Calif ornian tribes 
—The Dakotas— Wakan— The Onkteri— Sacrifices— Various deities— Powers of the Wakan men 
— Manetos, or guardian spirits— Totems— Duality of the soul— The Happy Hunting Grounds- 
Sacrifices of dogs— The cold hell of the Mandans— Beliefs about the future— Festivals of the 
Iroquois— Creek festivals of firstfruits— Funeral customs— A circle of skulls— Funeral rites of 
the Creeks— Burial among the Comanches— The Central Americans— The Aztec religion— 
Teocallis or temples— Prayers— Burial of a king— Religion of the Mayas and Quiches— The South 
Americans— The Indians of Guiana— The spirit- world— Existence after death— Ideas of heaven- 
Powers of spirits— The Indians' worship— The Kenaima or vengeance-taker— The peaiman or 
mediciue man— Burial customs— Beliefs of Brazilian tribes— The Uaupes— The Araucanian deities 
--The futm*e state— The gods of the Patagonians— The wanderers without— A diviner's per- 
formance—Funeral rites and mourning— Burying the skeletons— Fuegian good and bad spirits 
— The Incas children of the Sun — The gods of the Peruvians— Temples — Sacrifices— Human 
oflferings— The priesthood— Festivals— The Virgins of the Sun— Moral inquisition— The future 
life.— The Chibehas. 

THE ESKIMO. 

MANY of tlie beliefs attributed to the Eskimo, as also to tbe American 
Indians, bear signs of having been developed since Europeans intro- 
duced their religious beliefs ; and it is not easy to be certain that we have 
ascertained the genuine aboriginal beliefs. Dr. Rink is the most satisfactory 
investigator of the Eskimo, especially those of Greenland. He Beliefs of the 
concludes that the primitive Eskimo did not speculate as to the Eskimo, 
origin of the world, but had an animistic religion, recognising the separate 
existence of the soul after death. They believed in nature-powers or owners, 
each having defined limits. These powers are known as inuas, and the 
inuas of certain mountains or lakes, of physical strength, and of eating, were 
spoken of. The earth was believed to rest upon pillars, and the under- 
world, warm and rich in food, was the heaven of the Eskimo, while the 
upper-world, beyond the blue sky, cold and deficient in food, was dreaded 
as a dreary residence. The only approach to a supreme ruler was in the 



62 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

idea of tornarsuk^ the power which was appealed to by the angakoks, or 
wizards, to enable them to influence the invisible powers. 

It is remarkable how great a resemblance there is between the shamans 
of Siberia and the angakoks of the Eskimo. The latter are trained by 
The older angakoks from infancy, and subsequently disciplined by 
Angakoks. fasting and invoking Tornarsuk in solitary places ; finall}^ Tornarsuk 
appears and provides the novice with a tornak, or guardian spirit, whom he 
may call to his aid at any time. Later, the angakok was said to gain 
control over many tornaks, including inuas of land and sea, the souls of 
the dead, or of animals. To aid their followers, they used simple medical 
arts, also summoned their tornaks, and pretended to do many extraordinary 
things, such as repairing a soul, divining and conjuring. The intercourse 
with the tornak was held in a dark house in the presence of auditors. " The 
angakok was tied with his hands behind his back, and his head between his 
legs, and thus placed on the floor beside a drum and a suspended skin, the 
rattling of which was to accompany the playing of the drum. The auditors 
then began a song, which, being finished, the angakok proceeded to invoke 
the tornak, accompanying his voice by the skin and the drum. The arrival 
of the tornak was known by a peculiar sound and the appearance of a light 
or fire. If only information or counsel were required, the question was 
heard, as well as the answering voice from without, the latter generally 
being somewhat ambiguous." Sometimes the angakok made a spirit flight 
through a hole which was said to appear of itself in the roof, in order to 
accomplish what was necessary. The angakok gave counsel in all cases 
involving knowledge beyond that of humanity in general, discovered the 
causes of disasters and the fate of missing persons, procured favourable 
weather and success in hunting, and consoled the dying if their death 
appeared inevitable. No doubt, while upholding superstition, the angakoks 
possessed most of the higher knowledge and intellect of the people. 

Witchcraft, counteracting the influence of the angakoks, and perhaps 
believed to depend upon an evil power opposed to Tornarsuk, was practised 
ft ^^ ^ means of selfish gain or of procuring the injury of others, by 
" people who for the most part kept their actions in the background, 
concealed from the angakoks. Magic spells, sorcery, and various parts of 
human or animal bodies, were made use of by these persons. The angakoks 
also used certain recognised spells and invocations sung with particular 
tunes ; these were supposed to have power of themselves, and were some- 
times expressly addressed to the souls of ancestors. These invocations 
were chiefly practised by old men. Amulets and charms were in full use ; 
but a rather distinctive feature of the Eskimo was the art of making artificial 
animals, which were secretly made and then sent out to destroy the maker's 
enemies. 

THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. 

The multiplicity of tribes in both North and South America is so great 
and the resemblances among their beliefs are so clear, that it is necessary 



ABORIGINAL RELIGIONS OF AMERICA, 63 

to a large extent to group them. The main features of their rehgious 
beUefs can be shortly stated. They had a belief in beneficent General re- 
divinities in all nature, but it is doubtful whether the idea of a i^^^^^^s i^®^^- 
single personal divinity had been developed by them previous to intercourse 
with Europeans. The number of spirits they believed in was practically 
unlimited. Communication with them was in the hands of medicine-men, 
who, wliile possessing such knowledge as had been handed down from 
generation to generation, were also to a large extent conjurors and magicians? 
and professed to possess the power of bringing on rain and storms, as well 
as the gifts of second sight and of prophecy. 

The Iroquois may be taken as types. They appear to have believed 
in one supreme good spirit, who not only created the world, but adapted all 
creation to the wants of man. They also believed in an evil spirit, Gods of the 
brother of the good, and also eternal, and having some creative Iroquois, 
power. Thus he created all monsters, poisonous reptiles, and noxious plants. 
They also recognised inferior beings, good and evil, believed to be sub- 
ordinate to the great spirits. To these latter they made offerings. " To 
propitiate the god of the waters," says Charlevoix, "they cast into the 
streams and lakes tobacco, and birds which they have put to death. In 
honour of the sun, and also of inferior spirits, they consume in the fire a 
part of everything they use. On some occasions they have been observed 
to make libations, invoking at the same time, in a mysterious manner, the 
object of their worship. These invocations they have never explained, — 
whether it be that they have, in fact, no meaning, or that the words have 
been transmitted by tradition, unaccompanied by their signification, or that 
the Indians themselves are unwilling to reveal the secret. Strings of wam- 
pum, tobacco, ears of corn, the skins and often the whole carcases of animals, 
are seen along difficult or dangerous roads, or rocks, and on the shores of 
rapids, as so many offerings made to the presiding spirit of the place. In 
these cases, dogs are the most common victims, and are often suspended 
alive upon trees by the hinder feet, where they are left to die in a state of 
madness." 

Most natural objects were in care of or inhabited by a spirit. Corn, 
squashes, and beans were regarded as a special gift of the great spirit, and 
were each in the care of a separate spirit, having the form of a beautiful 
female. These three were very fond of each other and loved to dwell 
together. 

The Creek Indians believe in a good spirit whom they style god Or 
Master of Breath ; and, in a bad spirit, the sorcerer. The good spirit, they 
say, inhabits some distant region where game is abundant, corn The Creek 
grows all the year round, and the springs are never dried up. Indians. 
The bad spirit, on the other hand, lives a great way off in a dismal swamp 
full of briars, and usually half-staived, having no game or bears' oil in all 
his territory. Droughts, floods, famines, and defeats are ascribed to the bad 
spirit. 

The Northern Indians, stretching across the Canadian Dominion, present 



64 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



a considerable contrast. They appear to have little idea of a single supreme 
being, but they believe in good and bad spirits peopling earth, sea, and 
air. They do not reverence or respect these spirits, but propitiate them 
occasionally. 

The Haidahs of Queen Charlotte's Islands and adjacent mainland 

believe in a great sun-spirit who is creator and supreme ruler. They have 

no form of worship, and do not appear to regard themselves as 

* responsible for their actions to the great spirit. They also believe 

in an evil spirit. 

The Nootkas, or tribes of Vancouver Island and its opposite main, says 

H. H. Bancroft in his great work, " The Native Races of the Pacific States," 

^^ ^^ ^, acknowledge a great personage called Quabootze, whose habi- 
The Nootkas. . . ^ .i • ,i t i , p i ,. , . 

tation IS apparently m the sky, but of whose nature little is 

known. "When a storm begins to rage dangerously, the Nootkas climb to 

the top of their houses, and 




looking upwards to this 
great god, they beat drums 
and chant, and call upon his 
name, imploring him to still 
the tempest. They fast, as 
something agreeable to the 
same deity, before setting 
out on the hunt, and, if their 
success warrant it, hold a 
feast in his honour after 
their return. This festival 
is held usually in December, 
and it was formerly the 
custom to finish it with a 
human sacrifice. 
Matlose is a famous hob- 
goblin of the Nootkas ; he 
is a very Caliban of spirits ; 
his head is like the head of something that might have been a man but is 
not ; his uncouth bulk is horrid with black bristles ; his monstrous teeth 
and nails are like the fangs and claws of a bear. Whoever hears his 
terrible voice falls like one smitten, and his curved claws rend his prey 
into morsels with a single stroke." 

In common with other American Indians, the Nootkas have a tradition 
of a supernatural teacher and benefactor who came up Nootka Sound long 
ago in a canoe of copper, with copper paddles. He is said to have instructed 
the people, told them that he came from the sky, that their country would 
ultimately be destroyed, and they would die ; but that after death they 
would rise again and live with him above. In anger they rose up and slew 
him ; but they retain large wooden images representing him. They also 
believe in numberless spirits. 



CARVED IMAGES OF NOOTKA INDIANS. 



ABORIGINAL RELIGIONS OF AMERICA. 65 



The Californian tribes, taken as a whole, according to Bancroft, are 
pretty uniform in their rehgious beliefs. " They seem, without exception, 
to have had a hazy conception of a lofty, almost supreme, king, caiifomian 
for the most part referred to as a Great Man, the Old Man Above, tribes, 
the One above, attributing to him, however, nothing but the vaguest and most 
negative functions and qualities." But they were most interested in the- 
powers of a demon, or body of demons, wholly bad, and working all evil things. 

The beliefs of the Dakotas of Minnesota have been carefully described' 

by the Rev. Gr. H. Pond."^ Their most prominent characteristic is that whichi 

they express by the word wakan. This word signifies anything The 

they cannot comprehend. Whatever is wonderful, mysterious, dakotas. 

superhuman, or supernatural is icakan. The generic name for gods is Tdhu- 

icakan., i.e. that which is wakan. There is nothing which they do not revere 

as god. The only difference they make is that some things are walian to 

a greater or less deg-ree. Mr. Pond does not believe that the 

'Wakan 
Dakotas ever distinguished the great spirit from others till they 

learned it from their intercourse with white men. They have no chants, 

feasts, dances, nor sacrificial rites referring to such a being. It is true they 

sometimes appeal to the great spirit in council with white men, but it is as 

the being whom the white man worships. 

All the gods of the Dakotas are mortal and propagate their kind. Their 
Onkteri resemble the ox on a large scale, and can instantly extend their tail 
and horns so as to reach the sky, the seat of their power. The ^^ onkteri 
earth is believed to be animated by the spirit of the female 
Onkteri, while the water, and the earth beneath the water, is the abode of 
the male god. They call water, in a religious address to it, grandfather, 
and the earth grandmother. The Onkteri, like all their other gods, have 
power to issue from their bodies a mighty wakan influence called tonwan^ 
signifying a god's arrow. 

The sacrifices which the Onkteri require are the down of the female 

swan and of the goose, dyed scarlet, white cotton cloth, deerskins, tobacco, 

does, wakan feasts and dances. Subordinate to the Onkteri are „ .^ 

c? ' Sacrifices, 

the serpent, lizard, frog, leech, owl, eagle, fish, spirits of the dead, 

etc. These gods made the earth and man, instituted the medicine-dance, pre- 
scribed the manner in which earth-paints must be applied, which have a 
icakan virtue to protect life, and are often worn by the warrior for this pur- 
pose on the field of battle. Among all the Dakota deities, the Onkteri are 
the most respected. 

The AYakinyan are the gods of thunder, but the name signifies '' flyers," 
and they are represented as having numerous winged forms. They are 
ruthless and destructive, caring for no other beings, and especially hating 
the Onkteri, who return the hatred. It is believed that neither group can 
resist the tonwan of each other's wakan ; and it is unsafe for them to cross 
each other's track. The Wakinyan are the Dakotas' chief war-gods, from 
whom they received the spear and tomahawk. 

1 Schoolcraft : " Indian Tribes of the United States," Part YI. 



66 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

Anotlier god has a long name signifying " that which stirs." He is in- 
invisible and omnipresent, but very cunning and passionate, and controlling 
Various both mind and instinct. He resides in the consecrated spear and 
deities, tomahawk, in boulders (which are universally venerated by the 
Dakotas), and in the four winds. He is never better pleased than. when 
men fall in battle, and the converse. Subject to this god, are the buzzard, 
raven, fox, wolf, and other fierce and cunning animals. Other forms of gods, 
as the Heyoka, aid men in gratifying their desires, in the chase, in inflicting 
diseases, in restoring health. They express joy by sighs and groans, and 
sorrow by laughter ; .they shiver when warm, and pant and perspire when 
cold ; they feel perfect assurance in danger, and are terrified when safe ; 
falsehood to them is truth, and truth falsehood ; good is their evil, and evil 
their good. 

Turning now to the powers claimed by or believed to reside in the Dakota 

priests or wakan men, we may say, comprehensive!}^, that they include all 

Powers of ^^^^ ^^ ascribed to the gods. They are believed to pass through a 

tiie succession of inspirations with different classes of divinities till 
' they are fully wakanized and prepared for human incarnation. 
They have imbibed their spirit, and learnt all the chants, rites, and dances 
required by the gods ; they are supposed to be taught how to inflict diseases 
and heal them, to manufacture weapons and impart to them the tonwan 
power of the gods, and to apply paints so as to protect from enemies. To 
establish their claims, these men and women lay hold of all that is strange 
and mysterious, and assume familiarity with it, often predict what will 
happen, and assert that they have brought it about. They are most in- 
genious in devising proofs of their divine inspiration. 

" As a priest," Srays Mr. Pond, " with all the assurance of an eye- 
witness, the wdkan man bears testimony for the divinities, reveals their 
character and will, dictates chants and prayers, institutes dances, feasts and 
sacrificial rites, defines sin and its 'Opposite. . . . Sin consists in any 
want of conformity to, or transgression of, the arbitrary rules imposed by the 
priest, or want of respect for his person ; and holiness consists in conformity 
to these rules, and well-expressed respect for the wakan men ; while the re- 
wards and punishments are .of such a nature that they may be appreciated 
by the grossest senses." 

In reference to war the wakan man is supreme. He makes and conse- 
crates spears and tomahawks containing the spirit of the gods, and only 
bestows them on humble suppliants who go through fastings, prayers, and 
other rites of an exhausting nature. These weapons are sacredly preserved, 
wrapped in a cloth cover, and laid outside of the tent every day, except in 
storms. As doctors, the wakan men are believed to have in their bodies 
animals or gods, which give them great powers of suction and inspiration. 
With great ceremonies they violently suck out diseases from the affected 
parts of patients. It seems to be the general impression that there are 
wakan men who can repel any foe to health until the superior gods order 
otherwise ; but it is difficult to obtain, their aid. They can inflict diseases 



ABORIGINAL RELIGIONS OF AMERICA. 67 

as a punisliment for want of respect to themselves, and death is often be- 
lieved to be the result of this wakan power. 

Every object is believed to have an animating spirit, and in many- 
cases the Indians select birds and beasts as personal " manetos." Maneto is 
a synonym for spirit, and may have a good or bad meaning jyjanetosas 
attached to it. Among the Algonquins Manabozho was a sort of guardian 
terrene Jove, who, though he lived on earth, could perform all ^^^^^ ^' 
things. He survived a deluge which is spoken of in their mythology, hav- 
ing climbed to the summit of a high mountain, where he remained till the 
subsidence of the waters. The four cardinal points are personified, and each 
has its distinctive sphere. Dreams they believed to be direct communica- 
tions from the spirit-world. An entire army would retrace its steps in 
accordance with the dreams of the priest, who carried a '' medicine-sack " 
containing carved or stuffed images of animals, charms and bones, held most 
sacred. The Indian youth anxiously soLight dreams, often fasting in soli- 
tude many days, till he was impressed with the image of some animal, 
which he took as his maneto, and followed the occupation it indicated. 

The manetos are clearly often identifiable with the totems of the clan 
or of the individual. The totem of a North American Indian protects him, 
and he refrains from killing it. The whole of a clan or tribe are 
believed to be descended from the common totem, and are bound 
to support and protect each other. They are bound to respect it, and if it 
is a species of animal or plant, it must not be killed, plucked, or injured. 
Sometimes they may not even touch or look at it. The totem is supposed to 
benefit the clansmen or the individual, and to give information by means of 
omens. The totem mark is affixed as a signature to treaties and other docu- 
ments, and various ceremonies at birth, marriage, death, etc., are connected 
with the totem. 

" It is an opinion of the Indians," says Schoolcraft, " I know not how 
universal, that there are duplicate souls, one of which remains with the 
body, while the other is free to depart on excursions during sleep. Duality 
After the death of the body, the soul departs for the Indian ^^ *^® ^o^^- 
elysium, or land of the dead ; at which time a fire is lighted by the Chip- 
pewas on the newly-made grave, and rekindled nightly for four days, the 
period allowed for the person to reach the Indian elysium. . . . Having 
requested a Chippewa Indian to explain the duality of the soul, ' It is 
known,' he replied, ' that during sleep, while the body is stationary, the soul 
roams over wide tracts of country, visiting scenes, persons and places at will. 
Should there not be a soul at the same time to abide with the body, it would 
be as dead as earth, and could never reappear in future life.' " 

As to the future life, their belief in the " Happy Hun ting-Grounds," so 
often referred to, is with the majority firm and unquenchable. Mr. W. W. 
Warren, himself descended from the Ojibwas on the maternal r^^^^^^^ 
side, expressed their beliefs thus : " The Ojibwa believes that his Hunting- 
soul or shadow, after the death of the body, follows a wide, beaten 
path which leads towards the west, and that it goes to a country abounding 



68 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

in everything that the Indian covets on earth — game in abundance, dancing 
and rejoicing. The soul enters a long lodge, in which all his relatives for 
generations past are congregated, and they welcome him with gladness. To 
reach this land of joy and bliss, he crosses a deep and rapid water." This 
water they have to cross on a huge snake. Those who have been good are 
free from pain ; those who have been bad are haunted by the phantoms of 
the persons or things they have injured. If a man has destroyed much 
property, he is obstructed by the phantoms of the destroyed property ; 
if he has been cruel to his dogs or horses, they also torment him after 
death. 

The mention of dogs reminds one of the frequency with which they are 

sacrificed by Indians, as being valuable offerings. Two, three or five dogs 

Sacrifices of ^^® customary offerings. At the mouth of the Qu'appelle River, 

<^°&s- an Indian, in June, 1858, set his net and caught a large fish which 

was new to him. He at once pronounced it a manitou, returned it to the 

water, and sacrificed five dogs to appease the supposed spirit. 

Catlin says that the Mandans (a tribe included by Schoolcraft among the 
Dakotas), who lived in a very cold climate, described their hell as barren 
rPT,^ r.r.^A T,«n and hideous, covered with eternal snows and ice. Their heaven 

The cold hell ' 

of the was warm and delightful, abounding in buffaloes and other 
luxuries. Their G-reat Spirit dwelt in the former, and received 
and punished those who had offended him. The bad spirit they believed to 
reside in paradise, still tempting the happy. 

The beliefs we have given may be contrasted with those of other tribes 
who believed that the good spirit will receive all, without exception, in the 
Beliefs about Happy Hunting-Grround, and with those tribes who had so little 
the future, conception of soul or immortality that missionaries found it ex- 
ceedingly diffi-cult to explain them. Among the Californians were some 
tribes who identified death with annihilation, yet were afraid to pronounce 
the name of a deceased person lest he should rise from dark oblivion. " The 
Cahrocs," says Bancroft,^ " have a distinct conception of future reward and 
punishment, and suppose that the spirit, on its journey after death, comes to 
two roads, one strewn with fiowers, and leading to the bright western land 
beyond the great waters ; the other, bristling with thorns and briars, lead- 
ing to a place full of deadly serpents, where the wicked must wander for 
ever. The Tolewahs place heaven behind the sun, and picture heU as a dark 
place where souls shiver for ever before the cold winds, and are harassed 
by fiends. The Modocs' spirit-land is situated in the air above the earthly 
home, where souls hover about, inciting the living to good and evil. The 
Allequas imagined that before the soul could enter the evergreen prairies 
to live its second life, free from want and sorrow, it expiated its sins in the 
form of some animal, often passing from a lower to a higher grade, accord- 
ing to the earthly conduct of the deceased. By eating prairie-dogs and 
other game, some sought to gather souls, apparently with a view to increase 
the purity of their own and shorten the preparatory term. The San Diego 
^ " Native Eaces of the Pacific States," vol. iii. 



ABORIGINAL RELIGIONS OF AMERICA, 



69 



tribes, on the other hand, considering large game as the embodied spirits of 
certain of their forefathers, abstained from their flesh, fearing that such 
fare would hasten their death — a fear which did not deter old men. 

Morgan describes six regular festivals as observed by the Iroquois : 
(1) the Maple festival, thanking the Maple for its sweet waters ; (2) the 
planting festival, invoking the Grreat Spirit to bless the seed ; pestivais 
(3) the Strawberry festival, or iirstfruits thanksgiving; (4) the of the 
Green Corn festival ; (5) the Harvest festival ; (6) the New Year's ^°^^°^^- 
festival. When returning thanks to or for various objects of Nature, they 
never burned tobacco ; but when invoking or praying to the Grreat Spirit, 
they always used the ascending smoke of tobacco. 




ENTRANCE TO AN ANCIENT MEXICAN TEMPLE. 



Among the Creek Indians there was an annual festival, formerly of 
eight days, now confined to four, devoted to thanksgiving and fasting, 
and resembling in some features the Hebrew jubilee. At the ^^^^^ 
return of this festival all offences were cancelled. It commenced festival of 
at the ripening of the new crops, at which time a general 
purgation and cleansing took place. On the first day a general feast was 
prepared from the remains of the old crop, and sacred fires were built. 

Many curious modes of burial prevailed among the American Indians. 
One was that of placing the dead on scaffolds, the corpse being Funeral 
carefully wrapped in bark and raised on a platform formed by customs, 
transverse pieces of wood lying between the forks of trees. In some tribes 



70 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

tlie body is dressed in its best attire, painted, oiled, feasted, and supplied 
witb bow and quiver, shield, pipe and tobacco, knife, flint and steel, and 
provisions enough, for a few days' journey. A fresh buffalo's skin is tightly 
wrapped round the body, followed by other robes. Among the Mandans, 
according to Catlin, when the scaffolds decay, the bones, except the skulls, 
are buried, while the bleached skulls are placed in circles of a hundred or 
more on the prairie, at equal distances apart, with the faces all looking to 
the centre, where they are religiously guarded. " Every one of the skulls 
is placed upon a bunch of wild sage, which has been pulled and placed 

A circle of under it. The wife knows (by some mark of resemblance) the 
skuus. skull of her husband and child, which lies in this group; and 
there seldom passes a day that she does not visit it, with a dish of the best- 
cooked food that her wigwam affords, which she sets before the skull at 
night, and returns for the dish in the morning. . . . There is scarcely 
an hour in a pleasant day, but more or fewer of these women may be seen 
sitting or lying by the skulls of their children or husbands, talking to them in 
the most pleasant and endearing language that they can use, and seemingly 
getting an answer back." 

According to Major Swan, who visited the Creek Indians of Georgia and 

Florida in 1791, " when one of a family dies, the relations bury the corpse 

about four feet deep, in a round hole dug directly under the cabin 

rites of the or rock on which he died. The corpse is placed in the hole in a 
sitting posture, with a blanket- wrapped about it, and the legs bent 
under it and tied together. If a warrior, he is painted, and his pipe, orna- 
ments, and warlike appendages are deposited with him. The grave is then 
covered with canes tied to a hoop round the top of the hole, and then a 
firm layer of clay sufficient to support the weight of a man. The relatives 
howl loudly and mourn publicly for four days. If the deceased has been a 
man of eminent character, the family immediately remove from the house 
in which he is buried, and erect a new one, with a belief that where the 
bones of their dead are deposited the place is always attended by 'goblins 
and chimeras dire.' " 

Among the Comanches of Texas, the deceased is packed upon a horse 

as soon as he expires, taken to the highest hill in the neighbourhood, and 

Bur" 1 ^"^^iecl privately. The wives of the dead man cut their arms, 

among the legs, and bodies in great gashes, till they often become exhausted 
■ by the loss of blood. Formerly the favourite wife was killed ; 
but more recently only the deceased's horses are killed and buried, to carry 
him to paradise. 

THE CENTRAL AMERICANS. 

The Mexican Indians, especially the Aztecs, had reached a more 

developed stage of civilisation and rehgion than their northern kinsmen. 

The Aztecs' ^^ ^^ doubtful whether they believed in one supreme deity or not. 

reugion. The word teotl, sometimes thought to mean the supreme god, 

means deity in general. It is related, however, that the poet-king of 



ABORIGINAL RELIGIONS OF AMERICA. 



71 



Tezcuco built a nine-storied temple, with a starry roof above, in honour of 
a deity not represented by an image, called Tloqnenhnaqne, " he who is all 
in himself" ; or Ipalnemoan, '' he by whom we live " ; in his honour only 
incense and flowers were offered, and no bloody sacrifices. Surely here we 




TEOYAOMIQUI, MEXICAN GODDESS OF DEATH (AFTER BANCKOFT). 



have a marked Asiatic influence. The ordinary Mexican religion: was 
distinctly polytheistic, and we may gather that some of their gods had been 
worshipped for a very long period, by the great number of functions and 
epithets concentrated upon them. Whether Tozcatlipoca, one of the 
highest gods, was a deified ancestor or not, he conformed to this idea by 



72 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

having prayers for all kinds of help addressed to him. Tonatiuh and 
Metztli, the sun and moon ; Centeotl, goddess of maize and mother of the 
gods ; Tlazolteotl, goddess of pleasure ; Tezcatzoncatl, god of strong drink, 
are specimens of Mexican gods ; but the predominant idea in their mind is 
shown by their chief god being the god of war, Huitzilopochtli. There were 
also many native spirits of the hills and groves, etc. The Aztecs were equally 
' Teocaiiis, or remarkable for the number and size of their temples, called 
temples. ^eQQ^llis, or god's houses. They were pyramidal, and rose by suc- 
cessive terraces to lofty platforms, The great temple of the god of war in 
the city of Mexico had a base 375 by 300 feet, and rising by five steep terraces 
to 86 feet high, with flights of steps at the angles. On the platform were 
two tower-like temples of three stories, containing great stone images and 
.altars. The gods were predominantly worshipped with human sacrifices. 
There were many festivals, each marked by its special variety of sacrifice 
and celebration. Before the war-god there was an eternal fire and a stone of 
sacrifice, on which the victim, usually a captive, was laid, for the priest to 
cut open his breast and tear out his heart and hold it up before the god. 
. From the terrace were visible seventy other temples within the great square 
' enclosure, each with images and blazing fires ; while in the Tzompantli, or 
skull-place, thousands of victims' skulls were built up to form towers. At 
Cholula was the much larger hemispherical temple of the god Quetzalcoatl, 
the rival to Tezcatlipoca. 

That the prayers of these people, were genuine religious utterances, 
■ may be gathered from the following extracts from a prayer to the last- 
Prayers inentioned god on behalf of the poor : " our lord, protector, 
most strong and compassionate, invisible and impalpable, thou art 
: the giver of life ; lord of all and lord of battles, I present myself here 
before thee to say some few words concerning the need of the poor people, 
5 the people of none estate or intelligence. Know, lord, that thy subjects 
• and servants suffer a sore poverty and desolateness. The men have no 
. garments nor the women to cover themselves with. . . . When they 
sell nothing, they sit down sadly by some fence, or wall, or in some corner, 
licking their lips and gnawing their nails for the longing that is in them, 
. . . our Lord, in whose power it is to give all content, consolation, 
sweetness, softness, prosperity, and riches — for thou alone art lord of all 
good — have mercy upon them, for they are thy servants." But we cannot 
but take a gloomy view of a religion based so largely upon human sacrifices 
and cannibalism, on penances involving the drawing of blood from the body, 
and other cruel rites. 

'' The funeral rites of the Mexicans," says Mr. Tylor, " are best seen 

in the ceremonies at the death of a king. The corpse laid out in state was 

Burial of provided by the priest with a jug of water for his journey and 

a king. ^i\^\^ bunches of cut papers to pass him safely through each 

danger of the road. They gave him garments to protect him from the 

cutting wind and buried a little dog by his side to carry him across the 

. nine waters. Then the royal body was invested in the mantles of his patron 



ABORIGINAL RELIGIONS OF AMERICA. 



73 



gods, especially that of the war-god." In earlier times the king was buried 
on a throne with his most valued possessions and his slain attendants around 
him. At a later period, when cremation had been adopted, the body of 




STATUE OR IDOL AT COPAN, HONDURAS (AFTER STEPHENS). 

the king was carried to the funeral pile by attendant chiefs and servants, 
and afterwards a great number of wives and slaves of the deceased were 
sacrificed and their bodies burnt, after solemn exhortation to serve him 
faithfully in the next world. 



74 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

The Mayas of Yucatan and the Quiches of Guatemala had a funda- 
mentally similar religion, though it is much less well-known. At Uxmal 
Reiig-ion of ^^^ other places are the remains of larger and more magnificent 
the Mayas pyramidal temples or sacrificial platforms than in Mexico. Their 
' priests were more powerful even than in Mexico, and the chief 
priests belonged to the royal families. The festivals observed were very 
numerous, and the people always made a sacrifice before commencing any 
important undertaking. Human sacrifices with cannibalism were frequent, 
as well as the drawing of blood from penitents' bodies. 



THE SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS. 

Beginning with the tribes inhabiting Guiana, we find that the most 
important recent study of the religions of the Indians of British Guiana 
The Indians li^s been made by Mr. Everard Im Thurm (see his valuable 
of Guiana, ^ork, " Among the Indians of Guiana"). He bases their system, 
if it can be called such, upon the belief that every human being has a 
soul or spirit distinct from the body. In dreams the spirit wanders and 
acts just as really as in waking life. Visions also are real, and may be 
produced by narcotics, stimulants, and fasting ; in the course of these a 
spirit may wander and hold communion with other spirits. The spirit 
of a man may pass into an animal and even into inanimate objects ; and 
the Indian also believes that animals and plants and inanimate objects 
have their own spirits. Rock-spirits may move and often occasion 
The injuries to man, by causing the rock to fall upon him ; similarly 
spirit-world, ^ith many other natural phenomena, ascribed to the intention of 
the spirits of the objects concerned. All strange objects are looked upon 
with awe, as being inhabited by spirits which are likely to occasion evil 
even if criticised or examined. Diseases too are often believed to be 
occasioned by spirits, and Mr. "W. H. Brett, in his " Indian Tribes of 
Guiana," has narrated how the Caribs on the Pomeroon river, being at- 
tacked by a dangerous epidemic, fled far into the forest, in their flight 
cutting down large trees and laying them across the path, to prevent the 
disease-spirits from following them. 

In every view which these Indians take of the spirit- world, it is regarded 
as composed of beings not very unlike those of the material world, and the 
Existence spirits differ chiefly in their degrees of strength and cunning, 
after death, rpj^^ ^^^^ of continued existence of the spirit after death of the body 
is implied in this, and in many of their funeral customs ; but this existence 
is not definitely imagined to be everlasting. " As long as the memory of a 
dead man survives," says Mr. Im Thurm, " either in the minds of his former 
companions or in tradition, he is supposed to exist ; but no question as to 
whether this existence is or is not to be prolonged for ever, has ever been 
formulated in the Indian mind." There is no belief as to rewards aiid 
punishments being meted out after death. It is usually supposed that the 
spirits of the dead remain on earth in the places where' they lived when in 



ABORIGINAL RELIGIONS OF AMERICA. 75 

the bod}^ Several times Mr. Im Thurm was told by Indians that they 
hoped to become white men. 

They have an idea of a kind of heaven beyond the sky, but it is just 
a repetition of earth. From it they believe their ancestors came. Rochefort, 
writing of the Caribs of the West Indies, the ancestors of the i^eas of 
Oaribs of Guiana, says that they believed their brave men iieaven, 
would live after death in happy islands^ where their enemies, the Arawaks, 
would be their slaves ; but that the cowards of their own tribe would be 
slaves to the Arawaks in a barren land beyond the mountains. This con- 
firms the very apt expression of Im Thurm, " the Indians know of no 
heaven, but only of other countries." 

The Indians of Gruiana have no notion of spirits which have always 
been spirits, or of spirits possessing power over others, except so far as they 
may have more strength or cunning. On one occasion during an powers of 
eclipse of the sun the Arawak men among whom Mr. Im Thurm spirits, 
was, rushed from their houses with loud shouts and yells. They explained 
that a fight was going on between the sun and the moon, and that they 
were shouting to frighten and so to part them. The Indians have names 
meaning "the ancient one," "the ancient one in the sky," "our father," 
and " our maker." But to these names the attributes of a god are not 
attached. They seem to indicate a belief that their ancestors or makers 
came there from some other country, " sometimes said to be that entirely 
natural country which is separated from Guiana by the ocean of the air." 

As to worship, the Indian, not troubling himself about the source of 
good things or regarding them as the result of his own efforts, does not 
worship good spirits. All evil is, however, inflicted upon him by The Indians' 
evil spirits, and them he propitiates. He does not mention or "^'orsiiip. 
look at certain rocks and other objects ; he avoids eating certain animals 
whose spirits are malignant, especially those which are not native to his 
country. Before shooting a cataract for the first time, or when a sculptured 
or remarkable natural object is seen, the Indian averts the ill-will of the 
spirits belonging to them by rubbing capsicum pods in his eyes. These he 
almost always carries with him. The idea connected with this practice is 
that by making himself temporarily blind he renders himself invisible to 
the object of dread. 

Two notable beliefs of the Guiana Indians are thus summarised. 
" From the kenaimas come nearly all injuries, and these the peai-man 

cures." A kenaima is one who uses the power of separation „, , 

, . . . • n- 1 • The kenaima 

between body and spirit m order to mnict vengeance; he is or vengeance- 
bound to slay some man, in obedience to some custom or senti- ^ ®^' 
ment; and, by transference, ills are regarded as being wrought by some 
kenaima, known or unknown, in the body or out of it. The kenaima, in 
addition to forms of vengeance by murder, poison, or disease, can enter any 
animal, and thus, when attacked by any beast of prey, the Indian regards 
it as a kejiaima. 

The peai-man, or medicine-man, is the Indian's defence against the 



76 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

kenaima ; he is both doctor and priest. The oflfice used to be hereditary, 
^ ._ but often a youth with an epileptic tendency is chosen, as frenzied 
or medicine contortions are of great use in the profession. After isolation, 
long fasting, great draughts of tobacco- water, etc., and learning 
all the traditions of the tribe, the medicine-man becomes fit for his office, 
and pretends to drive out all kenaimas by incantations in which astonishing 
feats of ventriloquism are performed, and he is believed to summon and 
question the kenaimas and compel them to depart. He is also supposed to 
be able to summon and question the spirit of any sleeping Indian of his 
own tribe. Another function of the peai-man is to give names to children. 

The burial customs observed by Mr. Im Thurm do not differ remarkably 

from those of many other Indian tribes. The body of a dead man is 

Burial wrapped in his hammock and buried in his own house. A fire 

customs, jg jjig,^(^e over the grave and a feast held in which the qualities of 

the deceased are set forth, and the house is then deserted. 

It is doubtful if the Brazilian tribes were or are more advanced than 

those of Guiana. The Tupis have the same word, " Tupa," for father or 

f ^^cestor and for thunder ; but they do not pray to Tupa, nor do 

Brazilian they hope from or fear him. Bates ^ found no trace of a belief in 

^ ®^' a future state among Indians who had had no intercourse with 

Europeans. Yet they light fires by newly made graves, for the comfort of 

the deceased. Waitz describes the Guaranis of Brazil as bringing offerings 

to certain posts in order to appease the evil spirits, fear of whom sometimes 

caused death. They believed that the soul continued with the body in the 

grave, and were careful to leave room for it. 

The Uaupes, of whom Mr. A. R. Wallace has given an account, 
likewise have no definite idea of a god. If asked who made the rivers, 
, forests, and sky, they say they do not know ; or sometimes they 
' say it was " Tupanau," a word that appears to mean god, but 
which they do not understand. They have, however, a bad spirit, or devil, 
whom they seek to propitiate. When it thunders, they say the Jurupari is 
angry, and their idea of natural death is that the Jurupari kills them. At 
an eclipse of the moon they believe that this bad spirit is killing the moon, 
and they make all the noise they can to frighten him away. It would 
be fruitless to detail at length the procedure and the beliefs about the 
medicine-men or payes of the Brazilians, inasmuch as they are strikingly 
similar to those of the Guiana Indians. 

The religious system of the Araucanians of southern Chili was somewhat 
different from that of the more northern tribes of Indians. They acknow- 
ledged a supreme being, whom they termed Pillan, the supreme 
Araucanian spirit. They also called him spirit of heaven, the great being, 
®^ ^®®' the thunderer, the creator of all things, and omnipotent. Sub- 
ordinate to him were Epunamun, the god of war ; Meuleu, a benevolent 
deity, the friend of the human race ; and Guecubu, a malignant being, the 
author of all evil and misfortune. If a horse tired, Guecubu had ridden him ; 
^ " The Naturalist on the Amazons." 



ABORIGINAL RELIGIONS OF AMERICA. 



77 



if any one died, Gruecubu had killed him. They paid no worship, however, 
to these gods beyond invoking them and asking their aid on some urgent 
occasions. They had neither temples nor idols, nor did they offer sacrifices 




WOKSHIP OF THE SUN BY COKOADOS OF BRAZIL. 



except in case of some severe calamity or on concluding a peace, when they 
sacrificed animals, and burnt tobacco, which they believed to be most 
agreeable to their deities. 



78 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



The Araucanians have a general behef in a future state, but differ 
as to its locality and condition. Some of them have no idea where their 
The future land of spirits is, nor how the dead are occupied. Others say that 
state. after death they go towards the west beyond the sea to a certain 
place which they call "Gulchemau/' that is, the dwelling of the man beyond 
the mountains. Some believe that this land is divided into two — one a 
heaven, where the good dwell with every delight ; the other inhabited by 
the wicked, a desolate and barren place; while others believe there is no 
difference of lots, and all enjoy continual happiness. The dead were buried 
with many of their possessions, and with their face to the west, where the 
supposed land of spirits was. Divination and sorcery were much practised 
by the Araucanians, who paid much attention to the flight of birds. They 
avoided the burial-places of the dead, passing them by in silence and with 
averted faces. The spirits of dead Araucanians frequently returned and 
fought fiercely in the air with their enemies, thus causing storms. 

The Patagonians believe in a good and an evil superior being, but differ 

as to the name given to these. Some of these names are, " the governor of 

the people," " the lord of the dead," " the being who presides in 

the the land of strong drink." But they likewise believe in a multi- 

a agonians. pj^^^^j-y q£ inferior deities, presiding over particu.lar families. Each 

is supposed to have a distinct abode in caverns underground, under lakes 

or hills ; and after death the Indian believes that his soul will go to the 

abode of his particular family-deity, and live in continual drunkenness. 

They believe the world was made by their good deities, who created the 

Indians in their caves, and gave them the lance, bows and arrows, etc. 

Evil beings are termed by the Patagonians " the wanderers without." 
There are many of these, working all kinds of mischief, and even causing 
bodily fatigue and weariness after labour. These are the fami- 
wanderers liars of their diviners, enabling them to predict future events as ' 
^ °^ • well as to reveal that which is occurring at a distance. They also 
give them power to cure the sick by driving away or appeasing the evil 
beings which cause them. The diviner goes through strange antics in his 
communications and struggles with evil. He makes noises with a drum, 
A diviner's ^^c., and falls into a fit, " keeps his eyes lifted up, distorts the 
performance, fgg^^-jjj-eg Qf j^^g face, foams at the mouth, screws up his joints, and 
after many violent and distorting notions remains stiff and motionless. 
After some time he comes to himself, as having got the better of the demon ; 
next feigns, within his tent, a faint, shrill, mournful voice, as of the evil spirit, 
who by this dismal cry is supposed to acknowledge himself subdued, and 
then, from a kind of tripod, answers all questions put to him." These 
wizards are of either sex, but the men wear women's dress. It is not un- 
common to kill some of them when a chief dies, or when pestilences occur, 
the deaths being attributed to their ill-will (Falkner's "Patagonia"). 

In several respects the funeral customs of the Patagonians are singular. 
They make skeletons of the dead by cutting off the flesh, during which 
operation a number of people, covered with long skin mantles and with 



ABORIGINAL RELIGIONS OF AMERICA. 79 

their faces blackened witli soot, walk round tlie tent with long poles or 
lances in their hands, singing dolefully and striking the ground ^.^^^^^^ ^^^^ 
in order to frighten away the evil spirits. Visits of condolence and 
are paid to the relatives of the deceased. The visitors howl ^°^^^^^^- 
and sing dismally, squeeze out tears, and even prick their limbs with sharp 
thorns till they bleed. They receive suitable presents in return for their 
mourning display. If the deceased possessed horses, they are killed to enable 
him to ride in the land of the dead, a few only being reserved for the 
funeral ceremony. "When the bones of the deceased are finally removed, 
they are packed in a beast's skin, and laid upon a favourite horse, which is 
decorated with mantles, feathers, etc. There are several modes of burial. 
One is burying the skeletons in large square pits, sitting in a Burying- the 
row, with the sword, lance, bow, arrows, etc., they formerly pos- skeletons, 
sessed. The pits are covered with beams or trees, canes, twigs, etc., woven 
together, upon which earth is laid. The beads and plumes which adorn the 
skeletons are changed once a year, when they pour upon the grave some of 
their first made chica, also drinking some of it themselves to the good health 
of the dead. The more southern tribes carry the bones to a desert place 
by the sea-coast, placing them in rows above ground, but adorned as before, 
with the skeletons of their dead horses around them. 

The Fuegians, according to Fitzroy, had distinct ideas of beneficent 
and evil powers ; but he never witnessed or heard of any act on their part 
of a decidedly religious nature, neither could he satisfy himself of p^eg-jan 
their having any idea of the immortality of the soul. They in- good and toad 
voked the good spirit when in distress or danger, believing him to 
be the author of all good. Their evil spirit they supposed to be like an 
immense black man, and able to cause illness, famine, bad weather, and 
all evils, and to torment them in this world if they did wrong. The wizard 
was not absent from them, and they believed entirely in omens, signs, 
and dreams. When a person dies, his family wrap the body in skins, and 
carry it into the woods ; there they place it upon broken boughs, or pieces 
of solid wood, and then pile a great quantity of branches over the corpse. 

The Chibchas of Colombia believed that their ancestors arose from cer- 
tain mountain lakes, under which were the homes of their tutelary gods. 
Lake Guatavita and the adjacent city were their chief places of The 
worship. Many costly offerings were thrown into these lakes, chitochas. 
such as small golden figures representing men, women, and animals, and 
various customs and industries. Many of these have been obtained from 
the lakes. The sacred graves also received similar objects, in addition to 
utensils and personal property. Golden frogs and lizards, supposed to re- 
present the god of water ; birds, the god of the air, were also among the 
religious objects of the Chibchas. They sacrificed a youth, the Guesa, every 
fifteen years, specially nurtured, to carry the people's messages to the moon, 
the goddess of husbandry. At the age of fifteen he was conducted in pro- 
cession to a pole, to which he was bound, and killed by arrows. 

The empire of the Incas of Peru has been described as one of the most 



8o 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 




complete theocracies the world has seen. The Incas 
were themselves both kings and priests, who reigned 
The Incas ^^ descendants of the sun, the chief god, 
children of and their person was revered as divine. 
One-third of the country was the property 
of the sun-god,- that is, of his priests ; and a part of 
the forced labour of the people was given to work- 
ing in the lands of the Inca and of the sun-god. 

The sun (Inti, or light) was usually represented 

by a golden disc with human features, and sur- 

Thegodsof ^^unded by rays and flames. Second to 

the the sun, the moon was worshipped as his 

Peruvians. . , j -j? i i • x i 

Sister and wile ; she was depicted as a 

silver disc with human features. Next to these 
were two great deities : Viracocha, represented as 
having risen out of lake Titicaca, and having made 
the sun, moon, and stars. He evidently was a sur- 
vivor from a period before the sun and moon worship 
had risen to great proportions. He is described as 
having neither flesh nor bone, as running swiftly, 
and as lowering mountains and lifting up valleys. 
The lake was his sister and wife. Hence he was 
evidently a 



WOODEN IDOL FOUND IN PERU 
33 FEET UNDER GUANO. 



rain-god, represented as a fertilising 
agent. Pachacamac was another 
ancient god, the divine civiliser who 
ta,ught the people all arts and crafts. 
He was a god of Are, and especially 
of volcanic fire; and, like Viracocha, 
he required human victims. The 
Incas admitted these two gods to 
have been equally children of the 
sun with their ancestor, Manco-capac. 
Other deities worshipped by the 
Incas were the rainbow, the planet 
Venus, many stars, fire, thunder, the 
earth, many trees and plants and 
animals. Charms or fetishes were 
greatly in esteem, and the same 
word, huaca^ was applied to every 
object of veneration, from the sun 
down to a grotesque stone. Every 
valley, every tribe, every temple, 
had a guardian-spirit. Meteorites 
were much used as huacas, and it is 
said that missionaries found it more 





^li 




^^S 


^ 


^^^L 


^^^ 


^9S 


I'^^^^^Mf 


^P 


m^^L 


^^^^- 


/W^^^^^^ 


m 


-MM 


^B 


P^^^^^ 



CHIBCHA IDOL IN POTTERY. 



ABORIGINAL RELIGIONS OF AMERICA. 



Temples. 



difficult to abolish the worship of the hiiacas than that of the sim and 
moon. 

The temples originally in use in Peru were very like those of Mexico ; 
but under the Incas the building over the altar was very greatly increased 
in size, and indeed enclosed the whole structure. They were 
furnished with great stone statues, and were lavishly decorated 
with gold. The entrance of the great temple at Cuzco faced the east, and 
at the west end, above the altar, was the great-golden disc of the sun. The 
mummies of the deceased Incas were placed on golden thrones in a semi- 
circle round the solar disc. Near this building were the temples of the 
moon and other deities associated with the sun. 

While all kinds of fruits, incense and drinks were offered to the gods, 

animals were very frequently sacrificed, and usually burned ; if not, the flesh 

was eaten raw b}^ the sacri- 

ficers. M. Reville 

- -, . 1 , Sacrifices, 

concludes that 

this is a custom handed down 




IMAGE EEPRESENTING THE GUESA OF THE CHIBCHAS. 



from times preceding cook- 
ery. The idols and the doors 
of the temples were smeared 
with the blood of victims. It 
appears that human sacrifice 
was less frequent under the 
Incas than among Human 
the Mexicans. But offerings, 
it is known that when the 
reigning Inca was ill, one of 
his sons was sacrificed to the 
sun as a substitute, and that 
at certain feasts a young in- 
fant was sacrificed. Wives 
of the Incas were required 
to be buried alive on their husbands' death. When Huayna Capac died, a 
thousand of his retinue voluntarily followed him into the other world. 

The organisation of the priesthood greatly favoured the stabilit}^ of the 
Peruvian religion. The chief priest was next to the reigning Inca, and was 
recognised as the interpreter of the sun's will. The other chief The 
priests were members of the Inca family. At Cuzco, and to a less Priesthood, 
degree in the provinces, an imposing ritual was kept up. Hymns to the sun 
were chanted, but religious dances were among the most important parts of 
the great festivals, or " Eayrni " (signifying dance). At the p^g^.^^^g 
festival of the winter solstice, in June, after three da^^s' fasting, 
a great processioai, with banners and masks, went out to await the dawn, 
and, when the sun appeared, fell on their faces before him. The Inca 
offered a consecrated liquid to the sun, then drank of it himself, and passed 
it on to his retinue. After this, on return to the temple of the sun, a black 

G 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



llama was sacrificed ; sun-fire was kindled from the sun by means of a con- 
cave mirror, and then a number of llamas were sacrificed and distributed 
to the families of the upper classes, to be eaten with sacred cakes prepared 
by the virgins of the sun. At the second great festival, that of the Spring, 
ball-shaped cakes, mixed with the blood of victims or of young children, 
drawn from above the nose, were eaten, to purify the land from hostile in- 
fluences. In the evening an Inca, with four relatives, undertook the task of 
chasing all maladies from the city and its environs ; and at night all evil 
spirits of the night were driven into the river by the hurling of torches into 
its water. These are only specimens of numerous feasts of the Inca 
religion. The sorcerer had but little place in civilised Peru, for his place 
was largely taken by the priestly " diviners of the future," or " those who 
made the gods speak." 

It is very worthy of notice that something like convents were to be 
found among the Peruvians, inhabited by "virgins of the sun," of whom 
The virgins there were 500 at Cuzco. They took a vow to be the consorts 
of the sun. Qjjy Qf \)^q ^-y^^s. or of him to whom the sun should give them. 
Thus the reigning Inca chose from them the most beautiful for his harem ; 
but any of the virgins who otherwise broke her vow was buried alive, even 
for the offence of letting the sacred fire go out, and her whole family was 
put to death. The virgins were occupied in making garments for the Incas, 
adornments for the temples and palaces, in preparing the sacred cakes and 
drinks, and in watching the sacred fire. 

Few moral teachings have been discovered in the Peruvian religion. 
The most important thing was to please the sun, and his representative, the 
jiorai Inca. The priests had power to make inquisition into private 
inquisition, conduct, to discover any actions detrimental to the state if not 
expiated by penance. Children, a few days after birth, were dipped in 
water before receiving a name, the dipping being supposed to drive away 
evil spirits and mahgn influences. Between the ages of ten and twelve, at 
the time when the adult name was given, the child's hair and nails were cut 
off as an offering to the sun and guardian-spirits. 

The future life was thought of as similar to the present, and all kinds 
of useful objects were consequently buried with the deceased. It was not 
imagined that the body would be raised again to life, although it 
was thought that the soul still returned to the body at times after 
death. The Incas were believed to be transported to the mansion of the 
sun, while the nobles might, if exceptionally meritorious, follow them there, 
or live under the earth under the sway of Supay, the god of the dead, 
whose kingdom was a gloomy one rather than a place of punishment. 




KHOND (or KA.NDH) HUMAN SACRIFICE. 



CEIAPTER V. 

'aijoiigtiial Behgi'oiiS of Jniria anS otf)tv pait« of gfsi'a. 

Spirit-world of the Veddahs— Invocation of spirits of the dead— Veddah burial— Bell-god of the 
Todas— Buffaloes in heaven— Successive funerals of the Todas— Sins laid upon a calf among 
the Badagas— The Kotas —Various gods of the Bhils— Effigies of horses on cairns— Bhil sacri- 
fices—Inspired men and witch-doctors— Deities of the Gonds— Rude symbols of gods— The 
spirits of disease and death— The goddess of small-pox— Human sacrifices— Exorcisers — 
Memorial slabs for the dead— Funeral of a Madia— Human sacrifices of the Khonds— Their 
religious sincerity— Sacrifices to the god of war— Death a penalty for special sin— The leaping 
rock— Khond priesthood— Khond oaths— Santal household gods— Superior powers malevolent- 
National god the Great Mountain— Spirits of natural objects— Wanderings of disembodied 
spirits— The sacred river Damooda— Santal priests and festivals— Worship in village groves- 
Funeral ceremonies— Guardian-spirits of the Karens— Bringing back the Las— The state of the 
dead— Traditions of God and sacred books— Inspection of fowls' bones— Priests and offerings- 
Funeral ceremonies— Feasts for the dead— The god Puthen of the KuMs— Their evil deities— 
Inferior deities— Kukis' idea of futurity— Future punishment— Kuki priests— Funeral feasts- 
Gods of the Nagas— Scolding the spirits for causing death— Burial at doors of houses— Pillars 
and cromlechs of the Kasias— The oath-stone— Deities of the Bodo and Dhimals— Priests and 
their functions— Malevolent demons of the Mishmis— Disease, death and burial— Gods of the 
Ostiaks— Ancestor worship —Convulsions of the Shamans— The Kalmuck Shamanists— The 
Voguls— The Samoyedes— The Finnish religion— The Kalevala— The Under-world. 

MAKIXG now a great leap in distance, we come to the aboriginal 
peoples, still existing in large numbers in India and Ceylon, whose 
religions are very different from those of the more highly gifted gpint-worid 
nations among whom they dwell. The Veddahs of Ceylon, a of the 
small but extremely interesting tribe, have a limited group of 
beliefs, presenting some striking resemblances to those current among the 



84 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

American Indians. Good spirits predominate in their creed ; in fact, Mr. 
Bailey could only find one absolutely malignant spirit whom they really 
feared, though they had a vague dread of the spirits that haunt the dark- 
ness. Every feature in Nature is for them occupied by a spirit, as also is 
the air ; but they have no idea of a Supreme Being. 

The spirits of the dead occupy a prominent place in the Veddah beliefs. 

The spirit of every dead person watches over relatives left behind. These 

Invocation spirits, termed " nehya yakoon," kindred spirits, are described as 

of spirits of coming to them in sickness and in dreams, and giving them 

success in hunting. Thus they invoke them in every necessity, 

and, curiously enough, it is the shades of their dead children, " bilindoo 

yakoon," infant-spirits, which they most frequently call upon. Some simple 

ceremonies are observed, one of which is to fix an arrow upright in the 

ground, and dance slowly round it, chanting an address which has been thus 

translated : 

" My departed one, my departed one, my god, 
Where art thou wandering ? " 

When -preparing to hunt, they promise a portion of the game to the spirit, 
and they expect that the spirits will appear to them in dreams and tell them 
where to hunt. " Sometimes," says Bailey, " they cook food and place it in 
the dry bed of a river or some other secluded spot, and then call on their 
deceased ancestors by name, "Come and partake of this! Grive us main- 
tenance as you did when living ! Come, wheresoever you may be — on a 
tree, on a rock, in the forest — come ! " and dance round the food, half chant- 
ing, half shouting the invocation. They have no idea of a future state of 

Veddah rewards and punishments. Till lately they did not even bury 

bunai. their dead, but covered them with leaves and brushwood in the 
jungle, or in the cave where they died, which was thereupon forsaken. 

The Todas of the Neilgherry Hills are somewhat vague in their re- 
ligious beliefs ; but, while not venerating natural objects, they appear to 

Beu-god worship several deities, the principal being called the bell-god, 
of the Todas. Qj. buffalo-bell, represented by a bell hung about the neck of their 
best buffalo, which is also an object of worship, and held sacred. To the 
bell-god they offer both prayers and libations of milk. They worship also a 
hunting-god and the sun. While venerating the memory of ancestors, they 
do not worship them. They believe in a somewhat vague transmigration of 
souls, but in their next world, which they term " the other district," they 
expect to follow the same * occupation as in this, that is, buffalo- feeding, and 
all expect to go to it. " The Mukurty Peak," says the Rev. F. Metz,^ '4s a 
spot held very sacred as the residence of a personage whom the Todas be- 
Buffaioes in heve to be the keeper of the portals of heaven. . . . Their 

heaven. . '^^q^ ig that the spirits of deceased Todas, together with the souls 
of the buffaloes killed by their friends to accompany them to heaven and 
supply them with milk there, take a leap from this point as the nearest way 

^ " Tribes inhabiting the Neilgherry Hills." 



ABORIGINAL RELIGIONS OF INDIA, ETC. 85 

to the celestial regions," wliicli are situated in the west. Their priests are 
an odd compound of priest and dairyman, showing the importance of their 
chief means of livelihood in their eyes. 

The Tod as burn their dead, at the same time slaughtering milch- 
buffaloes, which, curiously enough, are sold to another tribe to be eaten. 
This is called the " green funeral," followed a year after by the successive 
" dry funeral," at which, on a pile of dry wood, the priests place funerals of 
the bag containing the ashes of the deceased, with his mantle, 
ornaments, and wand, and gourds and baskets of grain, and ignite the whole, 
while the mourners stand round and cry monotonously, heh-Jiey, heli-hah! 
Among the funeral observances, they practise fasting, cutting off the hair, 
putting off ornaments, chanting morning and evening laments, mutual 
condolence, and falling on the corpse. They also vacate the house of the 
deceased for a limited period. 

The Badagas, a neighbouring tribe, had, according to Capt. Harkness 
(''The Neilgherry Hills"), a ceremony whichtreminds one of the Hebrew 
scapegoat. The son or representative of the deceased, seiz- sinsiaid 
ing a calf brought for the purpose, addressed it, beseeching it^amonffth? 
to mediate for the departed, that the gates of heaven might be Badagas. 
opened to him, and his sins, and those of his generation, be forgiven. The 
calf was then let loose and ran off, all the party shouting, " Away, away ! " 
The idea is that the sins of the deceased enter the calf. 

The Kotas, also inhabiting the Neilgherry Hills, worship both nide 
images of wood or stone, and rocks and trees in secluded localities, and make 
sacrificial offerings to them. In each village is a recognised place 
of worship — a large, square piece of ground, walled round with 
loose stones three feet high, and containing in its centre two thatched sheds 
open in front and behind, and having rude circles and other figures drawn 
on the supporting posts. They hold an annual licentious feast in honour of 
their gods, lasting two or three days. 

The Bhils of the mountains of Central India are notable for the great 
number of their gods : every tribe too has different objects of adoration, 
arising from local superstitions and legends. The following gods various 
are worshipped by the Bhils of Jebnah : — the Hindu Kali, on gods of the 
many occasions ; Halipowa, at the Dewali and Dasara feasts ; 
Waghacha-Kunwar, to protect them against wild beasts ; Halk Mata, for 
success in predatory journeys ; Khorial Mata, for protection of cattle from 
plundering and sickness ; Devi Kanail, for a good harvest ; Behyu Baji, 
for rain ; Ghora Raja, against plunderers ; Hallam, at the annual pilgrimage 
to the large hill of E,etna Wal ; Chamconda Mata, goddess of harvest, the 
first of every grain being offered to her ; Havin Wana Mata, against mur- 
rain and lameness among cattle; Sita Mata and Ghona and Bhadri Bac, 
goddess of small-pox ; Bhulbag Mata, during epidemics, especially in 
cholera. 

The Bliil places of worship are not elaborate, being mostly limited to 
heaps of stones on some elevated spot, on which are frequently arranged 



86 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

a number of stone or burnt-clay effigies of horses, the latter being hollow, 
Effigies of ^^^^ ^ \^o\q behind, through which the spirits of the dead are 
horses on supposed to enter and travel up to paradise. On arrival there, 
the horse is given to the local deity. In many of their legends 
the principal event depends upon the assistance or the advice of an 
enchanted horse. According to Sir J. Malcolm,* the sacrifice or offering 
to Hali-powa and Waghacha-Kunwar is a bullock ; to the other deities, 
Bjjjj fowls and he-goats ; a male bird to the male deities, and a 
sacrifices, female to the female ones. Their usual ceremonies consist 
merely in smearing the idol, which is seldom anything but a shapeless 
stone, with vermilion and red lead or oil ; offering, with protestations and 
a petition, an animal and some liquor ; casting a small portion of each, 
with some pulse, into the fire ; and then partaking of the flesh and remain- 
ing liquor, after giving the presiding priest-minstrel his share. 

The medicine-man appears here under the form of a class of men 
specially inspired by the hill-gods, whose powers are excited by music. 
Inspired men '^•'^^^^ men, called Barwas, travel with musicians in attendance, 
and witch- by whose performances they are first excited to frenzy, dancing 
frantically, whirling and tossing, and throwing themselves into 
strong convulsions. In this state they utter oracles which are highly 
regarded by those who listen. The Barwas also act as physicians and as 
witch-doctors, following the usual cruel practices of their kind. Super- 
stition is deeply ingrained. A cat crossing the path of a Bliil when starting 
on any particular business will send him straightway home. Eclipses and 
other celestial phenomena he regards as the diversions of the gods. He 
believes to a certain extent in the transmigration of souls, especially of bad 
spirits, and that the spirits of the dead haunt places they lived in during 
their lifetime. Burial is performed with complex ceremonies on the banks 
of streams. On the death of a chief a brass bull or horse is made and 
handed to the wandering minstrel, who, carrying this image, makes an 
annual circuit through the villages, commemorating the fame of the 
deceased in songs and receiving a due reward. 

The Gonds of Central India show some resemblances to the Bhils, 
as in their offering earthenware figures of horses in sacrifice, to propitiate 
Deities of ^^ ghosts of their ancestors. They worship altogether about 
the thirty deities. The supreme being, under the name of Bhagwan, 
is occasionally prayed to, and receives offerings of sugar and 
ghee ; but, as in so many other tribes, it is to the inferior divinities that 
worship is most largely paid. Badu Dewa (great god) or Budhal Pen (old 
god) is one of those most worshipped ; he appears to be identical with 
Rayetal, or the sun-god, represented by an iron tiger three inches long. 
His worship takes place once a year at the rice-harvest, a hog being then 
sacrificed to him. Among a subordinate tribe, the Gaiti, he is represented by 
a small copper coin kept in a tree in the jungle. Matya, the god of small- 
pox and of towns ; Sali, the protector of cattle ; Gangara, the bell-god ; 
* Transactions of the Boijal Asiatic Society, vol. i. 



ABORIGINAL RELIGIONS OF INDIA, ETC. 87 

Gadawa, the god of the dead ; Kodo Pen, the horse-god, are others of the 
varied deities whom the Gonds propitiate. 

The Gonds do not keep images of their gods in their houses, and even 
for religious ceremonies only use the simplest symbols, such as stones, 
lumps of clay, iron rods, blocks of wood, chains and bells. Mutya Dewa 
is represented by a small heap of stones, inside a village, besmeared with 
red lead. He is believed to be connected with the prosperity of the village, 
and his appropriate offerings are a goat, cocoa-nuts, limes, dates, etc. 
Pharsi Pen, a war-god, is symbolised by a small iron spear-head. His 
worship only takes place at intervals of three, four or five years, 
at full moon. On such occasions a white cock, a white he-goat, symbols of 
and a young white cow are sacrificed with secret ceremonies, no ^^ ^' 
woman being permitted to attend. Bhiwasu, a god of rain, has a festival 
of four or five days in the Mahadeva Hills, being worshipped under the 
form of an unshaped stone smeared with vermilion, or of two pieces of 
wood. In one place, however, there is an idol figure of Bhiwasu, eight feet 
high. These are but specimens of the multitudinous deities worshipped by 
these people, whose religious history, if ever fully written, will be a strange 
and curious one. 

The Eev. Mr. Hislop,^ who studied the Gond district carefully, says : 
" In the south of the Bundara district the traveller frequently meets with 
squared pieces of wood, each with a rude figure carved in front. The spirits 
set up somewhat close to each other. These represent Bangaram, °^ disease 
Bungara Bai, or Devi, who is said to have one sister and five death, 
brothers, the sister being styled Danteshwari, a name of Kali, and four out 
of the five brothers being known as Gantaram, Champ aram, Naikaram, 
and Pollinga. These are all deemed to possess the power of sending disease 
and death upon men, and under these or different names seem to be 
generally feared in the region east of Nagpore city. ... It has always 
appeared to me a question deserving more attention than it has yet 
received, how far the deities who preside over disease, or are held to be 
malevolent, are to be looked on as belonging to the Hindus or aborigines. 
Kali in her terrible aspect is certainly much more worshipped in Gond- 
wana and the forest tracts to the east and south of it than in 
any other part of India. As the goddess of small-pox, she has of smau- 
attributed to her the characteristics of various aboriginal deities ; ^°^ 
and it is worthy of remark that the parties who conduct the worship at 
her shrines, even on behalf of Hindus, may be either Gonds, fishermen, or 
members of certain other low castes. The sacrifices, too, in which she 
delights would well agree with the hypothesis of the aboriginal derivation 
of the main features of her character. At Chanda and Lanji, in the 
province of Nagpore, there are temples dedicated to her honour, in which 
human victims have been offered almost within the memory of the present 
generation. The victim was taken to the temple after sunset and shut up 
within its dismal walls. In the morning, when the door was opened, he 
• " Aboriginal Tribes of the Central Provinces." 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



was found dead, much to tlie glory of the great goddess, who had shown 

Human ^^^^ power by coming during the night and sucking his blood. 

sacrifices. ]^q doubt there must have been some of her servants hid in the 

fane, whose business it was to prepare for the horrid banquet. At Dante- 

wada, in Bustar, there is a famous shrine of Kali, under the name of 

Danteshwari. Here many a human head has been presented on her altar. 

About 1830 it is said that upwards of twenty-five full-grown men were 

immolated on a single occasion by a late Raja of Bustar." 

The medicine-man or professional priest is not so prominent among 

the Gronds as among some other Indian tribes ; but men exist among them 

who profess to be able to call timers from the iungles and to 
Exercisers. ^ . , tit 

control their actions, to protect men and cattle, to detect sorcery 

and to tell fortunes. The public festivals of the Gonds are largely con- 
nected with their crops. They can also exorcise evil spirits and interpret 
the wishes of the gods, going into a trance, leaping wildly and performing 
the usual antics of their class, and then declaring whether the god has 
accepted the service offered to him. 

Burial was formerly universal among the G-onds ; but cremation has 
been largely adopted by them from the Hindus. They used to bury the 
Memorial ^^^^ i^ their Own houses, afterwards deserting them, but have in 
slabs for the later years buried outside their villages. Some of the tribes erect 
rough unhewn slabs of stone as memorials of the dead. Offerings 
are presented to the dead, consisting of .rice and other grains, eggs, fowls, or 
sheep. To persons of more than usual reputation for sanctity, offerings 
continue to be presented annually for many years after their death. 

As a specimen of Gond funeral rites, we may quote the following 
from Mr. Hislop : — '' When a Madia (a tribe of Gonds) dies, the relatives 
Funeral of ^'^ ^"^^ offer before his corpse a fowl. They then place the body 
a Madia, on a bamboo mat, and four young men lift it on their shoulders. 
All the neighbours, calling to mind their own deceased fathers, pour out 
on the ground a handful of rice in their honour ; then turning to the 
corpse, they put a little on it, remarking that the recently departed had 
now become a god, and adjure him, if death had come by God's will, to 
accuse no one ; but if it had been caused by sorcery, to point out the guilty 
plrt3^ Sometimes, it is said, there is such a pressure exerted on the 
shoulders of the bearers, that they are pushed forward and guided to a 
particular house. The inmate is not seized at once ; but if three times the 
corpse, after being taken some distance back, returns in the direction and 
indicates the same individual, he is apprehended and expelled from the 
village. Frequently also his house shares the same fate. The body is then 
carried to a tree, to which it is tied upright, and burned amid the wailing 
of the spectators. Funeral rites are performed a year or eighteen months 
after the cremation, when a flag is tied to the tree where it took place. 
After sacrificing a fowl, the friends return and eat, drink and dance at the 
expense of the deceased man's family for one or more days, according to 
their ability." 



ABORIGINAL RELIGIONS OF INDI4, ETC. 89 

The Khoiids (or Kandlis) of north-eastern India have an evil fame as 
being among the most inveterate and lavish in their human sacrifices of 
any race of mankind, sacrifices which continued till quite the 
middle of this century when persistent government pressure sacrmcas of 
appears to have put a stop to it. The Khonds are divided into *^® ^iionds. 
two sects, one of which abhors human sacrifice. The other is devoted 
especially to the Tari, the earth-goddess, to whom human sacrifices were 
offered, a regular class of victims being purchased from neighbouring tribes, 
of any age and either sex, and held in readiness, well fed, for the regular 
festivals. Ten or twelve days before the sacrifice, the hair of the victim 
was cut off, and the villagers, having bathed, went to the sacred grove 
with the priest, who there invoked the goddess. The ceremonies, attended 
by unbridled licence, lasted three days. On the second day, the victim 
was led in procession through the village to the sacrificial grove, and bound, 
sitting, to a post in the middle of the grove, anointed with oil, ghee, and 
turmeric, adorned with flowers, and even worshipped. In this attitude he 
or she was left all night, while feasting was resumed by the people. 

The details which follow, as given by Major Macpherson, are almost 
inconceivably horrible. As the victim must not die in bonds nor show 
any resistance, the arms and legs were broken, or stupefaction by 
opium was produced, so that the bonds might be unloosed. The mentofthe 
priest after this offered up prayers to the earth-goddess. At '^^^*™^- 
noon on the third day, the priest took the branch of a green tree, cleft 
several feet down the centre. The victim was forced into the cleft, his 
throat being in some districts inserted into it, and then the cleft was forcibly 
closed by cords twisted round the open extremity of the stake. After the 
priest had wounded the victim slightly with his axe, the crowd threw 
itself on the dead body, and, leaving untouched the head and intestines, 
stripped the flesh from the bones, and fled with them to their fields. The 
remains were next day burned on a funeral pile, and a further sacrifice of 
a sheep was made, the ashes being scattered over the fields or made into 
a paste, with which the floors of the houses and granaries were smeared. 
Subsequently a bullock was given to the father or procurer of the victim, 
and another was sacrificed and eaten at the feast which terminated the 
celebration. One year after such a sacrifice the goddess Tari was reminded 
of it by the offering of a pig. In some districts the victim was put to death 
by a slow fire, the great object being to draw as many tears as possible, in 
the belief that the goddess would proportionately increase the supply of 
rain. 

Notwithstanding the barbarity of this sacrifice, Macpherson declares 
that he found it not attended by any manifestations of passion, and that it 
appeared to be offered in a spirit essentially relip-ious, " in fearful „ ,. . 

1^,. , -'• , P 1 •?! 1 Religious sin- 

obedience to the express mandate 01 the terrible power, whose centyofthe 
wrath it is believed to place in abeyance. And the offerings are 
lives free, unforfeited, undegraded, generally in innocent childhood, belong- 
ing to a different race from the immolators, procured by persons of another 



90 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

faith, and acquired by scrupulous purchase, which the Khonds believe to 
confer a perfect title." An unbought life they considered an abomination 
to the deity. At one of the later sacrifices no fewer than 125 victims were 
immolated. Afterwards, by unceasing efforts of British officials, a large 
number of destined victims were set free and cared for by the British. 

In Jej^pore there were annual sacrifices to Maniksoro, the god of war, 
as well as to the earth-goddess. The victim was tied to a post by his hair, 

„ . and at the same time his body was held face downwards over an 

Human sacn- ... 

fices to the open grave. The priest, while praying for success in battle, 
go war. ]3^g^(3]jQ(j ^^ neck of the victim, at the same time consoling him 
by the assurance that he would soon be honoured by being devoured by the 
god for the people's benefit. His head was then cut off, the body falling 
into the grave, and the head remaining suspended until devoured by 
birds. 

The worship of deceased ancestors is an important feature of Khond 
religion. Other gods beside Tari are worshipped. They have introduced the 
Hindu goddess Kali into their worship, and employ Hindu priests 
for special in celebrating her rites. They also firmly believe in magic, 
^^' often attributing deaths or misfortunes to enchantment. They 
hold that death is solely a penalty for offences against the gods, and this 
whether it occurs in battle, or by the hand of men who can transform them- 
selves into wild beasts, or by magicians who destroy by wicked arts. They 
do not appear to have definite views as to a future state, but believe man's 
spirit to be imperishable, animating a succession of human forms. Percival 
says that they believe the judge of the dead resides beyond the sea on a 
The leaping- slippery rock called the leaping-rock, surrounded by a black 
rock. unfathomable river. Souls, on quitting the body, go directly 
thither ; and in attempting to leap the river and gain a footing on the 
rock, they often get injured, and the injury is expected to be repeated in the 
body they next inhabit. 

The Khond priests were regarded as divinely appointed, the original 
priests being directly appointed by each deity, and transmitting the office 
The Khond hy descent. But this does not prevent any one from becoming 
priesthood. ^ priest by a new divine call. One of the priest's offices on the 
occasion of a birth or naming of a child is to declare which ancestor of 
the family is born again. The priest takes no part in funeral ceremonies, 
even if present ; he may not touch a dead body. 

The ceremony of taking an oath by Khonds is given by Campbell as 
follows : — " Seated on tiger-skins, they held in their hands a little earth, rice, 
Khond oaths ^^^ water, repeating as follows : ' May the earth refuse its pro- 
duce, rice choke me, waters drown me, and tiger devour me and 
my children, if I break the oath which I now take for myself and my 
people.' " In other cases they sit on a lizard-skin, whose scaliness they pray 
may be their lot if forsworn ; or on an anthill, like which they ask that, if 
false, they may be reduced to powder ; while the ordeals of boiling water, 
oil, and hot iron are constantly resorted to. 



ABORIGINAL RELIGIONS OF INDIA, ETC. 91 



The Santals of the western portion of Lower Bengal are notable for 
the family nature of their religion. Each household has its special deity 
whose rites it carefully conceals from strangers. According to santai house- 
Hunter,^ even one brother does not know what another worships. ^°^^ ^°^^- 
They appear to pray chiefly that evils may be removed : '^ May the storm 
spare mjr thatch/' "may the black-rot pass by my rice-fields," "let my 
wife not bear a daughter," "may the usurer be taken by wild beasts." The 
head of the family on his deathbed whispers the name of the family god to 
the elder son. As far as can be ascertained, the household deity represents 
evil only ; but in addition to this source of misfortune, the Santal worships 
the ghosts of his ancestors. 

The Santal cannot even conceive the existence of a supreme and bene- 
ficent god. The impression of past history is upon him — of having been 

successively driven from more desirable homes by a conquering: 

, "^ ... • T , 1 • n • , • • Superior 

race, and superiority m power implies to him desire to injure, powers 

The idea of a supreme god makes him say, " What if that strong "^^ ©voient. 

one should eat me! " Demons and evil spirits are vividly before the Santal's 

mind, and he endeavours to propitiate them by frequent annual sacrifices 

and other bloody rites. 

The national god of the Santals is Marang Burn, the Great Mountain, 
their guardian from the earliest times, who is invoked with blood-offerings 
at every crisis. The victims are numerous and varied, of any 
kind of plant or animal. The Great Mountain is neither male god, the Great 
nor female, but is the great life-sustainer. He is regarded as ^<*^^*^i°- 
having a brother and a sister to whom libations are offered by the priests, as 
well as white goats and fowls. The Great Mountain must receive blood- 
offerings ; if the worshipper has no animal, the offering must be a red 
flower or a red fruit. When the English first came into contact with these 
people, human sacrifices were regularly made to this god. 

Wherever he goes, the Santal finds gods, ghosts, or demons, which he 
must appease. Among them are the Abgi, or ghouls, who eat men, and the 
Pargana Bonga, local deities whose name is legion, belonging «... 
to extinct villages, wandering desolately through the Santal natural 
territory. They have deities of the rivers, wells, tanks, moun- °^J®°*^- 
tains and forests. So that their worship, strongly related to the family and 
ancestors on one view, on another is equally a Nature worship. 

Like their view of the nature of the gods is their idea of the future. 
As a time of punishment for the wicked they can comprehend it, but not 
as a period of happiness for those who have been good. Ere- . 

quently the future is a complete blank to them. Some think that of disem- 
good men after death enter into fruit-bearing trees, while un- ° ^® ^p ^ ^• 
charitable men and childless women are eaten eternally by snakes and 
worms. Others think of disembodied spirits as flitting disconsolately among 
the fields they once tilled, standing upon the banks of the streams in which 
they once fished, and gliding in and out of the dwellings where they lived ; 
* " Annals of Rural Bengal." 



92 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



and these spirits must be propitiated in various ways, or they will bring 
evil upon the living. 

Once a year the Santals make a pilgrimage, in commemoration of their 

forefathers, to the Damooda, their chief river. This is termed the Purifying 

The sacred ^^^ ^^ Dead. A similar regard for the river is shown by the 

river fact that however far from it the Santal may die, his. nearest 

amooda. 3.^]^^^^^ carries a little relic of him, such as some fragments of his 

skull, in an earthen pot thither and places it in the current to be conveyed 

to the far-off eastern land from which his ancestors came. This is called 

uniting the dead with their fathers. 

The - Santal priests belong to the fifth and second tribes, representing 
the fifth and second sons of their common ancestor, the former being the 
Santal priests niost esteemed and best rewarded. Each village has its grove 
and festivals. £q^ worshipping the village gods. The priests of the second 
tribe are chiefly seers and diviners, and are largely occupied in propitiating 
demons. Festivals are held several times a year in the village grove, men 
and women dancing and chanting songs in honour of the founder of the 
community. Croats, red cocks and chickens are sacrificed ; and the various 
families dance round the particular trees supposed to be inhabited b}^ their 
special gods. In some tribes every family dances round each tree, so as not 
to omit one in which by any possibility one of their gods might reside. 
. Once a year the tribal god is solemnly worshipped, none but 
village male animals being offered, and women being excluded from the 
groves, fgg^g^^ Each period in the cultivation of the rice-crop — seeding, 
sprouting, earing, harvesting — is marked by its own festival, with sacrifices 
to the gods. 

On the death of a Santal, his body is at once anointed with oil tinged 
with red herbs, and laid out. His friends place two little brazen vessels, 
Funeral one for rice, the other for water, upon his couch, together with a 
ceremonies, f^^ rupees to appease the demons whom he will meet on the 
threshold of the spirit-world. These gifts, however, are removed when the 
funeral pile is ready. The body is carried by fellow-clansmen three times 
round the pile and then laid on it. A cock has meanwhile been nailed 
through the neck by a wooden pin to a corner of the pile or to a neigh- 
bouring tree. The nearest kinsman has prepared a torch of grass, bound 
with thread from his owil clothes, and, after walking silently round the 
pile three times, touches the dead man's mouth with the brand, averting 
his face as he does it. Then the pile is lighted, all the clansmen facing the 
south. Before the body is quite consumed, the fire is extinguished, and the 
next of kin breaks off the three fragments of skull to be thrown into the 
river Damooda, as before stated. 

In quite recent years the Santals were excited by a novel religious 
ferment. In 1875 one Bhagrib Mangi gave out that he was commissioned 
by heaven to free the Santals from British rule. He gained great influence, 
and received both royal and divine honours, having a shrine set up for his 
worship. Notwithstanding his being taken and imprisoned and his shrine 



ABORIGINAL RELIGIONS OF INDIA, ETC. 



93 



destroyed, his religion grew, being preached by his disciples, the Kherwar, 
the chief of whom was arrested and imprisoned in 1881. 

The Karens of British Burmah regard the world as more thickly 
peopled by spirits than it is by men. Every human being has a guardian 
spirit, or La, either at his side, or wandering in dreamy adven- 
tures. If too long absent, he must be recalled by appropriate spirits of the 
offerings of food, etc., beating a bamboo to gain its attention. 
Besides, he is surrounded by a crowd of the spirits of the departed, whom 
he must continually appease if he would preserve life and health. All 
striking material objects inspire him with awe, and must be reverenced and 
propitiated. Moreover, everything living has its La. " When sitting by the 




A KAEEN FUNERAL. 



fire at night, and an insect flies into it and is burnt to death, a Karen will 
say, ' There, the La of some animal has leaped into the fire and burnt itself 
to death. We shall have meal curry to-morrow. The snares and traps 
have caught something.' Plants, too, have their Las. So if a man drops 
his axe while up a tree, he looks below and calls out, ' La of the axe, come, 
come'!" (Mason). Prophets or necromancers are said to have the Bringing- 
power of bringing back the sick man's La when it has wandered ^^<^^ *^® ^^s- 
away ; but false prophets are said to bring back the La of some other per- 
son, by which the disease is augmented. According to some, each person has 



94 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

seven Las constantly devising liis death, which can only be prevented by his 
own guardian spirit sitting on his head. If this spirit removes thence, the 
man is killed by one of the Las. All diseases are the work of spirits, which 
mnst be appeased by offerings. Another class of spirits, working evil, is the 
Na, which is believed to inhabit witches and wizards. These persons can 
take the form of another, and can also devour the Las of other people. 

Ancestor-worship is practised by the Karens, their ancestors being 
supposed to exercise a guardianship over their descendants on earth. The 
■me state ^^^5 however, of many of the dead are not permitted to go to 
of the dead. Hades, the land of the happy, which is a counterpart of this 
world, whose inhabitants follow occupations similar to those they engaged 
in on earth. Those who have been deprived of funeral rites wander about 
on earth. Those who have died violent deaths remain on earth preying on 
the Las of men. Others who may not go to Hades are unjust rulers or 
criminals who have suffered death. These are believed to take the forms 
of birds and beasts ; and those who dream of elephants, horses, dogs, 
vultures, Burmans, or Burmese priests, are said to see these ghosts. 

Dr. Mason says all the Karen tribes have traditions of Grod as having 
once dwelt amongst them, but having forsaken them. Sometimes He is 
Traditions represented as dying and rising to life again, sometimes as simply 
an?sacred departing. They have a story that God gave the Chinese a book 
books, of paper, the Burmese a book of palm-leaf, the Karens a book of 
skin, which they allowed a pig to tear up and a fowl to eat ; while the 
former peoples carefully studied their divine books, and hence came to excel 
the Karens. Consequently the Karens consult the remains of fowls, which 
Inspection of ^^®y suppose to retain the knowledge imparted by the book, and 
fowls' toones. -undertake nothing important until a favourable response has 
been gained from the fowl's bones, which are inspected after prayer. It 
may readily be imagined that it requires a practised eye to read the indica- 
tions accurately, and there are many nice distinctions, known only to the 
elders, or priests, who do not always agree in their readings. 

Each village has four hereditary "heads of the sacrifice," or priests. 
The first is called lord of the village ; the second, the messenger ; the third. 
Priests and keeper of the village ; the fourth, Sa-kai, a word of unknown 
offerings, meaning. The offerings given by the people vary according to 
families and tribes. Some offer only rice and vegetables ; one group offers 
fowls, another hogs, another oxen or buffaloes. It is doubtful sometimes to 
whom these things are offered, — often to unseen spirits generally, or to 
deified ancestors, or to the goddess of harvest. 

Complex ceremonies take place on the death of a Karen elder of the 
Bghai division. While the body lies in state, piping and mourning go on 
Funeral constantly. Before the burial an elder opens the hand cf the 
ceremonies. (Jead man and puts in it a bit of metal, and then cuts off a part 
with a sword, saying, " May we live to be as old as thou art." The rest of 
the company do the same, and the fragments cut off are regarded as charms 
to prolong life. Dr. Mason further says that when the corpse is about to 



ABORIGINAL RELIGIONS OF INDIA, ETC. 95 

be buried, two candles made of beeswax are lighted, and two swords are 
brought. A sword and a candle are taken by the eldest son, and a sword 
and a candle by the youngest son ; and they march round the bier in oppo- 
site directions three times, each time they meet exchanging swords and 
candles. After this, one candle is placed at the head, the other at the foot 
of the coffin ; then a fowl or hog is led three times round the building, and 
on completing the first round it is struck once with a bamboo, the second 
time twice, and at the end of the third round it is killed, and set before the 
corpse for food. When the coffin is carried to the grave, four bamboos are 
taken, and one thrown to the east and one to the west, some one saying, 
" That is the west, that is the east," contrary to the fact ; a third is thrown 
towards the top of a tree, with the statement, " That is the foot of the 
tree " ; and a fourth towards the root of the tree, which is gravely termed 
the top of the tree. This is done because in the spirit-world it is believed 
that everything is upside down in relation to this world. When the grave 
has been filled and a fence erected round it, boiled rice and other food is 
placed within it for the deceased^ On returning from the grave, each 
person takes three little hooked branches, and calls on his spirit to follow 
him, at short intervals making a motion of hooking, and thrusting the hook 
into the ground. This is to prevent the spirit of the living from staying 
behind with the spirit of the dead. 

Annual feasts for the dead are made for three years after a person's 
death. It is a general assemblage of all the villagers who have lost rela- 
tives. Before the new moon at the end of August or beginning peasts for 
of September, all kinds of food, tobacco, etc., are made ready, tiiedead. 
A bamboo is laid across one corner of the roof of the room, and on it are 
hung new tunics, turbans, beads, and bangles ; and at the proper time — the 
spirits of the dead being supposed to have returned to visit them — the people 
address them thus : " You have come to me, you have returned to me. It 
has been raining hard, and you must be wet. Dress yourselves, clothe 
yourselves with these new garments, and all the companions that are with 
you. Eat betel together with all that accompany you, your friends and 
associates, and the long dead. Call them all to eat and drink." Next 
morning, the new-moon day, they kill a hog, and make thirty bottles of 
bamboos, which they fill with all kinds of food and drink. Rice and meal 
are cooked, and all the food is spread out as far as possible at one moment, 
so that none of the spirits of the dead may be delayed in eating. Each one 
calls on his particular relative who has died. If a mother, he says, weeping, 
" Oh ! prince-bird mother, it is the close of August ; oh ! it is the new moon 
in September ; oh ! you have come to visit me ; oh ! you have returned to 
see me ; oh ! I give you eatables, oh ! I give you drinkables ; oh ! eat with 
a glad heart, oh! eat with a happy mind; oh! don't be afraid, mother; 
oh ! do not be apprehensive, oh ! " When the spirits have finished, the 
people eat the food ; but a further supply is placed for the spirits to carry 
away with them ; and at cock-crow next morning all the contents of the 
basket, including the bamboo bottles, are thrown out of the house on the 



96 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS, 



ground, the same ceremony of crying and calling on tlie spirits of the dead 
being repeated. 

The Knkis of Assam believe in an omnipotent deity named Puthen, 

the creator of everything. Although actuated by human passions, he is 

benevolent, and desires the welfare of humanity. He is the judge 

Puthen of of all men, and punishes them by death and disease, both in this 

the u IS. ^Qj.|j ^-^^ -|-]^Q next. He is invoked and sacrificed to in all 

troubles, his anger being deprecated, or his aid sought to avert the anger 

of other gods. 

Ghumvishve is their evil deity. When he is seen, death ensues ; his 
anger causes frightful diseases ; his essence is cruelty and malevolence. 
This being is alleged to be married to Khuchoin, "a malignant 
' goddess with special power over diseases of the stomach. Hilo, 
their daughter, is the goddess of poisons. These three are never prayed 
to, but sacrifices are made to avert their anger, as well as to Puthen to 
interfere. 

Numerous subordinate deities are also recognised by the Kukis, such as 
Khomungnoo, the household god ; Thingbulgna, the forest god ; river-gods. 
Inferior gods of mountains and rocks, etc. Each metal has its particular 
deities. ^^^^ presiding over matters to which the metal is related; thus, 
the god of silver is the god of wealth ; the iron god is the god of battle. 
The moon is also worshipped ; and in every house is a consecrated post, 
before which they place a portion of all food about to be eaten. 

Their idea of the future is not one of eternity, although they believe 

in a future of rewards and punishments. Even of the soul their conception 

is vague. They imagine that the dead take the same forms, and 

idea of inhabit a world lying to the north. They have a very exclusive 

^ ^^ ^' idea of their heaven. It is not for peoples of other religions, who 

must have other heavens situated elsewhere. In touching similarity to the 

American Indians and other races, they look for the assemblage of all their 

people who have been good, after death, in a happy land, where rice grows 

almost without cultivation, and where the jungles abound in game. In 

this future the ghost of every animal a Kuki has slain becomes his property, 

Future while every enemy he has slain is his slave. Evil doers are kept 

punishment, separate, and perform menial offices for the good. War and 

hunting are the principal occupations of this heaven. The evil doer is 

tormented, hung, immersed in boiling water, impaled, cast into a burning 

gulf, etc. They have no definite idea how long the torment or happiness 

of this state may last. 

In every village there is a rudely formed figure of wood, of human shape, 
representing one of their gods, generally under a tree. They pray to it 
when they start on any expedition, and when they return they place be- 
fore it the heads of their enemies or of the game they have killed. 

It is always a question of importance with the Kukis to find out 
what god has caused any disease. They have priests or diviners, known 
as Thempoo or Mi thai, educated and initiated to communicate with the 



ABORIGINAL RELIGIONS OF INDIA, ETC. 



97 



gods. These individuals feel a sick man's pulse, question him as to his 
disease, etc., and then meditate for a time, after which they „^ ^ , . 

' ' . ' -^ The KuM 

name the god oifendedj and the sacrifice needed to appease priests, 
him. If the victim be a fowl, the Thempoo cuts the animal's °^ empoo. 
throat, pours its blood as a libation on the ground, mutters some praises, 
and then roasts and eats the bird. The superstition of the people is further 
shown by their carrying tiger's teeth upon their persons, as a protection 
against wild animals ; also a small round stone, carried in a wicker basket, 
is believed to secure good sport to the hunter. 

The tribes of the Kukis appear to vary in practice between burial and 
cremation. No properly religious rites are observed. Feasting, long-con- 
tinued and general, is Funeral 
the most important thing feasts, 
following death. It is believed 
that while the body remains above 
ground all the animals slain for the 
feasts will be attached to it in the 
spirit-world, and hence the pro- 
fusion. When the body is taken 
to the burying ground, eatables 
and drinkables are placed on the 
bier and buried with it, and the 
skulls of the animals slain for the 
feasts are stuck on posts all round 
the grave. When a Rajah died, it 
used to be thought essential that 
at least the skull of one freshly 
killed enemy should be stuck over 
his grave, and to this end a war 
party was organised immediately 
after his death. 

The Nagas of the mountains 
of Assam do not attempt to account 

for the creation of the Gods of Kalmuck shamaness. 

world, which appears to *^® Nagas. 

have existed before their gods. Such religion as they have is not very 
sincere. One of their gods is believed to be blind, and consequently they 
cheat him by placing small offerings, or only a few leaves, in large baskets. 
They worship a god of riches, to whom all those who seek wealth make 
sacrifices ; he punishes by diseases and reverses those who, having wealth, 
fail to sacrifice to him. Another of their deities is god of the harvest, 
and receives offerings in kind, with prayers for good crops. They also 
propitiate a malignant deity, fierce, ugly, and one-eyed, who causes all mis- 
fortunes. 

Omens are carefully regarded among the Nagas, in order to discover what 
deity has caused a particular evil or can bring about a desired good. When 




THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



this is settled, the village is closed ior two days, and nothing but sacrificing 
Scolding the and feasting goes on. When a man falls sick, according to Major 
for causing- Biitler,^ the chief person in the house or family sacrifices a 
death, fowl, and, after placing the entrails and feathers in the road in 
the evening, he calls out to the spirit, "0 spirit, restore to health the per- 
son you have afflicted in my family. I offer you the entrails of a fowl." 
When a man of note dies in a village, the people do not quit it for three 
days, during which they kill animals, and the whole community feasts and 
drinks. At the funeral all the men, in war equipment, make a great noise, 
and jump about, saying, " What spirit has come and killed our friend? 
Where have you fled to? Come, let us see you, how powerful you are. If 
we could see you, we would spear you and kill you with these spears ; " and 
they continually curse the spirit and strike the earth with their spears and 
swords. On the grave they place all the personal belongings of the 
deceased, and, as with the Kukis, the skulls of pigs and cows are stuck On 
sticks at one end of the grave, but in this case in memory of the deceased's 
Burial at l^ospitality. Stewart ^ says the Nagas bury their dead at the 

the doors of doors of their houses, in coffins, a husre stone beinsr rolled over 
houses . 

the grave. Thus Naga villages are full of these rough, unhewn 

tombstones. The people show great regard for these tombs, at first fencing 
them in and scattering flowers over them. Cases of violating tombs to gain 
possession of the buried articles were not heard of. 

The Kasias of Assam are remarkable for the abundance of monumental 
stones everywhere by the wayside. Usually they are oblong, erect pillars, 
Pillars and ^"^^^^^wii or carefully squared. The number in one monument 
cromlechs of varies from three to thirteen, and is generally odd ; the tallest 
is in the middle. In front of these is a kind of cromlech, a large 
flat stone resting on short rough pillars. In one case a pillar was twenty- 
seven feet high ; and a cromlech slab, thirty-two feet by fifteen, and two 
feet thick, has been seen, raised five feet above the ground. Often the 
sarcophagus is found to consist of a large circular slab, resting on many 
little rough blocks placed close together, through whose chinks may be seen 
earthen pots containing the ashes of the family. The upright pillars are 
undoubtedly monumental ; and if the Kasia is asked why his fathers went 
to such expense to erect them, he answers, " To preserve their name." Yet 
they can attach a name to but few. The name of one, ^' Mansmai," the 
The oath oath-stone, was explained by a native thus : " There was war 
stone. between Cherra and Mansmai ; and when they made peace and 
swore to it, they erected a stone as witness." Hence it is suggested that 
some of these were erected as witnesses to notable compacts. 

The Bodo and Dhimals of the Assam forests worship a great number o± 

Deities f ^^^^^^^ j ^-Q--, household gods, worshipped at home, which are at 

the Bcdo and the same time national gods ; gods of the rivers ; and gods of 

sun and moon, mountains, forests, etc. They are also divided 

^ " Travels and Adventures in Assam." 

- " Journal of Asiatic Society of Bengal," vol. 24. 



ABORIGINAL RELIGIONS OF INDIA, ETC. 99 

into male and female, young and old, etc. To these gods tliey do not 
assign definite moral attributes ; but several of them are called Rajah, and 
one of them bears the name of a known historic person. Hence it is 
probable that their gods are, at least partially, deified ancestors. On the 
whole their deities have a vaguely benevolent character, and there is a 
general absence of cruel and savage rites. They do not worship images, 
nor have they temples. Their chief festivals bear reference to agriculture. 
They seem to have an idea of a future state. Diseases are caused entirely 
by preternatural agencies, and hence they employ exorcisers, who are a 
class of priests. 

There is a regular priest for each village, and a class of district priests 
exercising some control over the village priests of his district. Whoever 
chooses may be a priest, but must be regularly inducted. At 
times the elders take equal part with the priests. At marriages their 
and funerals the priests perform the essential preliminary sacri- 
fices ; they conduct the great festivals and make all sacrifices. The lesser 
deities receive offerings of eatables and drinkables other than meat, while 
the greater divinities receive animal sacrifices; The dead are buried 
decently and simply. They have no fixed burial grounds or monuments. 
Food and drink are laid upon the grave at burial, and a few days after the 
same is repeated and the deceased is addressed. 

The Mishmis of the Assam borders ascribe more destructive and 
malevolent powers to their gods than the Bodo and Dhimals. They fear 
most a god of destruction ; they also sacrifice to a god of health jy£a,ievoient 
and disease, and a god of instruction and the chase. One of demons of 
these people, on being told that the English worshipped a good 
Spirit who ruled all the demons, observed, " Ah, you English people must 
be very happ^^ in having such a good and powerful demon in your country. 
The Mishmis are very unfortunate — we are everywhere surrounded by 
demons ; they live in the rivers, mountains and trees ; they walk about in 
the dark, and live in the winds ; we are constantly suffering from them." 

When disease appears in a Mishmi's family, the priest is sent for to 
drive away the evil spirit, which he does with antics which only repeat the 
operations of his class elsewhere. The sacrifice, however, is Digease 
killed with unnecessary cruelty. Death of a Mishmi, especially a ds tth, c nd 
chief, is followed by extensive feasting in honour of the departed. 
The body is burnt after two days,, and the ashes are placed in a miniature 
house close to the house of the deceased. This miniature house is sur- 
rounded by some of the skulls collected by the chief during his lifetime. 
The eldest son holds a yearly feast in honour of his deceased father, and 
this is considered a most sacred observance. 

The Ostiaks of the Obi district in Siberia, before Christian missionaries 
came among them, appear to have had a belief in a Supreme Being, of 
whom they had no image and to whom they made no offerings. Gods of 
Shaitan is their household god, guardian of all they possess. *^® ostiaks. 
They represent him by the figure of a man, carved in wood and dressed 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS, 



like an Ostiak. To Shaitan all meals are first offered, all the dishes being 
placed before him ; and they abstain from eating till the idol, who eats 
invisibly, has had enough. Other divinities are worshipped, including Long, 
master of secret arts, medicine, etc. Offerings made to him by the sick 
must be works of art ; skins will not do. Meik is a god of ill-luck : to him 
Ostiaks make vows of gifts and service when in danger of perishing in the 
wilderness, or in snow storms. Many reindeer, put to death slowly and 
cruelly, are sacrificed to their gods by the Ostiaks. Ortik, one of their 
deified heroes, a beneficent being and mediator, is, like the rest, represented 
as a bust without legs, the face being made of a hammered plate of metal 
nailed upon wood, the body of a sack stuffed with hair and skins and with 
two linen sleeves sewed to it for arms, the whole dressed in a linen frock 
and placed on a table, with sword and spear beside it. To this being 
offerings of furs are made. 

Ancestor worship prevails considerably among them. When a man dies, 
the priests (shamans) make his relatives form a rude wooden image re- 
Ancestor presenting him, which is set up in their huts, and receives divine 
worship, honours for a greater or less time, as the priest may direct. At 
every meal they set an offering of food before the image, and the widow 
embraces it from time to time. The time of worship apparently lasts three 
years. The priests, however, preserve the images of their ancestors for 
generations, and manage, by oracles and other arts, to procure offerings for 
them equal to those of the other gods, thus showing how deified ancestors 
became regular national gods. The Ostiaks also venerate trees and bears ; 
they ask a bear's pardon after having killed him. They even insult him 
mockingly when his skin is stuffed with hay, and then set him up and pay 
him worship in their huts. 

The priests or shamans of the Ostiaks combine the offices of priest, 
diviner, exerciser, and medicine-man. They mediate between the people 

and their e-ods, falling: into convulsive fits, during; which they are 
Convulsions . ... . 

of the believed to be in communion with their gods. When the shaman 
s amans. ^^^^ according to Erman (" Travels in Siberia "), the bystanders 
throw a cord round his neck, and cover him with skins. Two men then take 
the ends of the cord, and pull it with all their might, while the shaman 
under the skin slips his hands to his neck to prevent his being strangled. 
When at last he has had enough of the struggle, he makes a sign that the 
spirits have left him, and communicates to the assembled people the pre- 
dictions which have been sought. 

A large proportion of the Kalmucks of the Altai are still shamanists, 

and sacrifice animals to their- good and evil spirits. Their images, rudely 

carved in wood or bark, resemble human forms with extended 

Kalmuck arms, and represent their ideas of the nature-spirits. The spirits 

of their ancestors are said to be represented by ribbons of varied 

colours hung on the branches of trees, and from them the living man 

believes that he hears the whisperings of his dead father giving him 

counsels which he scrupulously obeys. 



ABORIGINAL RELIGIONS OF INDIA, ETC, loi' 

Many of the Yoguls are still thoroiigli shamaiiists, and keep up a 
complete system of totemism. They are also said to worship a national 
god who has a sanctuary among the forests in a valley high up ,^^^ 
in the Ural. At his festival a horse is sacrificed, previous to voguis. 
which each man in turn drinks his blood as it "flows from a wound. They 
are said also to worship the sun in an especial manner. 

Among the Samoyedes of Northern Europe, though many are chris- 
tianised, the old shamanism and nature worship still lingers. Near the Ural 
Mountains may still be seen their odd-looking sacred stones or The 
roughly carved idols. They believe in principal good and evil samoyedas. 
divinities, to whom they offer arms and various valued objects. Bears and 
many reindeer are sacrificed to the gods. 

By far the most developed religion of the Finno-Ugrian group of 
peoples, however, was that of the Finns, which has in recent times been 
reconstructed by the collection of fragments handed down orally. The Finnisii 
which seem to represent a national epic, the Kalevala, describing religion, 
the history and nature of the gods they believed in. Castren, a Swede, 
is the special authority on this subject. We find in it a supreme god, 
Youmala, whose name is recognised in the Samoyede Noum., the Lapp 
Youbmel, and the Esthonian Yoummal ; and in all these the name signifies 
" the heaven " or " sky." In more modern times the name was applied 
generally to deities, and hence was adopted as the name for God The 
by Christian missionaries to Finland. It appears that the name ^aievaia. 
originally applied especially to the sky when thunder was resounding, being 
supposed to indicate the personal divinity. The name Oukko was also 
used for much the same conception of the sky, and for the head of the 
family of gods, represented as a tall man with armour giving forth fiames. 
The lightning was his sword, and he had a hammer with which he struck 
the thunderclaps. From this it may be gathered that the old Finns had an 
extreme dread of thunder, which is still the case. At the return of spring, 
Oukko was honoured with a festival, food being offered to him on the 
mountain-top. Akka, the old mother, was his wife, sending rain and often 
acting contrary to the wishes of Oukko. Each main object of nature, — sun, 
moon, stars, — had an important place in the Finnish nature worship, the 
heart of a bear or other wild animal being offered to the sun, and no work 
being done after sunset. Fire, also, was greatly revered. All these nature 
gods in general were favourable and propitious to mankind. Many spirits 
of the forests, of trees and waters, were also reverenced. 

The Finns believed in a future life, passed in an under-world called 
Tuonela, the domain of Tuoni (also known as Kalma and Mana). He is 
represented as a gloomy, severe, inexorable man, never to be The under- 
persuaded to relax his grasp on souls he has once seized. His world, 
domain is pale and shadowy, though it has a sun, meadows, bears, serpents, 
etc. The spirits of the dead were feared, especially those of deceased 
shamans, and hence the living ones who could communicate with them 
and hinder them from doing evil made their occupation very profitable. 




TBADITIONAL PORTRAIT OF COSrUCIUS. 



BOOK II. 

EELIGIOlSrS OF CHINA AND JAPAN. 



I. CONFUCIANISM. 



CHAPTER I. 
2Life of CDufunus^* 

A single founder— Early condition of China— Birth of Confucius— His early life— His studies— Inter- 
view with Lao-tze— He refuses high oflace — OfBcial view of Confucius— His son, Le— Confucius 
a magistrate — His manners and demeanour— Dress and food— The Duke of Lu beguiled— Con- 
fucius travels— Employment not readily found— His life in danger— He is compared to astray 
dog— Breaking a promise— Scarcity of provisions— Confucius describes himself— Death of Yen 
Hwuy — Later years— Death of Confucius— His tomb— His influence— Personal description— His 
guarded speech— His self-confidence— Views on public evils— Compromise of principles — 
Doctrines— Alternate neglect and reverence— Modern worship — Confucius a lover of antiquity— 
His special themes — Belief in a Supreme Ruler — Worship of ancestors and spirits — A future life 
—The family — Subordination of women— Grounds for divorce— The power of example— Filial 
obecience— The golden rule— Treatment of enemies— Dr. Legge's view of Confucius. 

THE predominant religion of CMna, Confucianism, like Buddhism, Zoro- 
astrianism, and Mahomet an ism, is peculiarly connected with a single 
founder. Dating back as far as, if not farther than Gautama, Confucius 
A single still influences the life of his countrymen in an extraordinary 
founder. (Jegree, not only by his moral and religious teachings, but also by 
his political institutions. In the sixth century B.C. the "Middle Kingdom " 
was ruled over by the dynasty of Chow, as a feudal kingdom, far less 
extensive than its modem successor. Honan and Shansi, with portions of 

102 



LIFE OF CONFUCIUS. 



103 



surrounding (modern) provinces, comprised tlie whole. There was already 
a considerable development of the arts of war and peace, and a - 
copious literature existed. "Polygamy was in full play, and condition of 
women occupied a degraded position. There was no established 
and influential religious system, and the masses of the people lived in 
chronic misery, suffering greatly under misrule. As Mencius, the great 
follower of Confucius, wrote : " The world had fallen into decay, and right 
principles had disappeared. Perverse discourses and oppressive deeds were 
waxen rife. Ministers murdered their rulers, and sons their fathers. Con- 
fucius was frightened by what he saw, and he undertook the work of 
reformation." 

At this period, in the year 550 or 551 B.C., was born Kung-Fu-tze 
(Latinised into Confucius), whose name means "the philosopher or master 
Kung." He was the son of a brave officer in the army, Shuh- -^^^y^ of 
leang Heih, a man of immense strength, and a descendant of Confucius, 
former emperors. The later histories surround his birth with marvels. It 
is claimed by two places in the state of Lu, in the modern Shan-tung. 
Confucius was the child of his father's old age, and the father only survived - 
the son's birth three years. His youth was passed in comparative u^g ga^j-iy 
poverty, and there is no satisfactory account of his early educa- ^i^®- 
tion. He says briefly in the Analects that at the age of fifteen his mind 
was bent on learning, and that it was owing to his low condition that he 
acquired ability in many mean matters, as he regarded them. 

At the age of nineteen he married, and his wife bore him a son (Le) 
and two daughters. Soon after his marriage he was appointed keeper of 
the grain stores under the chief of his district, and afterwards superin- 
tendent of parks and herds, and discharged these offices in a praiseworthy 
manner, without attempting to enrich himself. 

In his twenty-second year (about 530 B.C.), Confucius began his career 
as a public teacher, having no doubt prosecuted his studies while following 
his previous employments. His great desire was to have earnest 
and intelligent students, rather than those who could pay high 
fees. Indeed he did not reject any pupil who could pay the smallest fee. 
Two years after this his mother died, sincerely and long mourned by her 
son. At this time he seems already to have foreseen something of his 
future. " I am a man," he said, " who belongs equally to the north and the 
south, the east and the west." After this he continued his studies, and at 
the age of thirty, he says, " he stood firm " in his learning ; in 517 b.c. his 
fame was so well established that a principal official of Lu, on his death- 
bed, recommended his son and brother to study with Confucius. This 
appears to have improved his position, and to have led to his visiting 
the capital, the city of Lo, where he examined the royal library, temple, 
and sacrificial grounds, and saw Lao-tze, afterwards famous . 

as the founder of Taoism, whom he appreciated cordially. with 
According to the followers of Lao-tze, the latter did not think 
much of Confucius, and he is reported to have said to his visitor : " Those 



I04 THE WORLD'S RELIGIOIS/S. 

wlioni you talk about are dead, and their bones are mouldered to dust ; only 
their words remain. . . . Put away your ^proud air and many desires, 
your insinuating habit and wild will. These are of no advantage to you." 
These sayings are, as will afterwards be seen, quite in keeping with Lao-tze's 
teaching; the ceremony, reverence for antiquity, and self-righteousness 
apparent in Confucius were very much against the spirit of quietism and 
rationalism of his great contemporary. 

Returning to Lu, the fame of Confucius increased, and his disciples 
are said to have risen to three thousand ; but he removed from Lu to Tse 
He refuses when the chief clans expelled the reigning duke. King, the 
high office. Duke of Tse, sent for him, and offered him the city of Lin-kew 
with its revenues; but the sage declined the tempting offer, saying, "A 
superior man will not receive rewards except for services done. I have 
given advice to the Duke King, but he has not followed it as yet, and now 
he would endow me with this place. Very far is he from understanding 
me." When the duke was willing again to reward Confucius, his chief 
minister dissuaded him in words which convey to us a good idea of how 
Official view C'onfucius impressed his contemporaries. "These scholars," he 
of Confucius, sa^i^^l^ "are impracticable, and cannot be imitated. They are 
haughty and conceited of their own views, so that they will not be content 
in inferior positions. They set a high value on all funeral ceremonies, give 
way to their grief, and will waste their property on great burials, so that 
they would only be injurious to the common manners. This Mr. Kung has 
a thousand peculiarities. It would take generations to exhaust all that he 
knows about the ceremonies of going up and going down. This is not the 
time to examine into his rules of propriety. If you, prince, wish to employ 
him to change the customs of Tse, you will not be making the people your 
primary consideration." Soon after this time Confucius returned to Lu, 
where he stayed fifteen years without official employment, the whole State 
being in much confusion. 

During this period, marked by the composition of his Book of Odes 
and Book of Offices, occurred the single incident in which Confucius's son 
Le is prominent. One of the great man's disciples met the son 
one day, and asked him if he received from his father any 
different instructions from those given to the students in general. " No," 
said Le. " He was standing alone once, when I was passing through the 
court below with hasty steps, and said to me, ' Have you read the Odes ? ' 
On my replying '- Not yet,' he added, ' If you do not learn the Odes, you 
will not be fit to converse with.' Another day he said to me, ' Have you 
read the Eules of Propriety?' On my replying, 'Not yet,' he added, 'If 
you do not learn the Rules of Propriety, your character cannot be estab- 
lished.' " Nothing else of special importance had the son heard from his 
father. The disciple's comment was characteristic of his kind in China : 
" I asked one thing, and I have got three things. I have heard about the 
Odes ; I have heard about the Rules of Propriety ; I have also heard that 
the superior man maintains a distant reserve towards his son." This last 



LIFE OF CONFUCIUS. 



105 



practice was quite in accord with tlie principles of Confucius ; propriety 
was to be so far studied, even in the parental relation, that there was little 
room for the manifestation of open-hearted affection. Even when his wife 
died, and the son continued to weep aloud for her after the appropriate 
period, Confucius sent to him to tell him that his sorrow must be subdued. 

Having contrived for many years to steer clear of party conflicts, 
Confucius, about b.c. 500, was made chief magistrate of the city of Chung- 
too. Here confuciusa 
he soon magistrate. 

signalised himself by 
his strict administra- 
tion, and by the num- 
ber of rules that he 
framed for all con- 
ditions in life ; and it 
appears certain that 
he effected a great 
reformation in the 
manners of the peo- 
ple. This led to his 
promotion through 
several of&ces to be 
minister of crime to 
the entire state. 
Whereupon we have 
the doubtless exag- 
gerated statement 
that all crime ceased 
from the date of his 
appointment. 

We . have a pic- 
ture of the manners 

and beha- „. 

His manners 
VlOUr 01 and 

Confucius, ^^^^^°^- 
in the tenth book of 
the Analects, which 




CONFUCIUS : RUBBING FROM A PORTRAIT ON BRASS. 



appears very natural 
to his character. 
Everything with him was a matter of ceremony, and every action was 
designed to be an example to others. When out of doors, in his village, 
he looked simple and sincere ; in courts and before princes his demeanour 
was humble, but precise and self-possessed. When receiving the visitors 
of a prince, his legs bent under him, and he showed uneasiness. Dress and 
In dress, Confucius would only use the correct colours — azure, ^°®*^- 
yellow, carnation, white, and black ; his under garment was of silk, with fur 



To6 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

over it in winter, and a thin garment again over that. In his eating he 
was particular, though he did not eat much. Everything must be clean, 
well cooked, in season, properly served ; and he was never without ginger 
when he ate. When eating, he did not converse. When in bed, he did 
not speak. Although his food might be coarse rice and vegetable sou.p, he 
would offer a little of it in sacrifice with a grave, respectful air. " In bed, 
he did not lie like a corpse. At home, he did not put on any formal de- 
portment." In all these matters he was consistently anxious to set a good 
example. His idea was, that if the prince's expressed desires and his ex- 
ample were good, the people would be good. And certainly he was so far 
successful that he added to the power of the State of Lu, its inhabitants 
increased because of his good government, the men became loyal and 
faithful, the women chaste and docile, v The people were enthusiastic for 
him, and sang in his praise at their work. 

But this bright period of success was not to last long. The duke of 
the neighbouring State, instead of following the example of Lu, took 
The Duke of fright ; he thought Lu would become supreme and would swallow 
Lu beguiled, -^p rpse. Consequently he readily adopted the advice of one of 
his officials, that he should try and procure the disgrace of the statesman 
who was adding to the fame of his neighbour so greatly. With skilful 
adaptation to oriental court habits, he sent a present of eighty beautiful 
girls, good dancers and musicians, with a hundred and twenty-five horses, 
to the Duke of Lu. The fascinations of harem and horses had their effect 
and the minister and the council wete neglected. At length, finding that 
even the recurrence of the great sacrifice to heaven failed to produce a 
change, and that the whole thing was hurried through, Confucius slowly 
and regretfully took his leave of the Court, and was not summoned back. 
So he began his wanderings. 

Even now Confucius hoped to find suitable employment for his abilities 
in neighbouring States. " If any ruler," he said, " would submit to me as 
Confucius ^is director for twelve months, I should accomplish something 
travels, considerable ; and in three years I should attain the realisation 
of my hopes." He believed he could teach the rulers how they ought to 
behave, what they ought to encourage, what they ought to forbid. One 
of his expressions was that there was good government when the ruler was 
ruler and the minister minister ; when the father was father and the son 
son. That means authority and submission, due subordination of ranks. 
But, notwithstanding his firm faith in his principles, his departure fron^ Lu, 
in his fifty-sixth year, was melancholy, and it is recorded that he spoke in 
verse to the following effect :— 

" Fain would I still look towards Lu, 
But this Kwei hill cuts off my view. 
With an axe, I'd hew the thickets through :— 
Vain thought ! against the hill I nought can do. 



. LIFE OF CONFUCIUS. 107 

How is it, azure Heaven, 
From mj^ home I thus am driven, 
Through the land my way to trace. 
With no certain dwelling-place ? 
Dark, dark the minds of men ; 
Worth in vain comes to their ken. 
Hastens on my term of years ; 
Old age, desolate appears." 

AltlioiTgli many received him well on his journey, he did not readily 
find the employment he sought. The times were unpropitious, the internal 
dissensions of the various States of the empire foreboded the 
dissohition of the State of Chow ; and Confucius, eager to not readily 
strengthen that dynasty, was not likely to be acceptable to those 
who were fighting for self-interest, or for the downfall of Chow. Even the 
sage's disciples advised him to bend to the times ; but he replied, " A good 
husbandman can sow, but he cannot secure a harvest. An artisan may 
excel in handicraft, but he cannot provide a market for his goods. And in 
the same way a superior man can cultivate his principles, but he cannot 
make them acceptable." And the result at Wei clearly proved the latter 
fact, for the duke, though showing him considerable honour, put a public 
slight upon him, so that the populace cried out, ''Lust in front; virtue 
behind ! " and Confucius was constrained to observe, " I have not seen one 
who loves virtue as he loves beauty." 

While Confucius was on his journey from Wei to Chin, an officer of 
Sung sought to kill him, greatly alarming the philosopher's disciples ; 
whereupon he uttered one of his famous sayings : " Heaven has His life in 
produced the virtue that is in me ; what can Hwan Twy do to danger. 
me?" On his farther journey Confucius was separated from his disciples, 
and word was brought to his followers in Ching that there was a man at 
the city gate whose description was given, with the addition that altogether 
he had the disconsolate appearance of a stray dog. Identified ^^ .^ ^^^_ 
by the description, the master was soon found, and was greatly pared to a 
amused by hearing of the style in which he had been described. ^ ^^^ °^* 
" The bodily appearance," said he, " is but a small matter ; but to say I was 
like a stray dog, — capital ! capital ! " 

During 495 b.c, Confucius was in Chin. In 493 he decided to return 
to Wei ; but on the way he was detained by a rebel officer at Poo, who 
made him promise, before releasing him, not to go on to Wei. Breaking a 
But Confucius broke this promise, and, on being questioned as Promise, 
to the morality of this course, replied that it was a forced oath, which 
the spirits do not hear. So he went on to Wei, and was well received 
by the Duke Ling, who, however, gave him no office, perhaps because 
of his great reverence for the Chow dynasty and the elders. After some 
further travels, Confucius returned to Chin, and in b.c. 490 travelled into 
Tsae. During the journey his party endured severe privations scarcity of 
from want of provisions. One of his disciples asked, in surprise Provisions, 
and mortification, " Has the superior man indeed to endure in this way?" 



io8 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



Confacius replied, " The superior man may indeed have to endure want ; 
but the mean man, when he is in want, gives way to unbridled licence." 
Thus showing that the distinction between the two was adequately marked 
by the way in which such calamities were borne. During this distress the 
sage maintained his composure, and was even able to sing and plaj^ upon 
the lute. 

In 488, Confucius was in She, where a district chief had assumed the 

title of duke. The latter did not know what to think of siich a visitor, and 

hearing of his inquiries, Confucius described himself as " a man 

describes who in his eager pursuit of knowledge forgets his food, who in 

himself. ^^ j^^ ^^ ^^^ attainment forgets his sorrows, and who does not 

perceive that old age is coming on." Surely this is a noble description of 

a lofty - minded 
man, eager for 
truth, satisfied 
and happy in its 
attainment. But 
he could not win 
the opportunity 
to put his views 
into practice: 
again and again 
he was foiled by 
the jealousy of 
prime ministers 
or courtiers, the 
indolence of rul- 
ers, or their dis- 
inclination to 
change their 
sordid courses. 
Finally he re- 
turned to Wei, 
where at first he 

was asked to undertake the government for a young ruler, the grandson 
of his old patron, who was reigning in opposition to his own father. Con- 
fucius again showed strength of principle in refusing to aid a ruler whose 
title was founded on unfilial rebellion ; and he remained several years em- 
Death of ployed only in his literary compositions and in teaching. During 
Yen Hwuy. ^j^^g period his favourite pupil, Yen Hwuy, died, occasioning 
poignant grief to the master, who exclaimed, " Heaven is destroying me ! " 
It is said that his wife died in B.C. 484. At last he was recalled to Lu in 
483 by the powerful Ke Kiang, who had heard anew the praises of Con- 
fucius from his pupil Yen Yew. The latter was judicious enough to warn 
the ruler not to allow mean men to come between him and the philosopher. 
His return, however, did not lead to any very striking improvement in 




TOMB OF CONFUCIUS. 



LIFE OF CONFUCIUS. 109 

Confucius' s position. He was not admitted to take any part in state affairs, 
and consequently he applied himself to the completion of his 
great works. We are told that at this period he wrote a preface 
to the Shu King, made a careful digest of the ancient rites and ceremonies, 
made a collection of ancient poetry, and endeavoured to make improve- 
ments in music. In 482 his son Le died, and in 480 he had a presage of his 
own speedy death. In 479 he lost another of his notable disciples, Tze-loo, 
a man of bold and soldierl}^ presence, who would remonstrate with his chief, 
or make inquiries of him which others would not venture on making. 

And now came the death of the great philosopher himself. Early one 
morning in the 4th month of 478 B.C. he rose from bed and moved slowly 
about by his door, saying : — 

" The great mountain must crumble, 
The strong- beam must break ; 
And the wise man wither away like a plant." 

Then entering his house, he sat down opposite the door. To a disciple who 
hastened to him on hearing these words, Confucius declared his preference 
for the burial form of Yin, in which the funeral ceremony was Death of 
performed between the two pillars, as if the deceased were at once Confucius, 
host and guest, instead of treating him exclusively as one or the other. 
"Last night," said he, "I dreamt that I was sitting with offerings before 
me between the two pillars. No intelligent monarch arises ; there is not 
one in the empire that will make me his master. My time is come to die." 
So he took to his bed, and died seven days afterwards, b.c. 478, in the 
seventy-third or seventy-fourth year of his age. He was buried by the 
river Sze, north of the chief city of Lu, and his disciples continued mourn- 
ing at his grave for three entire years. His most devoted surviving dis- 
ciple, Tsze-kung, mourned for three years longer. He it was who said, 
"I have all my life had the heaven above my head, but I do not know its 
height ; and the earth under my feet, but I know not its thickness. In 
serving Confucius, I am like a thirsty man, who goes with his pitcher to 
the river and there drinks his fill, without knowing the river's depth." 

The tomb of Confucius is still reverently attended to and visited. It 
is surrounded by a forest of oak, cypress, etc., within a high wall. A 
huge mound, covered with trees and shrubs, stands over the 
grave, and in front of it are befitting arrangements for sacrifice. 
A tall tablet, twenty-five feet high and six feet broad, standing by the 
mound, bears a record of the name and deeds of the philosopher. Hard by 
are the tombs of his son Le and of the principal persons of his clan. 

Dr. Legge thus comments on the death of Confucius : " His end was not 
unimpressive, but it was melancholy. He sank behind a cloud. Disap- 
pointed hopes made his soul bitter. The great ones of the empire had not 
received his teachings. No wife nor child was by, to do the kindly offices 
of affection for him. Nor were the expectations of another life present with 
him as he passed through the dark valley. He uttered no prayer, and he 
betrayed no apprehensions." 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



Succeeding ages have known how to do Confucius justice, if not more 
than justice. His hfe fell upon times unsuited to the development of his 
doctrines of quiet orderly government. War, turbulence, disorder, 
' prevailed more or less throughout his life. His personal career 
may be described as a failure ; but he succeeded in leaving his doctrines to 
his posterity ; and his fame grew so great after his death, that a whole 
series of commentators and original writers followed in his steps and built 
up a mass of sacred or at any rate revered literature in China which 
compares even with our own book- wonders. 

In person, Confucius is described as very tall, though we may not 

accept the tradition that he was nine feet eight inches high. He is imaged 

Personal ^s of a swarthy complexion in the North, while in the South he is 

description. iig}iter. His statue in the temple adjoining his tomb represents 

him as a well-built man with a large, heavy head ; but it is not likely that 

we can now attain anything like a correct picture of him. 

He was not a great talker. He esteemed highly the inscription on a 
statue in the ancestral temple of Lo — a statue with a triple clasp upon its 
His guarded niouth. " The ancients," said the inscription, '' were guarded in 
speech, their speech ; and like them we should avoid loquacity. Many 
words invite many defeats. Avoid also engaging in many businesses, for 
many businesses create many difficulties." ConfuciuS's comment to his 
disciples was, '' Observe this, my children. These words are true, and 
commend themselves to our reason." 

He did not like forcing his doctrines on those who showed themselves 
dull or unwilling pupils. " I do not open the truth," he said, '^ to one who 
is not eager after knowledge, nor do I help any one who is not anxious to 
explain himself. "When I have presented one corner of a subject, and the 
listener cannot from it learn the other three, I do not repeat my lesson." 
Like many another master, he disdained the labour of making milk for 
babes, and only offered strong meat for the strong. 

Self-confidence was a distinguishing mark of Confucius. At thirty, 
he says, he stood firm ; at forty, he had no doubts, apparently, as to 
His self- what was proper to do or think under all circumstances ; at fifty, 
confidence, -j^^ knew the decrees of Heaven ; at sixty, his ear was an obedient 
organ for the reception of truth ; at seventy, he could follow what his heart 
desired, without transgressing what was right. Truly a desirable state, 
in which the conscience is in full agreement with all the actions, and 
nothing is desired which at all transgresses the rule of right which the 
inner self acknowledges. 

He had clear ideas upon public evils, and their connection with inward 

wickedness of mind. " There are five great evils," he said : " a man with a 

Views of rebellious heart who becomes dangerous ; a man who joins to 

public evils, yicious deeds a fierce temper ; a man whose words are knowingly 

false ; a man who treasures in his memory noxious deeds and disseminates 

them ; a man who follows evil and fertilises it." 

Confucius has been criticised because, as he grew older, he appeared 



LIFE OF CONFUCIUS. 



sometimes willing to compromise his principles for the sake of gaining 
employment or influence. One notable instance was when an Compromise 
officer, Pih Hih, of the Duke Ling was holding the town of of Principles. 
Chung How in rebellion against his chief, and Confucius was inclined to 
accept an invitation from him, although he was noted for his censures of 
rebels and rebellion. AVhen remonstrated with on this subject, his reply 
was to the effect that he would not necessarily become like a rebel by going 
to see one. ''Am I to be hung up out of the way of being eaten?" he 
exclaimed. Nevertheless, he did not pay the visit which he contemplated. 
There appears reason to think that Confucius really was, in his later years, 
ready to relax some of his rigid principles, if he could gain some oppor- 
tunity for exercising influence. Expecting old age and death to come only 
too speedily, he was anxious about his chances of leaving his mark on his 
generation. Once during his later years, after a strange dream, he burst 
into tears, and said, " The course of my doctrine is run, and I am unknown." 
On being asked for an explanation, Confucius said, " I do not complain of 
Providence, nor find fault with men, that learning is neglected and success 
is worshipped. Heaven knoAvs me. Never does a superior man pass away 
without leaving a name behind him. But my principles make no progress, 
and I, how shall I be viewed in future ages? " 

DOCTRINES OF CONFUCIUS. 

Although thus keen as to what future ages might think of him, the 
philosopher can scarcely have anticipated the remarkable future which 
awaited himself and his doctrines. In his eyes China was drifting through 
confusion and anarchy to ruin. But his teaching accorded singularly 
well with the natural tendencies and limitations of the Chinese character. 
Indeed, he has been called a typical Chinaman. What then did he teach 
that can be included within the scope of religion? Was he really the 
founder of a religion ? Let us first see how his memory has been treated. 

No sooner had he died than the reigning duke exclaimed, " There is 
none now to assist me on the throne. Woe is me ! " So, like others who 
have neglected great men while they lived, he built a temple to 
him, in which sacrifice was to be offered four times a year. Later neglect and 
we hear that after the death of Confucius, there was an end of 
his exquisite words ; and that when his disciples had passed away, violence 
began to be done to their meaning, and several varying editions of his 
works were current. Amid the conflicts of the different States, there was 
sad confusion in the teaching of scholars ; and the founder of the Tsin 
dynasty, in the latter part ot the third century B.C., destroyed all the 
literary monuments he could, in order to keep the people in ignorance. 
But the founder of the Han dynasty, which repaired much of the mischief 
inflicted by the Tsin, visited the tomb of Confucius in b.c. 194, in passing 
through Lu, and oflered an ox in sacrifice to him ; and his re- Modem 
maining writings and others which he had valued were carefully worship. 
collected and preserved. Emperor after emperor has since visited his grave; 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



and the greatest emperor of the present ruling dynasty knelt thrice before 
his image, and each time laid his forehead three times in the dust before it. 
He has been honoured by posthumous titles of rank, such as that of Duke 
Le ; but he is now known as Kung, the ancient teacher, the perfect sage. 
More or less definite acts of w^orship were early paid to him ; and soon after 
the beginning of the Christian era it was ordered that sacrifices should be 
offered to him in the imperial and all the principal colleges throughout the 
empire. From the seventh century temples were built to him in connection 
with all the examination halls which fill so important a place in the life of 
China. Thus the once neglected philosopher is now worshipped. 

The devotion of the Chinese to Confucius is like an attachment to the 
golden age ; all the charms that cluster round antiquity surround his 
memoxy. Belonging himself to a far distant age, he preserved 
a lover of and venerated the things that were old in his time. Of himself 
antiquity, j^^ g^id, "I am not one who was born in the possession of know- 
ledge ; I am one who is fond of antiquity and earnest in seeking it there." 
He styled himself a transmitter, and not a maker ; and truly there appears 
to be little that is original in his teaching ; but he systematised the accu- 
mulated experience of his predecessors, and set it forth and enforced it 
in a manner suited to the Chinese mind. He did not claim to have a divine 
revelation to make known ; yet he did at times say that he had a divine 
commission to preserve and maintain the ancient truth and rules. It is 
expressly stated that he seldom touched upon the appointments of Heaven ; 
but once, when he was apparently in (danger of his life, he said that Heaven 
did not let the cause of truth perish, which was lodged in him. What 
could the people of Kwang do fco him ? 

He did not deal with the origin or the end of creation, nor even with the 
future state of mankind. The present state of things was enough for him. 
His special According to the Analects, his frequent themes of discourse were 
themes. \^q Book of Poetry, the Book of History, and the maintenance 
of the Rules of Propriety. He is said to have taught four things : letters, 
ethics, devotion of soul, and truthfulness. He did not like to talk about ex- 
traordinary things, feats of strength, states of disorder, and spiritual beings. 
What then was precisely the nature of his belief in superior beings ? 

Dr. Legge is of opinion that Confucius's faith in a personal God was 
less definite than that of his predecessors, as given in the Shi-king and the 

„ ,. , . Shu-kins:. In these works we hear of Te or Shang-Te as a per- 

Belief in ^ ^ , ^ . t t t t • i 

a Supreme sonal ruler, governing the nations, rewarding the good and punish- 

Ruier. ji^^g ^-j^^ ^^11^ Confucius preferred to use the term Heaven, rather 

than to refer to a personal Grod. Thus he would say, " He who offends 

against Heaven has none to whom he can pray." " There is Heaven ; that 

knows me." Thus he did not elevate the religious feeling of the Chinese. 

On the other hand, he exaggerated the worship of ancestors 

ancestors and other spirits. "He sacrificed to the dead as if they were 

and spirits, p^gg^jj^j^. \q sacrificed to the spirits as if the spirits were present." 

Yet he never explicitly avowed the belief in the continued existence of the 



LIFE OF CONFUCIUS. 113 



spirits of the departed, on wliicli that worship rested. When he was asked 
whether the dead had an}^ knowledge of the service or worship rendered to 
them, Confucius fenced with the question, saying, "If I were to say that 
the dead have such knowledge, I am afraid that filial sons and dutiful 
grandsons would injure their substance in paying the last offices to 
the departed ; and if I were to say that the dead have not such know- 
ledge, I am afraid lest unfilial sons should leave their parents unburied. 
You need not wish to know whether the dead have knowledge or not. 
There is no present urgency about the point. Hereafter you will a future 
know it for yourself." This sort of teaching implies either that ^^^®* 
he himself had no opinion, or an opinion which he did not care to express ; 
and the whole calculated tenor of his life and demeanour leads one to 
imagine that he had no strong belief in a future, and that he permitted to 
himself a certain amount of insincerity, or at least cloaking of his real 
opinions. In spite of his frequent praises of truthfulness and sincerity, he 
could sometimes break his word or pretend a reason which was not true, 
and no doubt this has had an injurious influence on Chinese character. 

We cannot here go into Confucius's views on government, though they 
are so influential as to have almost formed a religion. More important for 
us are his " Family Sayings," in which a condensed philosophy of ™j^ ^ 
home relationships is given. " Man is the representative of 
Heaven, and is supreme over all things. Woman yields obedience to the 
instructions of man, and helps to carry out his principles. On g^T^ordina- 
this account she can determine nothing of herself, and is subject tion of 
to the rule of the three obediences. When young, she must obey 
her father and elder brother ; when married, she must obey her husband ; 
when her husband is dead, she must obey her son. She may not think of 
marrjang a second time. No instructions or. orders must issue from the 
harem. Woman's business is simply the preparation and supplying of wine 
and food. Beyond the threshold of her apartments she should not be 
known, for evil or for good. . . . There are five women who are not to 
be taken in marriage : the daughter of a rebellious house ; the daughter of 
a disorderly house ; the daughter of a house which has produced criminals 
for more than one generation ; the daughter of a leprous house ; and the 
daughter who has lost her father and elder brother. A wife may G-ounds 
be divorced for seven reasons, which may be overruled by three ^^^ divorce, 
considerations. The grounds for divorce are : disobedience to her husband's 
parents ; not giving birth to a son ; dissolute conduct ; jealousy ; talkative- 
ness ; and thieving. The tln:ee considerations which may overrule these 
grounds are : first, if, while she was taken from a home, she has now no 
home to return to ; second, if she has passed with her husband through the 
three 3^ears' mourning for his parents ; third, if the husband have become rich 
from being poor" (L.). Thus we see that Confucius held an essentially low 
idea of women, and therefore lacked one great element of elevating power. 

If anything is special to Confucius, it is his teaching of the necessity of 
correct conduct on the part of those in authority, and the power of example. 

I 



114 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

" If you lead on the people witli correctness," lie said, " wlio will dare 
The power ^^t to be correct?" His theory unfortunately is but a theory, 
of example, notwithstanding the indubitable effects of good example. No 
doubt he had as good a soil for the sowing of his seed as could be found on 
Filial earth, and the result has been as good as can be seen anywhere, 
obedience, u ^^^ ^^^^ evinced desires be for what is good, and the people 
will be good. The relation between superiors and inferiors is like that be- 
tween the wind and the grass. The grass must bend when the wind blows 
across it." Happily a more independent feeling rules in the "West, but one 
that greatly shocks the Chinese. Confucius gives no sufficiently powerful 
motive for this obedience, and shows no sufficiently real and deep insight 
into the moral nature of mankind. His chief recommendations relate to 
external things. " Self-adjustment and purification," he says, " with careful 
regulation of his dress, and the not making a movement contrary to the 
rules of propriety ; this is the way for the ruler to cultivate his person." 

We must note further that Confucius must be credited with having put 
forth something like the Golden Eule long before it was given by Jesus. 
The Golden I^ ^^^ Analects a disciple asks Confucius if there were one 
Rule. word that might serve as a rule of practice for all one's life, and 
received the answer, " Is not reciprocity such a word ? What you do not 
want done to yourself, do not do to others." But this is really only a maxim 
of enlightened self-interest, and is far from being equal to the positive 
injunction, "All things whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, 
do ye also unto them." Confucius's idea of perfect virtue was, " in retire- 
ment, to be sedately grave ; in the management of business, to be reverently 
attentive ; in intercourse wit h others, to be strictly sincere. Though a man 
go among rude, uncultivated tribes, these qualities may not be neglected. 
Confucius being asked what he thought of the principle that injury 
should be recompensed with kindness, he replied, " With what then will 
Treatment yo"^ recompense kindness ? Recompense injury with justice, and 
of enemies, recompense kindness with kindness." But in regard to great 
offences, we find the following precepts: " With the slayer of his father, a 
man may not live .under the same heaven ; against the slayer of his 
brother, a man must never have to go home to fetch a weapon ; with the 
slayer of his friend, a man may not live in the same State." So that the 
law of revenge was plainly inculcated ; and its baneful influence continues 
in China to the present day. 

" After long study of his character and opinions," says Dr. Legge, " I 

am unable to regard him as a great man. He was not before his age, 

Dr Legge's ^^^ough he WHS above the mass of the officers and scholars of his 

view of time. He threw no new light on any of the questions which have 

■ a world-wide interest. He gave no impulse to rehgion. He had 

no sympathy with progress. His influence has been wonderful, but it will 

henceforth wane." 

[Legge's "Life and Teachings of Confucius" (L.). "Sacred Books of the East," vols, iii., 
xviii., xxvii., xxviii. Douglas's "Confucianism and Taouism " (S.P.C.K.). Johnson's "Oriental 
Eeligions: China." Williams's " Middle Kingdom."] 




CHINESE BRIDE AND BRIDEGROOM WORSHIPPING TABLETS OF DECEASED ANCESTORS. 



CHAPTER II. 

Cbe COt'nese ^acrtu Soofes. 

Ttie Analects— Moral teachings— The Great Learning— Personal training-- Regulation of the family 
— The doctrine of the mean — Tsze-tsze— Teaching of the Chung- j ung— Man's moral nature- 
Confucius on spiritual beings— Benevolence— The sage, or perfect man— Omens and divination- 
Ceremony and demeanour— Shu-king, or historical documents— Ancestor worship and sacrifices 
—Music —Counsels of Kao-yao— The appointments of Heaven— Mang and the Powers above— 
— He desires to sacrifice himself— Instructions of I Yin— The dynasty of Chow — The great duke of 
Chow— The foundation of the city Lo— The goodness and perversion of men— The marquis of 
Chin on a good minister— The Shi-king or Book of Odes— Shang-ti, the Supreme Being— Ancient 
sacrifices to ancestors— Prayer to Heaven— The Classic of Filial Piety — The Book of Changes — 
The Book of Rites— Rules of propriety and ceremony— List of sacrifices— Mourning for a father — 
SjTupathy of Confucius— Calling back the dead— Mencius— His life and joumejrings— The teach- 
ings of Mencius— Ideas of Heaven and God— The service of Heaven— His ideal of personal 
character. 

FIRST among the Sacred Books of China we must place the Analects, 
or " Discourses and Dialogues " of Confucius, although containing 
many of the sayings of his disciples. The whole is very dis- 
jointed and fragmentary in style. In many a paragraph the 
praises of " the superior man" are sung. Thus, Yew says, " The superior 
man bends his attention to what is radical. That being established, all 
right practical courses naturally grow up. Filial piety and fraternal sub- 
mission, are they not the root of all benevolent actions ? " The superior 
man is catholic and no partisan ; he acts before he speaks, and then speaks 
according to his actions. He does not, even for the space of a single meal, 
act contrary to virtue : in moments of haste and in seasons of danger he 
cleaves to it. Four characteristics of the superior man are, that in his 



ii6 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS, 

conduct of himself he is humble ; in serving his superiors he is respectful ; 
in nourishing the people he is kind ; in ordering the people he is just. 

There are many details of Confucius's life and teaching embodied in the 
Analects, which we have already referred to. Some additional teachings 
Moral on morals may be given : of religion, properly so called, there is 
teachings, none. '' He who aims to be a man of complete virtue, in his 
food does not seek to gratify his appetite, nor in his dwelling-place does he 
seek the appliances of ease ; he is earnest in what he is doing, and careful 
in his speech ; he frequents the company of men of principle, that he may 
be rectified." The importance of the thoughbs was fully recognised, for 
the Book of Poetry was summed up by Confucius in the words, " Have no 
depressed thoughts." In all things filial piety is exalted, and this is made 
to include, in addition to obedience and reverence while parents are alive, 
sacrificial rites, full mourning, and keeping to their ways after they are 
dead. Conservatism marks everything. Hear and see much, learners are 
told, and put aside everything that seems perilous, while being cautious in 
practising the safe things. All through we come across repeated references 
to the " rules of propriety," till we are inclined to say the Chinese intellect 
has been quite cramped and swaddled in rules of propriety. A peculiar 
Confucian dictum is this : " It is only the truly virtuous man who can love 
or who can hate others." The term righteousness, as used by Confucius, 
falls far short of our use of it, for it is a thing to be performed according to 
the rules of propriety. 

" The Great Learning" is one of the chapters of the Li-ki, or Book of 
Rites, of doubtful authorship, but containing many of the sayings of Con- 
Tiie Great f^cius. Its main object is political, but it illustrates chiefly 
Learning, virtue and morals. It shows how the cultivation of the indi- 
vidual is at the root of and leads to the right regulation of the family and 
good government of the State. The wearisome style in which it is written 
may be illustrated by one of the early paragraphs: "The ancients who 
wished to illustrate illustrious virtue throughout the empire, first ordered 
well their own States. Wishing to order well their States, they first regu- 
lated their families. Wishing to regulate their families, they first culti- 
vai ed their persons. Wishing to cultivate their persons, they first rectified 
their hearts. Wishing to rectify their hearts, they first sought to be 
sincere in their thoughts. Wishing to be sincere in their thoughts, they 
first extended to the utmost their knowledge. Such extension of know- 
ledge lay in the investigation of things." The book is probably only a 
fragment of a larger work ; and it is not possible to get any very connected 
system out of it. One of its important principles is the following, which 
may be said to illustrate the golden rule on its negative side : " What a 
man dislikes in his superiors, let him not display in the treatment of his 
inferiors ; what he dislikes in inferiors, let him not display in his service of 
his superiors ; what he dislikes in those who are before him, let him not 
therewith precede those who are behind him," and so on. 

As to personal training, it is most truly said, that "the rectifying of the 



THE CHINESE SACRED BOOKS. 117 

mind is realised when the thoughts are made sincere," when there is no self- 
deception, and when we move without effort to what is right. Personal 
The superior man is watchful over himself when he is alone, training. 
There is no full account of " the investigation of things," as we should 
expect from the paragraph given above. 

Supposing the cultivation of the person adequately performed, it is 
expected that the due regulation of the family will necessarily follow. The 
virtues taught and practised in the family will also appear in the Reeniation 
State. From filial piety proceeds loyalty; and from fraternal sub- of the 
mission, obedience to elders and superiors. The great object of 
government is recognised as being to make the people happy and good. 

The Chung-yung, or, " The Doctrine of the Mean," otherwise inter- 
preted, " The State of Equilibrium and Harmony," is a still more important 
part of the Li-ki, and is ascribed to Tsze-tsze, the grandson of ^he Doctrine 
Confucius, being the son of Le. In his early days he received °^ *^® ^®^^- 
his grandfather's instructions, and greatly profited by them. He was to a 

considerable extent an ascetic, and refused a s^ift of wine as an „ 

' ^ Tsze-tsze. 

appliance of feasting. He appears to have been a man of strong 

will and decided independence of character. He was held in great esteem 
by the dukes of Wei, Sung, Lu, and Pe. On one occasion he recommended 
a man of worth, Le-yin, to the duke of Wei, although he was only the son 
of a husbandman. The duke justified Tsze-tsze's statement that he could 
not appreciate men of worth, by bursting into laughter, and saying, " The 
son of a husbandman cannot be fit for me to employ ! " The sage answered, 
" I mention Le-yin because of his abilities ; what has the fact of his fore- 
fathers being husbandmen to do with the case ? " 

In Lu, Tsze-tsze had several hundred disciples, the duke paying him 
the highest honour. One day the duke said to him, " The officer there told 
me that ^^ou do good without wishing for an^^ praise from men; is it so? " 
Tsze-tsze replied to the effect that he did wish it to be known and praised, 
because of its effect as an example. We do nob, however, find that he rose 
to the same elevation as Confucius. 

The Chung-j^ung is but a short work, very dogmatic, and n)t contain- 
ing adequate proofs of what it advances. It begins by a series of propo- 
sitions, of which the following are specimens. " What Heaven 
has conferred is called the Nature. An accordance with this of the 
Nature is called the Path of Duty ; the regulation of this path ig ciiiing:-yung. 
called the System of Instruction." We may express this more in accordance 
with Western thought thus : " Man has received his nature from Heaven. 
Conduct in accordance with that nature constitutes the path of duty." 
Later we read, '' When there are no stirrings of pleasure, anger, sorrow, or 
joy, we call it the state of Equilibrium. When those feelings have been 
stirred, and all in their due measure and degree, we call it the state of 
Harmony. This Equilibrium is the great root (from which grow all the 
human actings) in the world ; and this Harmony is the universal path (in 
which they should all proceed). The state of equilibrium corresponds with 



ii8 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

the nature given by Heaven. The superior man is he who always exhibits 
the state of equiUbrium and harmony ; yet few can keep it for a month." 

The treatise diverges without system, and often without much sense. 
In the main, it amounts to teaching that man's moral nature, received from 
Man's moral Heaven, is a law to himself, and must be jealously watched over, 
nature, jj^ gQ ^^^ as he rightly and completely exercises it, and comes up 
to it, he may say, " I am a god ; I sit in the seat of God." One of the 
numerous sayings of Confucius quoted in this book is significant. He said, 
" The Path is not far from man. When men try to pursue a path which 
is far from what their nature suggests, it should not be considered the 
Path." Thus much personal choice in morals is justified. 

One of the digressions in the Chung-yung is interesting, as attributing 
to Confucius some definite belief about spiritual beings ; but it amounts to 
. . little more than crude animism, which he neither originated nor 
spiritual developed. He says, " How abundant and rich are the powers 
emgs. possessed and exercised by Spiritual Beings ! "We look for them, 
but do not see them ; we listen for them, but do not hear them ; they enter 
into all things, and nothing is without them. They cause all under Heaven 
to fast and purify themselves, and to array themselves in their richest 
dresses, in order to attend at their sacrifices. Then, like overflowing water, 
they seem to be over the heads, and on the left and the right (of their wor- 
shippers)." Then he quotes from the Book of Poetry : — 

" The spirits come, but when and where, 
No one beforehand can declare ; 
The more should we not spirits slight, 
But ever feel as in their sight." 

Much of the Chung-yung is occupied with recounting the illustrious 
examples of former emperors, dukes, etc. In the second section we find the 
bold statement, '' Benevolence is Man," that is, his true self. It 
' is followed by the assertion that the greatest exercise of it is in 
the love of relatives, while the greatest exercise of righteousness is in the 
honour paid to the worthy. Wisdom, benevolence, and fortitude are given 
as the universal virtues, probably for all to exemplify. 

Tsze-tsze carries the teaching of Confucius much further in the latter 
part of the book, and therein may be called truly an originator. He says 
The sage, or ^^^^ perfection of nature is characteristic of Heaven, but that 
perfect man. jj^an may attain to that perfection. The sage, or perfect man, 
hits what is right without any effort, and apprehends without any exercise 
of thought ; he chooses what is good, and holds it fast. " He extensively 
studies what is good, inquires accurately about it, thinks carefully over it, 
clearly discriminates it, and vigorously practises it." Some of his expres- 
sions about the persistence of effort, by which the sage attains knowledge, 
are worthy of all commendation. " If another man succeed by one effort, 
he will use ten ; if another succeed by ten, he will use a thousand. He will 
not intermit his labour while there is anything he has not asked about, has 



THE CHINESE SACRED BOOKS. 119 

not thought about, does not understand, or has not studied in every possible 
way. Let a man proceed in this way, and, though stupid, he is sure to 
become intelUgent, though weak, he is sure to become strong." This sage 
is credited with power to give its full development, not only to his own 
nature, but also to that of other men, and even to animals and things ; he 
can even assist the transforming and nourishing operations of heaven and 
earth. "When we consider such expressions by the light of the modern 
influence of man, as shown in the breeding and teaching of animals, the 
investigation and culture of plants, and the mastery over physical powers 
attained in recent years, we shall be inclined to say that the sage of China 
had a remarkable prescience, although we may not agree with him that 
" it is only he who is entirely perfect that can transform." 

The theme sinks to a lower level in the next paragraph ; for the perfect 
man is declared gifted with foreknowledge, which, however, is derived from 
omens. '^ When a State or family is about to flourish, there are omens and 
sure to be lucky omens ; and when it is about to perish, there are ^^vination. 
sure to be unlucky omens. They will be seen in the tortoise-shell and 
stalks " [two favourite means of divination, the stalks being those of Achillea 
(Ptarmica) sibirica, a plant of the same genus as Milfoil] ; they will affect the 
movements of the four limbs (of the tortoise). " When calamity or happi- 
ness is about to come, the good is sure to be foreknown by him, and the evil 
also. Hence he who is entirely perfect is like a spirit." In divination by 
the tortoise, the outer shell was removed, leaving the inner portion marked 
by the muscular impressions. This being smeared with a black pigment, 
and fire applied beneath, the pigment was found to present various appear- 
ances, giving indications which were interpreted to mean rain, clearing up, 
cloudiness, want of connection, and crossing. Forty- nine of the divining 
stalks were manipulated in a special way eighteen different times, resulting 
in certain diagrams which were interpreted by appointed persons. Both the 
tortoise and the plant were held to possess spiritual intelligence or correspond- 
ence, and the spirits were believed to make revelations by their means. 

The perfection of the perfect man is then eulogised in a way that does 
not add much to our knowledge. He is said to effect changes without any 
movement, and without any exertion. Then by a sudden transition the 
author rises to a higher subject thus : " The way of heaven and earth may 
be completely described in one sentence : The}^ are without any second 
thought, and so their production of things is inexhaustible. The character- 
istics of heaven and earth are to be large ; to be substantial ; to be high ; to 
be brilliant ; to be far-reaching; to be long-continuing." But there appears 
in this and its subsequent expansion no notion of a personal deity. 

Then the sage is once more described and lauded, his admired greatness 
including the three hundred usages of ceremony and the three thousand 
modes of demeanour. Some of the excellent results of the sage's ceremony and 
action are that, " throughout the whole kingdom, carriages have all ^^emeanour. 
wheels of the same breadth of rim ; all writing is with the same characters ; 
and for conduct there are the same rules." Such a man marks out the path 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



for all under heaven ; his words are the pattern for all. He shows himself, and 
the people all revere him ; he speaks, and the people all believe him ; he acts, 
and the people all are pleased with him. " How shall this individual have 
any one beyond himself on whom he depends ? , . . Call him Heaven, 
how vast is he I" In fact, the superior man is all-important, for everybody 
will follow his example. First catch your superior man, and everything 
will go well. But it has not proved so easy for the Chinese to catch their 
superior man, in spite of the most elaborate contrivances. 

We now turn to the main mass of the Chinese classics, which existed 
before Confucius, and which he was instrumental in collecting, preserving, 
„^ , . and arranp:in2:. There is first the Shu-kine:, or Book of Historical 

SliTi-king', or o & o: 

Historical Documents, purporting to begin with the twenty -fourth century 
ocumen s. _^^^^^ ^^^ coming down to the seventh. It is but a collection 
of documents, not definitely connected, and often with considerable gaps 
between them. There is no reason to doubt the great antiquity of many 
-of them, for the ancient emperors kept a whole set of recorders to record 
everything of importance : and Dr. Legge believes written characters were 
in use among the Chinese earlier than the time of Hwang Ti (dated B.C. 
2097). The greater number are also credible, allowing for some colouring 
of the naiTator in favour of the ruling powers. Any discussion of historical 
records would be out of place here ; bat we may note that at this early 
period the terms "Heaven," "The Supreme," or God, and emperor were 
interchangeable, being signified usually by the syllable Ti. 

One of the earliest records contains a reference to the " Temple of 
the Accomplished Ancestor," showing that ancestor- worship was already 
An stor established. The emperor Shun sacrificed specially, but with the 
Tvorsiiip and ordinary forms, to God (or Heaven) ; sacrificed with reverent 
purity to the Six Honoured Ones (who these were is. doubtful) ; 
offered their appropriate sacrifices to the hills and rivers, and extended his 
worship to the hosts of spirits." Here we see ancestor and spirit worship in 
a widely diffused form, combined with a recognition of higher and supreme 
powers. Bulls were sacrificed at this time. The characteristic severity of 
Chinese punishments is seen in the naming of branding on the forehead, 
cutting off the nose, cutting off the feet, whipping, and banishment among 
the punishments in vogue. Those w^io transgressed presumptuously and 
repeatedly were to be punished with death. Schools were already in 
existence in 2200 B.C., and the stick was the orthodox implement of punish- 
ment. The three great ceremonies were the worship of the Spirits of 
Heaven, the Spirits of Earth, and the Spirits of Men. 

At this time music was considerably developed, and was combined with 
poetr}^ The director of music was to teach the emperor's sons to be 
. straightforward, yet mild; gentle and dignified ; strong, yet not 
tyrannical. Poetry is defined as the expression of earnest 
thought, singing as the prolonged utterance of that expression ; and eight 
different kinds of musical instruments were in use. Divination was in 
regular use by means of the tortoise-shell and the divining stalks. 



THE CHINESE SACRED BOOKS. 



The early celebrated minister of crime, Kao-yao, gave wise counsels to 
tliem, placing the sovereign's chief hope in the steadfast pursuit of personal 
virtue. He enumerates nine virtues in conduct, viz., affability counsels of 
combined with dignity ; mildness combined with firmness ; Kao-yao. 
bluntness with respectfulness ; aptness for government with reverent 
caution ; docility combined with boldness ; straightforwardness with 
gentleness ; an easy negligence with discrimination ; boldness with sin- 
cerity ; and valour combined with righteousness. Kao-yao ascribes the 
social relationships and duties to Heaven, which graciously distinguishes 
the virtuous and punishes the guilt3^ 

We must only note some of the religious references in the Shu-king. 
Thus we read that to revere and honour the path prescribed by Heaven is 
the way ever to preserve the favouring appointment of Heaven.-,. 
" The great God has conferred even on the inferior people a moral ments of 
sense. ... To make them tranquilly pursue the course which ®^^®^- 
it would indicate, is the work of the sovereign. The way of Heaven is to 
bless the good, and make the bad miserable." 

Thang, the first emperor of a new dynasty, B.C. 1766, represents him- 
self as commissioned by Heaven to make an end of the criminality of the 
previous dynast}^ He requested the favour of Heaven on his en- t^^Lzm: and 
terprise, and for his new dynasty. His inaugural address shows tne Powers 
that he was deeply anxious not to offend against the Powers above. 
As for his people or princes, the good in them he will not dare to conceal; 
the evil in himself he will not dare to forgive himself. " I will examine 
these things," he says, " in harmony with the mind of Grod. When guilt is 
found anywhere in you who occupy the myriad regions, let it rest on me, 
the One Man. When guilt is found in me, the One Man, it shall not attach 
to you." In correspondence with these lofty sentiments, there is a 
tradition about Thang, that after his accession to the throne, there was a 
great drought followed by famine. A suggestion was made in accordance 
with the principle mentioned in orir Introduction (p. 16), that . 

some human sacrifice was necessary, and that rain should be sacrifice 
prayed for. Thang answered, " If a man must be the victim, I ^^^^eif. 
will be he." After fasting, and cutting off his hair and nails, he proceeded in 
a plain carriage drawn by white horses {i.e. of the Chinese mourning colour), 
decked in rushes as a sacrifice, to a forest of mulberry-trees, where he 
prayed, asking to what fault of his the drought was owing. Before he had 
concluded, abundance of rain fell. The title of " the One Man," used of 
Thang, had already come into use as a special designation of the emperor. 

The Instructions of I-yin, minister of Thang's grandson, contain little 
beyond the ancient truths. He says that Heaven has no partial affection ; 
only to those who are reverent does it show affection. The spirits 

11 pp T 7 Instructions 

do not always accept the sacrifices that are offered to them ; of 
they accept only the sacrifices of the sincere. A virtuous sovereign ^"^"^' 
is spoken of as the fellow of God, who rules on earth as He rules above. 
In retiring from office, I-yin said that it was difficult to rely on Heaven, for 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



its appointments were not constant ; but if the sovereign's virtue were 
constant, he would preserve his throne. One of his references shows that 
the kings in his time had a temple of ancestors containing seven shrines 
or smaller temples, in which were placed the spirit-tablets of kings held 
worthy of honour. One of his words of advice to the king, is a remarkable 
one to be addressed to a ruler : " Do not think yourself so large as to deem 
others small." 

The latter portion of the Shu-king relates to the dynasty of Chow (b.c. 
122 to 256). In the first book, " The Great Declaration," the founder of 
The dynasty ^be dynasty, Wei, addresses his followers, and gives a picture of 
of Chow. ^jj^Q wicked sovereign whom he is going to displace, which 
shows clearly what condiict was thought reprehensible then. " He sits 
squatting on his heels, not serving God nor the spirits of heaven and earth, 
neglecting also the temple of his ancestors, and not sacrificing to it. The 
victims and the vessels of millet all become the prey of wicked robbers, and 
still he says, ' The people are mine, the heavenly appointment is mine,' 
never trying to correct his contemptuous mind." Wei relies on the fact that 
his own dreams coincide with his divinations, the auspicious omen is double. 
He attributes his coming success entirely to the illustrious virtue of his own 
late father. Wan, thus showing the true Chinese filial piety. 

A little later we come to the first mention of the duke of Chow, whom 
Confucius regarded with such great reverence. He was brother of King 
The creat ^^^ ' ^^^ ^^*^^ when Wei lay very ill, the duke, fearing great 
duke of danger to the State if he should die, prayed to the three ances- 
tral kings that he might be taken as a substitute for his brother. 
He offered himself as having been lovingly obedient to his father, and as 
possessed of many abilities and arts which fitted him to serve spiritual 
beings (confirming the idea of service being rendered by those sacrificed). 
He then divined with three tortoise-shells (corresponding to the three 
ancestors prayed to), and consulted the oracular responses, which apparently 
were some special formulas to be examined by certain rules now unknown. 
His prayer was granted ; but neither king nor duke died. The prayer was 
written down and concealed, and served in the reign of his successor to 
justify the duke from false accusations. 

In the Announcement of the duke of Shao, we find an interesting 

account of the foundation of the city Lo, about b.c. 1109. Divination by 

the tortoise-shell first took place, then two bulls were offered as 

tion of the victims in the northern and southern suburbs of the chosen site, 

city Lo. pQj.]^g^pg ^Q heaven and earth respectively ; then a bull, a ram, 

and a boar were offered at the altar to the spirit of the land in the new city. 

The duke of Chow took an important part in this enterprise, and he is the 

author of several later portions of the Shu-king. In one of these " Against 

Luxurious Ease," he instructs the king by reference to the severe toil of 

the agricultural labourer, which affords a pattern to himself, and also by 

reference to the good fortune of previous kings who had been diligent and 

not self-indulgent. The king is not to allow himself leisure at any time to 



THE CHINESE SACRED BOOKS 123 

say, '• To-day I will indulge in pleasure ; " surely a hard lesson for an 
absolute monarch. 

At various points we find expression of the belief that " the people are 
born good, and are changed by external things," which is a keynote of 
Chinese beliefs, and makes them resent the "Western teaching of ^^ g-oodness 
the natural depravity of man. The good example of superiors andperver- 
will alone suffice to bring them out of error and to confirm them 
in the way of virtue. We must conclude our extracts from this most inter- 
esting book by noting the gist of the marquis of Chin's speech, about 100 
years before the birth of Confucius. His principles of government might 
well be read as a text for modern rulers : " Let me have but one resolute 
minister, plain and sincere, without other ability, but having a „ marauis 
straightforward mind, and possessed of generosity, regarding the ofchinona 
talents of others as if he himself possessed them ; and when he ^°° "^"" 
finds accomplished and sage men, loving them in his heart more than his 
mouth expresses, really showing himself able to bear them : — such a min- 
ister would be able to preserve my descendants and people, and would 
indeed be a giver of benefits. But if the minister, when he finds men of 
ability, is jealous and hates them ; if when he finds accomplished and sage 
men, he opposes them and does not allow their advancement, showing 
himself really not able to bear them : — such a man will not be able to pro- 
tect my descendants and people, and will he not be a dangerous man?" 
But all Western minds will not agree that " the decline and fall of a State 
may arise from one man," or that " the glory and tranquillity of a State may 
also arise from the goodness of one man." 

The Shi-king (or She-king), the great Book of Poetry, includes more 
than three hundred pieces, varying in date from b.c. 1766 to B.C. 586. Only 
a certain number of them are specially of a religious character ; ^^^ shi-Mng- 
many are domestic and narrative, others are metaphorical and or Book of ' 
allusive. The authorship is uncertain, but many are ascribed to 
the great duke of Chow. Those in the fourth part are chiefly concerned 
with the ancestral worship of the Shang and Chow dynasties and of the mar- 
quises of Lu ; but these served as a model for the ancestral worship of the 
common people. They are so different in their nature from anything called 
poetry with us, that it is difficult in a brief space to give an idea of their 
scope and variety. Here is one describing a sacrifice to Thang : — 

" How admirable ! how complete ! 
Here are set our hand-drums and drums. 
The drums resound harmonious and loud, 
To delight our meritorious ancestor. 

The descendant of Thang invites him with this music, 

That he may soothe us with the realisation of our thoughts. 

Deep is the sound of our hand-drums and drums 

Shrilly sound the flutes, all harmonious and blending together, 

According to the notes of the sonorous gem. 

Oh ! majestic is the descendant of Thang ; 

Very admirable is his music. 



124 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

The large bells and drums fill the ear, 

Q^he various dances are grandly performed. 

We have the admirable visitors, who are pleased and delighted. 

From of old, before our time, the former men set us the example 

How to be mild and humble from morning to night, 

And to be reverent in discharging the service. 

May he regard our sacrifices of winter and autumn. 
Offered by the descendant of Thang ! " 

In explanation of " tlie realisation of our thoughts," we iearn that the 
sacrificer was required, before the service, to fast for several days, during 
which he must think of his ancestor, his demeanour, words, aims, and de- 
lights. Then with a perfect image of him in his mind, he would inwardly 
see him in his shrine when he came to sacrifice, and hear him during the 
service. The visitors referred to are descendants of previous dynasties, 
whom it was always important to have present. 

Here is a portion of an ode expressing the current beliefs about the 
Divine Ruler and the primary goodness of men : — 

" How vast is God, the ruler of men below! 
How arrayed in terrors is God, 
With many things irregular in his ordinations. 
Heaven gave birth to the multitudes of the people, 
But the nature it confers is not to be depended on. 
All are good at first, 
But few prove themselves to be so at the last." 

There can be no doubt that the Supreme Being was early worshipped 

in China by the title Shang-ti, translated " Grod " in the above quotations. 

^. ^^ Another title indicated Heaven, but the two are used in a. way 

Snang-ti, tne ... . . *^ 

Supreme which is practically equivalent. It is recorded that as early 

^^^' as the reign of Hwang-ti (b.c. 2697) a temple was erected in 
his honour ; and a hundred years later music was ordered to be performed 
in connection with these rites. At first he was conceived as a personal 
ruler, interfering directly in the affairs of man by rewards and punish- 
ments ; but it is not doubtful that a degeneration took place, by which 
Shang-ti became more impersonal, as the Azure Heaven ; and Confucius, by 
practically ignoring Shang-ti and laying more stress on the worship of the 
spirits of ancestors and on filial piety, did much to sterilise and stereotj^pe 
the faith of his countrymen. Several sacrifices to Shang-ti are however 
mentioned in the Shi-king, especially in spring and autumn. 

Many interesting details of the ceremonial of sacrifice to ancestors may 
be gathered from the Shi-king. After fasting by the king or prominent 
. persons concerned, a great assembly of princes, especially of those 

sacrifices to bearing the same surname as the royal house, took place. Liba- 
tions of fragrant spirits were made, to attract the spirits of the 
ancestors. The king himself killed the chief victim, a. red bull, and cut away 
the fat, which was burned with southernwood. Numerous other victims 
were sacrificed, and the ceremonial was complex and laborious. '' The 
description," says Dr. Legge, " is that of a feast as much as of a sacrifice ; 



THE CHINESE SACRED BOOKS. 



125 



and, in fact, those great seasonal occasions were what we might call grand 
family reunions, where the dead and the living met, eating and drinking 
together, where the living worshipped the dead, and the dead blessed the 
living." The departed spirits were represented by living relatives bearing 
the same surname, received personally the honour due to the dead, and ate 
and drank for them. They also expressed the will of the deceased spirits, 
and gave their blessing to the sacrificing king or prince, with the aid of a 
skilled minister of religion. Thus the predominant idea of these sacrifices 
was the maintenance of filial piety and of the clan feeling. The continued 
existence and guardianship of ancestors was expressed and embodied. 

As a specimen of a deep tone of appeal to Heaven sometimes found in 
the odes, we may quote the following : " great Heaven, how hast thou 
shut up thy love ! Compassionate Heaven, arrayed in terrors ! Prayer to 
why revealest thou not thy care? Leaving criminals aside, Heaven, 
who have but paid just penalty, the 
innocent are involved in the same 
ruin. Why will he not listen to jus- 
tice? Why, officers, will ye not 
respect each other, nor stand in awe of 
Heaven? Alas ! there are no words 
for it ; 'tis deeper than the tongue can 
speak. Words that can be spoken 
prosper. Artful speech flows like 
water, and the speaker dwells at ease. 
See how perilous is office. By advice 
given in vain, you offend the prince, 
you offend your friends even. Painful 
are my inmost thoughts. I weep tears 
of blood.'' 

The tenor of the Hsiao-king, or 
Classic of Filial Piety, a work 
attributed to a member of ofFUiai 
the school of a prominent ^^®*^' 
disciple of Confucius, may be sufficiently understood from the following 
extract : " The service which a fihal son does to his parents is as follows : — 
In his general conduct to them, he manifests the utmost reverence ; in 
liis nourishing of them, his endeavour is to give them the utmost pleasure ; 
when they are ill, he feels the greatest anxiety ; in mourning for them, he 
exhibits every demonstration of grief; in sacrificing to them, he displays the 
utmost solemnity. When a son is complete in these five things, he may 
be pronounced able to serve his parents." 

The Yi-king, or Book of Changes, can only be estimated by study. It 
IS an explanation of certain line-diagrams, or hexagrams, being xhe Book 

variations on these types -^=^ = g and '^^^^ ^ ^ =^= , of changes. 

which are believed to date from the twelfth century B.C., and to repre- 
sent various moral and political teachings. There are sixty-four of these 




EIGHT DIAGRAMS, WITH REPRESENTATION OF 
MALE AND FEMALE PRINCIPLES OF NATURE. 



126 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

hexagrams. In the reign of the tyrant whom the great Wan overthrew, 
these figures were already used in divination. Wan, it is said, was im- 
prisoned by the tyrant in 1143 b.c, and spent his imprisonment in studying 
these hexagrams. As he mused over them and thought of public affairs, 
he wrote the sixty-four short paragraphs explaining each hexagram as 
a whole. His son Tan afterwards did the same for each line, making it 
harmonise with the general paragraph. M. Terrien de Lacouperie appears 
to have proved that the hexagrams of the Yi-king are merely a vocabulary 
of primitive words and expressions, derived from the earliest writing of 
South-western Asia, so ancient that the earliest critics did not know what 
it meant. {Journ. Roy. Asiatic Soc. vol. 15, 1883.) 

The Li-ki, Book of Eites, is the most important of all the Chinese 
classics, as regards the practical behaviour of the people. It is a collection of 
The Book treatises on the Rules of Propriety, or ceremonial usages : in its 
of Rites, present form it is not older than the Han dynasty, and was only 
completed in the second century a.d. It has however gained higher rank than 
the two earlier rituals of the Chow dynasty, which are not reckoned among 
the ^Ye chief classics. Probably some parts of it are really as early as, or 
may be earlier than, these rituals. It has been described " as the most exact 
and complete monograph which the Chinese nation has been able to give of 
itself to the rest of the human race." The first book is a summary of the 
general rules of propriety and ceremony, and begins with a 
propriety and maxim which strikes an appropriate keynote: "Always and in 
ceremony, everything let there be reverence." The man who observes no 
rules of propriety is said to have the heart of a beast. After some general 
moral expressions, the origin of the rules is discussed. " In the highest 
antiquity they prized simply conferring good ; in the time next to this, 
giving and repaying was the thing attended to. And what the rules of 
propriety value, is that reciprocity. If I give a gift and nothing comes in 
return, that is contrary to propriety." The services due from juniors to 
elders and from sons to parents, and the rules of all daily ceremonies are 
minutely prescribed. Thus : " For all sons it is the rule, in winter to warm 
the bed for their parents, and to cool it in summer." A filial son, when he 
meets an intimate friend of his father, must neither advance nor retire 
without being told, nor speak unless questioned. 

In the third part of this first section, we have a list of sacrifices which 
is of interest. We learn that the Son of Heaven (the king or emperor) 
List of sacrifices to Heaven and earth (representing the Supreme Being), 
sacrifices, ^q ^^q spirits presiding over the four quarters, to those of the hills 
and rivers ; and offers the ^ve sacrifices of the house, every year. The 
feudal princes sacrifice to the spirits each of his own quarter, of its hills 
and rivers, and the five sacrifices. Great officers offer only the latter, while 
other officers merely present oblations to their ancestors. The Son of 
Heaven sacrifices an ox of a single pure colour ; a feudal prince, a fatted ox ; 
a great officer, a selected ox ; an ordinary officer, a sheep or a pig. In ac- 
cordance with their love for symbolic expressions, the ox is designated 



THE CHINESE SACRED BOOKS. 127 

" the creature with the large foot," the pig, " the hard bristles," a cock, 
" the loud voice," a dog, " the soup offering," the stalks of dried flesh, " the 
exactly cut oblations," water, " the pure cleanser," spirits, " the clear cup," 
etc. When the son of Heaven dies, he " has fallen "; when a feudal prince 
dies, he " has crashed"; a great officer " has ended" ; an ordinary officer " is 
now unsalaried." The corpse placed in its coffin is described as being '' in 
its long home." 

In the Than-kung, dealing chiefly with mourning rites, we learn that 
when a father has just died, the son should appear quite overcome, and as 
if he were at his wits' end ; when the corpse is in the coffin, he Mourning- 
should cast quick and sorrowful glances round, as if seeking for for a father, 
something he cannot find ; after the funeral, he should look alarmed and 
restless, as if seeking some one who does not arrive ; at the end of the 
first year's mourning, he should look sad and disappointed ; at the end of 
the second year, he should have a vague and unreliant look. Many of 
the sayings in this book are ascribed to Confucius, but are regarded as 
doubtful or spurious by the Chinese ; nevertheless they show what was 
considered appropriate to his character at a very early date, sympathy of 
For instance, when Confucius went to Wei, he found the Confucius, 
mourning rites going on for a man with whom he had formerly lodged. 
Entering the house, he wept for him bitterly, and ordered the outside horses 
of his carriage to be given as his mourning gift. On being remonstrated 
with, Confucius said : — " I entered a little while ago and wailed for him, 
and I found the mourner so dissolved in grief that my tears flowed with 
his. I should hate it, if those tears were not properly followed." Again, 
Confucius said " In dealing with the dead, if we treat them as if they were 
entirely dead, that would show a want of affection, and should not be done ; 
or if we treat them as if they were entirely alive, that would show a want 
of wisdom, and should not be done." And the Chinese commentators say 
on this, that in the offerings put down immediately after death, there is an 
approach to treating the deceased as living ; and at the burial, an approach 
to treating him as a disembodied spirit. 

There are numerous references in the Book of Rites to the practice of 
calling back the dead, still in vogue in China. In calling back the king 
or emperor, the proper phrase is, "Return, son of Heaven," calling back 
in calling back a feudal prince, the phrase is, " Return, sir so- *^® ^®^^- 
and-so." In Ku-lu the practice was, to call back the dead with arrows. 
The soul of a deceased ruler is called back in his smaller chambers, and 
in the large chamber ; in the smaller ancestral temples and in the great 
one ; at the gate leading to the court of external audience, and in the 
suburbs all round. CalHng the soul back, is described as " the way in 
which love receives its consummation." 

The third section of the Li-ki contains " The Royal Regulations." We 
learn that the ancestral temple of the Emperor, or Son of Heaven, included 
seven smaller temples, three on either side, and that of his great ancestor, 
fronting the south. A prince had five, a great officer three, an ordinary 



128 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS, 

officer only one, while the common people presented their offerings in their 
principal apartment. 

It is impossible in any brief space to give an account of the multitude 
of ceremonial forms and the reasons for them detailed in the Book of Rites. 
The few samples we have given must suffi.ce to barely indicate a people 
above all occupied with ceremonial and propriety to an extent which has 
almost stopped progress and perpetuated a childishness of mind in some 
respects which is quite astounding to Europeans. 

MENCIV&. 

The name of Mencius ranks next after that of Confucius in Chinese 
estimation. It is a Latinised form of Mang-tsze, or Mang the philosopher. 
His statue or tablet is everywhere to be seen in the temples of Confucius. 
Born early in the fourth century B.C., he lived to a great age, and died in 
B.C. 289. He was a great student and admirer of Confucius and his writings, 
and of the old historic records which he had collected ; he even knew some 
persons who had been disciples of Confucius. In his time the feudal kingdom 
was broken up into seven monarchies, all at feud with one another. Various 
leaders of opinion propagated opinions destructive of the State or of the 
His life and special filial affection and regard which Confucius so strongly up- 
journeyings. held. Mencius set himself to rescue the country from its impend- 
ing dangers by a plan similar to that of Confucius ; he would travel about 
from State to State till he got a hearing from some ruler who would carry out 
his teaching, and so bring about a be'tter state of things. When one State 
had reached a proper condition of order and happiness, it would be sub- 
mitted to by all others — a visionary hope truly. But Mencius went 
confidently on his journeys, visiting many States in turn, often meeting 
with a respectful hearing, and receiving large gifts. He put forward his 
doctrines with entire fearlessness, not scrupling to censure faults and vices ; 
but this led to no great result in his life-time, and he at last gave up the 
fruitless labour about 310 B.C., contenting himself with completing the re- 
cord of his teaching. The restoration of the feudal kingdom on its old basis 
was impossible ; the Chin dynasty was to change the face of the land, and 
rule by a despotism which in its essence has continued till now, though the 
dynasties have changed. 

The teaching of Mencius, like that of Confucius, was mainly directed 
to political ends, but it has incidentally much moral and religious bearing. 
Tiie teachings ^® ^^'^ Only comment on his writings, now reckoned as one 
of Mencius. of the Four Books, in so far as their view differs from that of 
Confucius, or has a peculiar tone. He is more of a philosopher than Con- 
fucius, and more definite in his teachings on many points. He believes 
that man is good, and the heart (probably equivalent to our conscience) is a 
sou.nd guide. " He who has fathomed his heart, knows his nature ; if one 
knows his nature, he also knows Heaven." Every heart, according to him, 
has the germ of perfection, and only falls short of it by not taking advan- 
tage of opportunities, or missing them. Man has the power of choice. He 



THE CHINESE SACRED BOOKS. 



129 



says, " There is both a heavenly greatness and a human greatness. Benevo- 
lence, righteousness, truth, faith, delight in goodness without weariness, this 
is heavenly greatness." Concentration and symmetrical cultivation are 
necessary to attain them : but these are opposed in some by natural selfish- 
ness, or by ignorance, or by external difficulties. 

Some of the sentiments and phrases of Mencius are extremely fine ; as 
" The great man is he who does not lose his child-heart. He does not think 
beforehand that his words shall be sincere, nor that his acts shall be reso- 
lute : he simply abides in the right." " To nourish the heart, there is 
nothing better than to keep the desires few." '' When one by force subdues 
men, they do not submit to him in heart ; when he subdues them by virtue, 
in their heart's core they are pleased, and sincerely submit." " Every man 
has a heart sensible of sympathy, shame, tenderness, and conscientiousness, 
and he who is without these is simply not a man." 
" Benevolence (or love), is the heart of man, right- 
eousness the way." 

Mencius expressed as his great aim the im- 
provement or elevation of the heart. He says, " I 
wish to improve the hearts of men, to put a stop to 
destructive doctrines, to oppose strange behaviour, 
to banish unseemly language. Is it because of a 
taste for controversy ? I cannot do otherwise." 
While not believing that error and sin are neces- 
sary, Mencius recognised their general existence. 
Thus, " Men for the most part go astray, and at 
first are able, after so doing, to reform. They are 
grieved in their hearts and oppressed by anxiety, 
and act accordingly." It was undesirable to have 
much prosperity and joy, for they encouraged the 
desire for pleasure, and so caused ruin. It was the 
struggle with adversity that led to active effort 
against error, and towards truth. 

In his ideas about Heaven and God, Mencius held much the same views 

as Confucius, but was more full in his expressions. His view of Heaven is 

that it is an overruling Providence as well as a first Cause. " No ,^ 

1 • 1 1 rx Ideas of 

man nor emperor can bestow an empire, but only Heaven alone. Heaven and 

" When Heaven is about to impose an important office upon a ° • 

man, it first embitters his heart in its purposes ; it causes him to exert his 

bones and sinews ; it lets his body suffer hunger ; it inflicts upon him want 

and poverty, and confounds his undertakings. In this way it stimulates his 

heart, steels his nature, and supplies that of which the man would else be 

incapable." 

The true service of Heaven, according to Mencius, is the right culti- 

va*:ion of the heart and nature. The ruler serves Heaven by ^ne service of 

serving both the small and great. The tutelary deities or Heaven. 

spirits he believed to be channels for the blessings of Heaven ; 3^et they 







1 M ^m I ^ilUk 




^■■^ 


Si 


IHL 


w. 


Bk 


Wi"^^ ' 





TRADITIONAL LIKENESS O? 
MENCIUS. 



I30 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

were in a peculiar way dependent npon men, and possessed human weak- 
nesses. Thus he says, " When the sacrificial victims are perfect, the 
corn in the vessels pure, the sacrifices at their proper times, and yet there 
arises drought or flood, then the tutelary spirits must be changed. He also 
believed in many kinds of spirits besides the tutelary spirits, all capable of 
serving man and of being propitiated by gifts. Strangely in contrast with 
some of his lofty ideals, we find the following, " Although any one be a bad 
man, if he fasts and is collected, bathes and washes himself, he may indeed 
offer sacrifice to God " ; but perhaps this ceremonial indicates that the bad 
man has changed his heart and repented, and become worthy of offering 
sacrifice. For from other passages we gather that in Mencius's idea " Shang- 
Ti," or the Supreme Being, is the Supreme Ruler and Grovernor of the 
World, desirous of the physical and moral well-being of mankind, a holy 
Being whom nothing impure may approach, and who receives the penitent 
with favour. All men are under universal law and destiny ; the education 
and cultivation of each man is but a fulfilment of destiny. Yet there is 
moral freedom, and virtue needs to be inculcated and preached. 

We cannot go fully into his disquisitions on the virtues and their re- 
sults, the character of the superior man and the sage. He takes as a model 
character an ancient holy man. Shun, who for a long time dwelt among sa- 
vages without degenerating under their influence. The true disciple of Shun 
is diligent in good things, and the difference between the holy man and the 
robber is the distance between selfishness and goodness. He is no friend to 
cringing servility. "He who bends himself can never make others straight." 
He attacks Phariseeism and hypocrisy, and lauds kindness, truth, and be- 
nevolence. He blames uncharitable speech, and unreality in words. 

Righteousness Mencius held to belong to the essential nature of men, 
and to have been originally common to all hearts. He valued it more than 

^^^g life. " I like life and I also like righteousness," he said ; " if the 
Righteous- two are not to be had together, I let go life and hold to righteous- 

^^^^' ness. Life also appertains to the things which I desire ; but if 
amongst the things which I desire there is something greater than life, I 
will not on this account retain it by baseness of conduct. Death, again, 
appertains to the things which I hate ; but if amongst the things which I 
hate there is something greater than death, therefore these are calamities 
which I do not avoid." Righteousness is realised by a practical recognition 
of the rights of others ; its result is contentment or self-satisfaction. " He 
who prizes virtue and rejoices in righteousness may well be cheerful, there- 
fore in destitution the scholar does not lose righteousness, in prosperity he 
departs not from the way." (F.) 

On the whole, his doctrines are more practical than those of Confucius ; 
but however much reverence he may now receive, however much he may 
be studied by the superior minds, his thoughts do not influence largely the 
present religious attitude of the mass of the Chinese. Confucius is to them 
a god, in reverencing whom with the ancestral spirits they find such outlet 
as they think they require for their spiritual aspirations. 



THE CB-jyESE SACRED BOOKS. 131 

A description of the ideal of personal character compiled from Mencius 
includes many of the finest maxims. " A real man is one whose goodness 
is a part of himself. Of the qualities of the sage, none is greater ^.^ j^^^j ^^ 
than that of being a helper of men to right living. He is personal cha- 
ashamed of a reputation beyond his desert. Having found the right 
way within himself, he rests in it, firm and serene, holding intimate con- 
verse with it, and reaching to its fountain-head. He obeys the right, and 
waits for the appointed. His words are plain and simple, yet of widest bear- 
ing. His aim is self-culture, yet it gives place to all men. ... If one 
strive to treat others as he would be treated by them, he shall not 
fail to come near the perfect life. Every duty is a charge, but the charge 
of oneself is the root of all others. The disease of men is to neglect their 
own fields and go to weeding those of others ; and to exact much from 
others, and lay light burdens on themselves." (J.) 

By some thinkers, as the American Johnson, Mencius is lauded as one 
of the greatest teachers, more assertive on behalf of humanity in general 
than Confucius, more positive in upholding the right of revolution against 
evil rulers, more definite in his plans of reform. There can be no question 
of his greatness ; but it can hardly be claimed that his theories have been 
translated into facts in China. His temple stands to the south of his native 
city, Tsin-hien, enclosed by cypress-trees and a high wall ; it ia similar to 
the temples of Confucius, but on a greater scale than most of them. The 
huge marble tablet of the sage, twenty feet high, six feet wide, and twenty 
inches thick, stands on a monster tortoise twelve feet long. A large statue 
of him is on a platform in the building, showing him, according to William- 
son (" Journeys in North China "), as " of middle stature, stout, and having a 
ready-for-anything appearance, with a round full face, sanguine bright eye, 
thin closed lips, and a large flattish nose." The idea given of him is, that he 
was thoughtful, resolute, outspoken, and experienced in disappointment and 
sorrow. Many tablets have been erected in his honour by emperors and 
others. Lineal representatives of Mencius still live in honour, and receive 
large pensions from the Government. 

[•' Sacred Books of the East," vols. 3, 27, 28. Faber's " Mind of Mencius," Hutchinson's trans- 
lation. (F.) S. Johnson, " Oriental Religions," China. (J.)] 





PBESENTING FOOD TO THE SPIRITS OF THE DEAD. 



CHAPTER III. 
Cl)e CI)ine^e iMolrern ^tate a^eligion, anir Confiiriani^m* 

The imperial sacrifices to Heaven— The emperor as high priest — The ceremonial— The animal sacri- 
fices— The tablets of ancestors— The prayer to Heaven— The ceremony of burning— The prayer to 
Earth— The imperial Temple of Ancestors— The prayer to ancestors— Sacrifices to spirits of the 
land and grain —Temples to Confucius— Temple at his native place— Temple at Peking— Invoca- 
tion to Confucius —Great Hall of the Classics— The sixteen maxims— The sacred mountain of 
Tai-Sha!i— Signs of progress -Chines 3 morals— Ideas of future life— Obstacles to religious 
change. 

WE. now proceed to give some accouiit of the present development of 
the State rehgion and Confucianism in China ; but it is scarcely 
possible to separate this entirely from ideas connected with Taoism and 
Buddhism. Not only is there no antagonism recognised between these 
three religions, but it is possible and frequent to conform to all. The ex- 
tent and limits of the State religion and Confucianism will be pointed out 
in this chapter, while Taoism will be dealt with in the next, and Chinese 
Buddhism will be briefly treated later. 

We must first describe the great altar and Temple of Heaven at Peking, 

where the emperor worships as Son of Heaven. Within a vast enclosure of 

trees is the great south altar, a beautiful triple circular terrace 

sacrifices to of white marble, the outer one 210 feet, the inner one 90 feet in 

Heaven. (jj^aj^Q^^j;.^ The upper terrace is paved with marble slabs forming 

nine concentric circles, the inner being formed of nine stones with a central 

stone, the outer all of multiples of nine stones. On the single circular 

stone in the centre the emperor kneels when worshipping Heaven and his 

ancestors at the winter solstice. On the next lower stage are tablets to the 

spirits of the sun, moon, and stars, and the god of the year. A hundred feet 



THE CHINESE MODERN STATE RELIGION. 133 

south-east of the altar is a great porcelain furnace, in which a bullock is con- 
sumed by fire at the yearly ceremony. Separated from the Altar of Heaven 
by a low wall, is a smaller, though more conspicuous construction, called the 
Altar of Prayer for Grain. On its upper terrace rises a magnificent cir- 
cular building, known to foreigners as the Temple of Heaven, but to the 
Chinese as the Temple of Prayer for the Year. Here, on a day soon after 
the first day of spring (February 6th), the emperor offers prayers to Heaven 
for a blessing upon the year. When great drought prevails, prayer for rain 
is made by the emperor at this altar. Another great enclosure, about two 
miles in circumference, contains four altars, one to the god of the heavens, 
a second to the earth, a third to the planet Jupiter, and the fourth to 
Shin-nung, the supposed inventor of agriculture. On the altar of the 
heavens are four marble tablets, containing the names of the gods of the 
clouds, rain, wind, and thunder. On the altar to the gods of ^earth are five 
marble tablets bearing the names of celebrated mountains, lakes, and seas 
of China. 

The reason why the emperor in person performs the great sacrifices of 
the State religion in China, is bound up with the very conception of the 
empire. Since the emperor is believed to derive his right direct The emperor 
from Heaven, and is the one man who represents mankind in the as high priest, 
trinity of Heaven, earth, and man, he is necessarily the only possible high 
priest, and he only can offer the great oblations to heaven and earth. Imperial 
responsibility is in theory carried to its extreme at Peking, for the emperor 
charges himself with fault if the people suffer from pestilence or famine, 
and acknowledges himself to be a disobedient son, who must atone by prayer, 
sacrifice, and reformation for his misdoings. If he should be ill or a minor, 
these services are all omitted. 

Although formerly the words Tien and Ti, signifying Heaven and earth, 
had a special reference to a Supreme Being, the tablets of these two are 
now placed on an equality only with those in the great temple of ancestors 
representing deceased monarchs of the existing dynasty, and that of the 
gods of the land and grain. To all these are offered what are called "great " 
' sacrifices. Medium' sacrifices are offered to nine objects, the sun, moon, 
spirits of emperors and kings of former dynasties, Confucius, the ancient 
patrons of agriculture and silk, the gods of heaven, earth, and the cyclic 
year. The first six of these have separate temples at Peking. The 
" inferior " sacrifices are offered to the ancient patron of the healing art 
and the spirits of deceased statesmen, philanthropists, etc., spirits of 
natural phenomena, and even of flags, gates, cannon, the North Pole, etc. 
Thus the State worship of China is not greatly above that of many bar- 
barous tribes. 

Nothing is more remarkable, however, in the Chinese State religion, or 
more different from the practices of uncultivated tribes, than the complete 
absence of a priesthood, unless, however, the emperor may be called The cere- 
a priest. Women take no part in most of the ceremonies ; only °^<>^^^- 
the worship of the goddess of silk is performed by the empress and her 



134 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

ladies. The emperor, when h.e worships Heaven, wears appropriate blue 
robes ; in worshipping tbe earth, his robes are yellow, to represent clay ; be 
wears red in worshipping tbe sun, and white for the moon. At the winter 
solstice the emperor quits his palace the evening before the great sacrifice, 
drawn in his state car by an elephant, and attended by thousands of cour- 
tiers, musicians, and learned men. He is required first to go to the palace 
of fasting, and prepare for his duties by solitary meditation, during which 
he looks at a copper statue fifteen inches high, dressed like a Taoist priest, 
with the mouth covered by three fingers, inculcating silence, and the other 
hand bearing a tablet, on which is inscribed, '' Fast three days." "When 
the worship is ready to commence, all the attendants being in their appointed 
places, the animals are killed, and the emperor begins the solemn rites, in 
the case of the worship of Heaven, at midnight, being directed at every 
step by the learned members of the Board of Hites. 

The animal sacrifices offered by the emperor must necessarily consist of 
animals in use for human food ; they include cows, sheep, hares, deer, and 
The animal pigs. The animals are slaughtered on the east side of the altar, 

sacrifices. ^-^^ ^^ \\2^x and blood are collected and buried, apparentl}^ with 
the idea that the sacrifice is in this way conveyed to the spirits of the earth, 
as the smoke and flame of the burnt offerings convey them to the spirits of 
heaven. The idea of the sacrifice, says Dr. Edkins, is " that of a banquet ; and 
when a sacrifice is performed to the supreme spirit of Heaven, the honour 
paid is believed by the Chinese to be increased by inviting other guests. 
The emperors of China invite their ancestors to sit at the banquet with Shang- 
ti, the supreme ruler. A father is to be honoured as heaven, and a mother 
as earth." In no way could more perfect reverence be shown, according to 
the Chinese mind, than by placing a father's tablet on the altar with that of 
Shang-ti, so the emperor's ancestral tablets are always placed on the altar 
of sacrifice with that of Shang-ti. " On the upper terrace of the altar, the 
tablet of Shang-ti, inscribed Hwang- tien (Imperial Heaven) Shang-ti, 
placed, facing south, immediately in front of the kneeling emperor. The 
The tablets of "tablets of the emperor's ancestors are arranged in two rows^ facing 

ancestors, ^^^i^ ^^^ west ; offerings are placed before each tablet. " These 
include various sorts of millet and rice, boiled ; beef and pork in slices, with 
and without condiments, in soup ; salt and pickled fish, slices of hare and 
deer, pickled onions, bamboo shoots, chestnuts, walnuts, wheat and buck- 
wheat cakes, all in separate dishes. Behind these are jade stones, and silk 
offerings to be burnt; in front are three cups of tseu, a kind of arrack. A 
young heifer is also in place before the altar, and behind it are the five imple- 
ments of Buddhist worship (see later, on Chinese Buddhism), an urn, two 
candelabra, and two flower jars. Behind these are other candelabra ; and 
at the south-west corner is a table at which the emperor reads the prayer. 
The elaborate ceremonies gone through by the emperor cannot be fully 
detailed here. His duties include lighting incense and placing it in urns, 
kneeling before each of the tablets of his ancestors and kindling incense 
sticks, prostrating himself three times before the chief tablet, and bowing 



THE CHINESE MODERN STATE RELIGION 135 

or, in fact, knocking Lis head nine times on the ground. If it were not done 
as a solemn religious ceremony, it would appear ludicrous to see how all 
this prostration is imitated by the emperor's attendant worshippers. 

Part of the prayer at the winter ceremony is as follows: "I, your 
subject, by hereditary succession Son of Heaven, having received from 
above the gracious decree to nourish and console the inhabitants The prayer 
of all regions, think with sympathy of all men, earnestly desirous *° Heaven, 
of their prosperity. At present, looking to the approach of the day 8in. 
and the spring ploughing, which is about to take place, I earnestly look 
up, hoping for merciful protection. I bring my subjects and servants with 
offerings of food in abundance, a reverential sacrifice to Shang-ti. Humbly 
I pray for thy downward glance, and may rain be granted for the produc- 
tion of all sorts 'of grain, and the success of all agricultural labours." The 
rest of the prayer recites the praises of the deceased emperor. 

At various times during this ceremony, a band of some hundreds of 
musicians plays " the song of peace," the music now taking the title 
" universal " peace, '' excellent " peace, " harmonious," and " glorious " 
peace. Cups of wine are offered to Heaven, and afterwards wine is offered 
to the emperor, who partakes of it, and again bows and prostrates himself. 
This is followed by the ceremony of burning, when the officers ^ne ceremony 
burn the tablet on which the prayer is written, the incense, the of burning, 
silk and the viands, in the great furnace, and the offerings to the deceased 
emperors in special large braziers. A whole astrological system is involved 
in the days and hours at which the sacrifices are conducted, into which we 
cannot here enter ; but astrology, cyclic and mystic numbers, palmistry, 
phrenology, and indeed all mysterious modes of obtaining knowledge of 
lucky days and circumstances, and of foretelling the future, are highly 
regarded by the Chinese, and are introduced into everyday affairs, about 
the cut of clothes, the day and mode of a journey, the building of a house, 
the choice of a grave, etc. 

The imperial worship at the altar of Earth at the summer solstice is 
substantially similar ; but instead of the offerings being burnt, there is a 
burying of the prayer and of the offerings of silk to the Earth, while the 
silk offered to the spirits of emperors is burnt. The prayer to Earth is as 
follows : '' I, your subject. Son of Heaven by hereditary succession. The prayer 
dare to announce to How- too, the imperial Spirit of Earth, that *° Earth, 
the time of the summer solstice has arrived, that all living things enjoy the 
blessings of sustenance, and depend for it upon your efficient aid. You are 
placed with imperial Heaven in the sacrifices which are now presented, 
consisting of jade, silk, the chief animals used for food, with various viands 
abuQdantly supplied." It is only to the Spirits of Heaven and of Earth that 
the emperor in prayer acknowledges himself a subject. The whole idea 
of the service appears to be that of a banquet, to which the Spirits are 
invited. 

The imperial Temple of Ancestors, or Great Temple, has three large 
halls and several smaller ones. The first hall is used for the common sacri- 



136 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

fice to all ancestors at the end of the year. In the middle hall are offered 

. the sacrifices on the first day of the first month of each season. 

Temple of Here are placed the most important tablets, those of the de- 

Ancestors. ^^^g^^ emperors and empresses of the present dynasty, of recent 

generations. In the third hall are more tablets of ancestors. The sacrifices 

are made in these two halls at the same time, not only four times a year, 

but on other great occasions or events. Other secondary halls contain 

tablets of relatives and loyal officers who are appointed to be guests at 

the sacrificial banquets. In the court on the east is a brazier in which 

the prayer to ancestors and the silk offered to them and the relatives 

are burnt; in another brazier is burnt the silk offered to meritorious 

officers. 

The food and silk do not include all the offerings. In accordance with 
the instruction of Confucius, that the dead are to be sacrificed to as if living, 
chests of clothing, with mats and stools, are kept in the temple, and pre-* 
sented with the sacrifices. One set of offerings is presented before each 
emperor and his wife. Here it is to be noted that " the emperor and 
empress can have their meals together when dead, though they may not 
when living ; " and reasoning from this it has been suggested that the ex- 
clusion of women from the social meal is not so ancient as the time when 
the sacrifices were instituted. 

In this ceremony, the prayer, instead of being read by the emperor 
himself, is read by an officer upon his knees, in the emperor's name. After 
announcing the emperor's title and descent, and his proper name, it pro- 
The prayer ceeds : — " I dare announce to my ancestor, that I have with care, 
to ancestors, q^ this first month of spring (summer, etc.), provided sacrificial 
animals, silk, wine, and various dishes, as an expression of my unforgetting 
thoughtfulness, and humbly beg the acceptance of the offerings." Several 
odes are sung, of which the following is a sample. " Ah ! my imperial 
ancestors have been able to become guests with supreme Heaven. Their 
meritorious acts in war and peace are published in all regions. I, their filial 
descendant, have received the decree of Heaven, and my thought is to carry 
out the aims of those who preceded me, thus ensuring the gift of long pros- 
perity for thousands and tens of thousands of years." The ceremony is 
rather more elaborate, if anything, than the sacrifice to Heaven. The 
emperor has to kneel sixteen times, and to knock his forehead thirty-six 
times against the ground, thus showing the immense importance assigned 
to piety towards ancestors. 

Another important part of the imperial worship consists of the sacrifices 
to the gods of the land and grain. The altar to the spirit of the land has 
Sacrifices to two terraces, the upper of which is covered with earth of five 
o?the*i^d different colours. There are tablets to the spirit or god of the 
and grain, land, and also one to the spirit or god of grain ; two other tablets 
occupy positions as guests, and represent founders or chief promoters of 
Chinese agriculture. This worship takes place in the middle months of 
spring and autumn, as well as on other important occasions, when it is 



THE CHINESE MODERN STATE RELIGION 



137 



necessary to make announcements to these spirits. The sacrifices are essen- 
tially of the same character as those previously described. 

The whole sj^stem of Chinese thoiight is so different from our own, that 
it is difficult to realise that in these ceremonies the emperor discharges the 
highest religious functions for almost four hundred millions of people, that 




he represents them more fully (in idea) than the Pope of Rome represents 
the members of the Roman Catholic Church, that he accuses himself of any 
fault which may have brought widespread calamities on the people, and that 
to the Chinese mind he stands as God on earth. Nor is it more easy to 
realise, that in close connection with every examination-hall in the empire 



13^ THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

is a temple to Confucius, together with a temple containing tablets to 
Temples to ^^ national sages, both being arranged in a manner similar to 
Confucius. (;]2at of the temples to deceased ancestors. It is very rare to find 
any image of Confucius ; but worship is paid before the tablet, which is 
called, " the place of the soul." There are no prayers, however, to Confucius, 
the worshipper simply prostrating himself to express his reverential respect. 
On either side of his tablet down the hall are the tablets of seventy-two of 
his most distinguished followers, the tablets containing as usual their names 
and titles. On the entrance gates are inscriptions, such as the following : 
'' The teacher and example for ten thousand generations ; " " Equal with 
heaven and earth." Sacrifices are offered to the sage at the spring and 
autumn equinoxes, when oxen and sheep and other animals are killed and 
skinned, the bodies being then placed on tables in front of his tablet. This 
oiFering takes place at 3 a.m., in the presence of the mandarins, and after- 
wards the flesh is divided among the literate class in the city, and eaten 
by them. It is scarcely correct to say that Confucius is worshipped as a 
god ; but the reverence paid to him differs little from any other religious 
ceremonial among the Chinese, although prayers are not offered to him. 
Children are taught to bow to Confucius when they enter school, and they 
do the same when they, in riper years, enter the examination-hall. Thus 
is justified the title of ^' the throneless king," which the Chinese commonly 
give to Confucius. 

The most important temple of Confucius is that adjoining his tomb, 
Kiu-fu-hien, his native place, which is chiefly inhabited by his descendants. 
The principal building is of two stories, the upper verandah rest- 
Ms native ing on gorgeous marble pillars twenty-two feet high, which at a 
P ace. (^^istance appear as if huge dragons were coiled around them ; but 
they are all cut out of one solid piece of marble. The tiles of the roof are 
of yellow porcelain. "Within is a statue of Confucius eighteen feet high, in 
a shrine with gorgeous curtains. He is represented as tall, strong, and 
well-built, with a full red face, and large heavy head. His attitude is 
serious and contemplative, with eyes gazing upwards. On the tablet is the 
inscription, " The most holy prescient sage Confucius — his spirit's resting- 
place." The roof is crowded with tablets in honour of the sage, lauding 
him in most extravagant terms. There are separate, smaller and plainer 
temples in honour of his father and mother, his wife, his ancestors, etc. In 
one temple are three pictures of Confucius on marble, and a series of en- 
gravings on marble, illustrating all the principal scenes in his life, with 
verbal explanations at the side. These number altogether 120 slabs, built 
into the wall, and are extremely interesting from their representations of 
ancient dress, furniture, carriages, etc. 

There is a less elaborate temple to Confucius at Peking, having no 

statues, but containing in the court six monuments with yellow-tiled roofs. 

Temple at recording foreign conquests of various emperors in the last cen- 

Peking. j^-^j-y^ which were thus announced to the spirit of Confucius. The 

temple includes a great hall, from forty to fifty feet in height, and contains 



THE CHINESE MODERN STATE RELIGION 



139 



tablets to the sage and his principal disciples. The roof has many tablets 
to the praise of Confucius ; every fresh emperor adds one. Around this 
temple are other buildings in which are placed tablets of many celebrated 
followers of Confucius. 

The emperor goes in state twice a year to this temple, and honours 
the sage by the following invocation, after having twice knelt and six 




CHINESE AaRICULTDBAL CEBEMONY. 



times bowed his head to the ground : '' Great art thou, perfect Sage ! 
Thy virtue is full ; thy doctrine is complete. Among mortal men jnyoca^yon to 
there has not been thine equal. All kings honour thee. Thy Confucius, 
statues and laws have come gloriously down. Thou art the pattern of this 
imperial school. Eeverently have the sacrificial vessels been set out. Full 
of awe we sound our drums and bells." This is followed by the presentation 
of the appropriate offerings of food, wines, and silk ; a mandarin then reads 



140 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

this prayer: " On this . . . month of this . . . year, I, the emperor, 
offer a sacrifice to the philosopher Kung, the ancient teacher, the perfect 
sage, and say, teacher, in virtue equal to Heaven and Earth, whose 
doctrines embrace the past times and the present, thou didst digest and 
transmit the six classics, and didst hand down lessons for all generations ! 
now in this second month of spring (or autumn), in reverent observance 
of the old statutes, with victims, silks, spirits, and fruits, I carefully offer 
sacrifice to thee. With thee are associated the philosopher Yen, continuator 
of thee ; the philosopher Tsang, exhibitor of thy fundamental principles ; 
the philosopher Tsze-tsze, transmitter of thee ; and the philosopher Mang 
(Mencius), second to thee. Mayest thou enjoy the offerings ! " (Legge.) 

Adjoining the temple of Confucius is the Great Hall of the Classics, 
built by the emperor Kien-lung, a lofty building with long cloisters, 
Great HaU of containing the complete text of the classics, engraved on about 200 
the Classics. \^^^q stones. The hall is a very elaborate structure, in which 
the emperor enthrones himself once in his reign, at a solemn assembly of all 
the scholars of the capital, and listens to the reading of a classical essay ^ 
nominally composed by himself. 

Here we may quote the sixteen maxims of the emperor Kang-hi, about 
the end of the seventeenth century, which sum up the principles of Con- 
The sixteen fucianism as promulgated among the common people. These 
maxims. ^^^^ . -j^_ Esteem most highly filial piety and brotherly submission, 
in order to give due prominence to the social relations. 2. Behave with 
generosity to the branches of your kinidred, in order to illustrate harmony 
and benignity. 3. Cultivate peace and concord in your neighbourhoods, 
in order to prevent quarrels and litigations. 4. E,ecognise the importance 
of husbandry and the culture of the mulberry- tree, in order to ensure a 
sufficiency of clothing and food. 5. Show that you prize moderation and 
economy, in order to prevent the lavish waste of your means. 6. Make 
much of the colleges and seminaries, in order to make correct the practice 
of the scholars. 7. Discountenance and banish strange doctrines, in order 
to exalt the correct doctrine. 8. Describe and explain the laws, in order 
to warn the ignorant and obstinate. 9. Exhibit clearly propriety and 
yielding courtesy, in order to make manners and customs good. 10. Labour 
diligently at your proper callings, in order to give settlement to the aims of 
the people. 11. Instruct sons and younger brothers, in order to prevent 
them from doing what is wrong. 12. Put a stop to false accusations, in 
order to protect the honest and the good. 13. Warn against sheltering 
. deserters, in order to avoid being involved in their punishments. 14. 
Promptly and fully pay your taxes, in order to avoid the urgent requisition 
of your quota. 15. Continue in hundreds and tithings, in order to put an 
end to thefts and robbery. 16. Study to remove resentments and angry 
feelings, in order to show the importance due to person and life." 

The ancestral tablets vary in form and make in different parts of the 
country. In that we figure (p. 141), as used in the neighbourhood of Fu- 
chow, it is made of three blocks of wood, one forming the pedestal, the 



THE CHINESE MODERN STATE RELIGION 



141 



second the back and upper part, and the third the front. In the centre of 
the latter we see in Chinese characters the name of the reigning dynasty, 
the title, ancestral, and given name of the person commemorated by the 
tablet. The name of the son or other person who has erected it is added in 
smaller characters on the left . If the tablet is erected by a son in memory 
of his mother, the ancestral name 
of her father as well as that of 
hsr husband is put on the tablet. 
On the front of the pedestal is 
seen the image of some fabulous 
animal, said to appear only when 
sages live ; while the upper part 
of the tablet has the head of the 
Chinese dragon. The whole tablet 
varies from nine to eighteen 
inches in height, and from two to 
four inches in width ; and the en- 
graved and lettered portions are 
usually covered with gold leaf. 
The tablets for the father and 
mother are alike, the chief differ- 
ence being in the inscription. 
As long as a family lives together, 
they worship the tablet erected by 
the eldest son ; when it breaks 
up, each of the younger sons may 
erect a different tablet, com- 
memorating all the ancestors of 
the family ; then, when each 
younger son dies, his eldest son 
may erect tablets of the other 
kind to his father and mother 
and so the series goes on. After 
the third or filth generations they 
usually cease to be worshipped. 

As another side of Chinese 
religious superstition, we will de- 
scribe the chief of the ^^ ^^^^^^ 

five sacred mountains mountain of 

r^u- rr • 1, • Tai-shan. 

m Chma, lai-shan, m 

the interior of Shan-tung. It is 

termed on a map, " equal to 

heaven in merit, and lord of this 




ANCiSSTKAL TABLET OF ONE PEBSON. 



world." It is believed to determine 
births, deaths, misfortune and happiness, honour and dishonour. It has 
many peaks, and is said to be, of all places under heaven, the most worthy 
©f being visited. At the top of the hill the principal temple contains an 



142 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS, 

image of the " Old Mother," who is held in great veneration, being especially 
prayed to by sick and unfortunate persons, childless women, etc. The main 
building is closed all the year round, with merely a hole in the door, through 
which pilgrims cast money and other offerings. Once a year a great pro- 
cession marches to this temple, and some official appointed by the emperor 
opens the building and takes all the contents. Near this is a temple to the 
god of the Tai-shan mountains, who is termed equal to the Almighty God. 
Another temple on the highest peak is sacred to the Taoist deity who is 
active governor of all, under their Trinity. Other temples are erected to 
Confucius, the god of spring, heaven and earth, and many others belong- 
ing to the Taoist system. One is to the star Wun-chang, the patron of 
literature, another to Kwan-ti, the god of war, another to the spirits of 
women who commit suicide after the death of their husbands. The spirits 
or gods of fire, of riches, of agriculture, of roads, of land, and grain are all 
honoured with temples. Mr. Williamson says of the entire sacred city, 
" A plan of the hill and city gives a very poor idea of the beauty of the 
place. If the reader, however, causes his imagination to fill the city with 
streets and shops ; the causeway up the hill to the top with rows of beauti- 
ful trees on each side ; the hills with trees, brushwood, verdure, and rocks 
piled rugged and threatening, with waterfalls here and there ; temples of 
gaudy colours, and strings of pilgrims, old and young, men and women, 
marching up in Indian file, with richer men among them, in mountain 
chairs ; small companies sipping tea at the several arches, beggars lying on 
the road like bundles of living rags, or animated sores, with beggar chil- 
dren following each company of pilgrims, he will have some idea of the 
bewildering variety of the scene." 

Notwithstanding the immense amount and intensity of superstition and 
blind conservatism in China, there are some signs of progress even within 

Signs of "^^ Confucian ranks. Before the rule of the present dynasty, 

progress, there was in vogue a strong spirit of denial of the personality of 
Shang-ti, the supreme ruler, who was asserted to be nothing but a " prin- 
ciple " underlying all existence. It was a vague panthesim. Nowadays 
there is a distinct return to belief in a personal ruler, and it is asked, '' Can 
a principle become angry ? Can a principle be said to approve the actions 
of men, and be pleased with the offerings of men? Yet these acts are 
ascribed to Shang-ti in the classical books. Shang-ti, therefore, cannot be 
a principle, but must be a personal being." Many educated Chinese claim, 
in answer to Christian missionaries, that they too worship God, who is 
present in all nature, and that all their study of science is honouring God." 
"What has been the result on the Chinese of the Confucian morality ? 
asks Dr. Edkins. He replies, that " It has not made them a moral people. 

Chinese Many of the social virtues are extensively practised among them ; 

morals. ^^^^ ^^^ exhibit to the observer a lamentable want of moral 
strength. Commercial integrity and speaking the truth are far less common 
among them than in Christian countries." It is but fair to add that other 
competent observers credit the Chinese with quite as. much commercial 



THE CHINESE MODERN STATE RELIGION 143 

integrity as Europeans, if not more. As to a future life, it is scarcely 
within the scope of Confucianism, though this encourages so much j^eas of 
reverence and prayer to ancestral spirits. Confucius, as we have ^ ^^*^^® ^®- 
seen, did not care to discuss supernatural appearances or spirits ; and it is 
difficult to say that Confucius believed anything definite on the subject ; 
the beliefs of Taoists or Buddhists are far more extensive and definite. 
No doubt the continued existence of the souls of the departed is believed, 
but their happiness is mainly dependent upon the honour paid to them by 
the living. Dr. Edkins says, that according to the strict Confucian doctrine, 
there is no heaven in the Western sense. ^' The soul, if it does not return 
to its elements and become for ever dissipated, exists in a widowed and 
lonely state, hopeless and helpless. The time of its enjoyment as a con- 
scious individual agent has passed. It is only during the period of union 
with the body that it can be called happy, except in receiving the approval 
and reverence of posterity." 

People who have not visited and studied China have little conception 
of the strength of the obstacles to religious change there. In fact, the 
whole power of the State is combined with religion to maintain 
the divine authority and representative character of the emperor, to religious 
This has been impressed on Chinese minds for thousands of years, ^^^^S"®- 
and is about as deep-seated in them as the feeling " I must eat " is in the 
body. Ignorance and contempt of foreign ideas, deep-seated as those of the 
Chinese, can be overcome sooner than this prejudice and prepossession in 
favour of their emperor, which in its turn supports the sacrifices and beliefs 
of the State religion. It might be imagined that filial reverence and an- 
cestor worship, a "respect for the dead indicative of noble feelings," were 
favourable to enlightenment ; but it is a most powerful support to early 
betrothals and polygamy, for the Chinaman cannot bear the possibility of 
having no descendants to provide the sacrifices for him in his turn. The 
power which this regard for ancestors and for every ancient custom exer- 
cises is enormous in preventing change. Though change does come, as 
seen in the progress of Buddhism and Mohammedanism, such tendency to 
change as there is by no means favours the adoption of European ideas. 

[J. Edkins, " Religion in China " ; S. Wells Williams, " The Middle Kingdom " ; A. Williamson , 
" Journeys in North China."] 








L,AO-XZE. 



II. TAOISM, 



CHAPTER IV. 

l^e of Lao-tze— Antagonism to Confucius— Interviews with Confucius— Lao-tze's dislike of profes- 
sions—The Tao-te-king— The mystery of existence— The relativity of things— The sublime Tao 
or Way— What may be done— Characters of Tao— The conduct of the good man— Self-deprecia- 
tion, humility, reality, frugality— Imaginary interpretations— Originality of Lao-tze. 

CONFUCIUS sought to rectify evils by rectifying names ; but there was 
already a living philosopher, whom he visited, who had elaborated a 
very different mode of mending the world. Lao-tze ('' the Venerable 
Life of Philosopher"), the accredited founder of Taoism, is most authen- 
Lao-tze. tically known to us by the narratives of the Confucian school, 
probably compiled in the third century a.d. from old records, and from the 
brief history of Lao-tze in the historical records of Sze-ma Chien dating 
from about B.C. 100. We need not relate the mythical accounts given of 
him, which are full of marvels ; but he appears to have been born in the 
State of Chu, in the present province of Ho-nan, about 604 B.C. He became 
one of the royal recorders at the court of Chow, having charge of the royal 
library. Thus there can be little doubt of his having had great historical 
knowledge. At least one interview took place between Confucius and 



LAO-TZE. 145 



Lao-tze, to which we have already referred. Chien's brief account says : 

" Lao-tze cultivated the Tao and virtue, his chief aim in his studies being 

how to keep himself concealed and unknown. He resided at the capital of 

Chow ; but after a long time, seeing the decay of the dynasty, he left it, 

and went away to the gate leading from the royal domain into the regions 

beyond. Yin Hsi, the warden of the gate, said to him : ' You are about to 

withdraw yourself out of sight ; I pray you to compose for me a book before 

you go.' On this Lao-tze made a writing, setting forth his views on the 

Tao and virtue, in two sections, containing more than 5000 characters. 

He then went away, and it is not known where he died." Chien further 

relates that Lao-tze was a superior man, who liked to keep in obscurity^ 

and concludes his narrative with the following statement : — " Those who 

attach themselves to the doctrine of Lao-tze condemn that of the Antagonism 

literati (the followers of Confucius), and the literati on their part *° Confucius. 

condemn Lao-tze ; thus verifying the saying, ' Parties whose principles are 

different cannot take counsel together.' Lao-tze taught that transformation 

follows, as a matter of course, the doing nothing to bring it about, and 

rectification ensues in the same way from being pure and still." 

The most interesting records about Lao-tze, apart from his book, are 

those connected with Confucius. It is difficult to come to a conclusion as to 

their authenticity, but they at any rate preserve for us very early , 

1 T n II -1 1 • • • 1 T T Interviews 

belieis as to the antagonism between their principles and modes with 

of thought. Even the flow of language of Confucius was distasteful °^ ucms. 
to Lao-tze, who told him in plain terms: "If it be known that he who 
talks errs by excess in arguing, and that he who hears is confused by too 
much talk, the Way can never be forgotten." According to this expression, 
the Way consists neither in excess of arguing nor in too much talk. Con- 
fucius was very unsuccessful in interesting Lao-tze in his views about the 
ancients ; the Old Philosopher retorted upon his junior in this wise : " The 
men of whom you speak are 'dead, and their bones are mouldered into dust ; 
only their words remain. Moreover, when the superior man gets his oppor- 
tunity, he mounts aloft and takes office ; and if he does not get his 
opportunity, he goes through life like a wisp of straw rolling over sand. 
I have heard that a good merchant, who has his treasure-house well stored, 
appears devoid of resources, and that the superior man of perfect excellence 
has an outward semblance of stupidity. Put away, sir, your haughty airs 
and many desires, your insinuating habit and extravagant will ; these are 
all unprofitable to you. This is all I have to say to you." It is evident, if 
this be authentic, that there was little sympathy between the two. Lao-tze 
disHked Confucius as a formal and conventional teacher, extravagantly 
conservative ; the latter regarded Lao-tze as a dragon soaring into the 
clouds, far beyond his practical mind. When Lao-tze beheld Confucius 
studying the Book of Changes, which, according to him, treated of humanity 
and justice, he replied : " The justice and humanity of the day are no more 
than empty names ; they only serve as a mask to cruelty, and trouble the 
hearts of men ; disorder was never more rife than at present. The pigeon 

L 



146 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

does not bathe all day to make itself white ; nor does the crow paint itself 
each morning to make itself black. . . . So, sir, if you cultivate the 
"Way, if you throw yourself towards it with all your soul, you will arrive 
at it. To what good is humanity and justice ? . . . Master, you only 
trouble man's nature." 

Here we see again how fundamentally Lao-tze is contrasted with Con- 
fucius. He despised the latter's rectification of names — practising humanity 
and calling it humanity, practising reverence towards parents 
dislike of and calling it filial piety, etc. To profess a thing, in Lao-tze's 
pro essions. ^|j^^j^ ^^^g ^^ X^^q^ it. The generous man needs not to profess 
generosity, nor the loyal man loyalty. If these virtues really exist, they 
need not be named or professed ; the profession of them signifies their 
absence. Try as he would, Confucius could not fathom the Way which 
Lao-tze desired to set before him ; but it was evidently a mystery not easy 
for him to understand. ^' If," said Lao-tze, " the Way could be offered to 
men, there is no one who would not wish to present it to his parents ; if it 
could be transmitted to men, there is no one who would not wish to transmit 
it to his children. Why then are you not able to acquire it ? This is the 
reason ; you are incapable of giving it an asylum at the bottom of your 
heart." Confucius brought forward his literary labours and compositions, 
but Lao-tze objected : " That with which you occupy yourself results only 
in obsolete examples, and all you do is to walk in the footprints of the past, 
without producing anything new." We do not gather a very pleasant view 
of Lao-tze's amiability from these narratives ; they may perhaps be more 
readily accounted for when we consider that Confucius was fifty years 
younger than the Old Philosopher, who was not disinclined to use the 
privileges always accorded to age in China. 

Lao-tze's single book, the Tao-te-king, is brief and exceedingly con- 
densed, containing a few more than five thousand characters. It begins 
thus : — • 

The " The "Way (Tao) that can be spoken is not the Eternal Way. 

Tao-te-king. The Name that can be named is not the Eternal Name. 
Nameless, the Way is the Source of Heaven and Earth ; 
Named, it is the Mother o£ all beings. 

He that is free from selfish desires shall behold it in the spirit; 
He that is possessed by passions, in the outward form alone, 
And those two are one in substance, though differing in name ; 
Depth, and the depth of depths, the entrance to all spiritual life." 

Thus did Lao-tze seek to penetrate the mystery ot creation and exist- 
ence ; with one straight flight reaching as far as man can know, — if indeed 
The mystery ^^ny such speculation can be termed knowledge, — and realising 
of existence. \)^<^ difference between those who penetrate behind the veil of 
physical nature, and those who are dominated by physical nature. By 
these few sentences Lao-tze shows himself to be indeed a master philosopher, 
though struggling to express a conception which he could hardly define, 
and which by the nature of the case transcended his powers ; struggling. 



LAO-TZE. 147 



moreover, to speak in a language which possessed little pliancy for such a 
purpose. 

Lao-tze realised the relativity of things ; that good implied its contrast, 
evil ; beauty, ugliness. The sage, he said, would confine himself to what is 
without effort, acting without presuming on the result, completing 
his work, but assuming no position for himself. A singular view relativity of 
of his is, that not exalting worth keeps people from rivalry, as ^^^' 
not prizing things hard to procure keeps them from theft. His plan of 
government consists in keeping the people from the knowledge and desire 
of evil, and in makirg those that have the knowledge not dare to act. 

The sublime Way, or Tao, which the philosopher imagines, even appears 
to him to have been before Shang-ti (the Supreme Being). Heaven and 
earth last long, he says, though not aiming at life ; so the sage The sublime 
puts himself last and yet is first, abandons himself and yet is Tao, or way. ^ 
preserved. Is not this, he asks, through his having no selfishness ? Pur- 
suing this idea of self-abnegation, Lao-tze says : '' When a work of merit 
is done and reputation is coming, to get out of the way is the Way of 
Heaven." 

In Section Ten, '' What may be do-ne," the old philosopher rises to an 
elevation immeasurably beyond Confucius. " By undivided attention to the 
passion-nature, and increasing tenderness, it is possible to be a what may 
little child. By putting away impurity from the hidden eye of ^® ^°^®- 
the heart, it is possible to be without spot. By loving the people, and so 
governing the nation, it is possible to be unknown. One may be bright 
and transparent on all sides, and yet be unknown. To produce and to 
nourish, to produce and to have not, to act and expect not, to enlarge and 
cut not off— this is called sublime virtue." (C) 

Again, he says that virtue in its grandest aspect is simply following 
the Way (Tao), which indeed is a thing impalpable, yet containing forms 
and ideas; it is immaterial, unchangeable, all-pervading, giving characters 
life to all, supporting all, and lording it over none. It is ever of Tao. 
inactive, yet leaves nothing undone. Without striving, ib conquers ; with- 
out speaking, it answers ; without calling, men come to it of themselves. 
The net of heaven has very wide me&hes, yet misses nothing. 

The word Tao, however, signifies more than the Way. As Professor 
Douglas puts it, it is the Way and the way-goer; it is an eternal road 
along which all beings and things walk. No Being made it, for it is Being 
itself; it is everything and nothing, and the cause and effect of all. All 
things originate from it, conform to it, and at last return to it. Thus Tao 
stands for the Absolute Deity, and all the phenomena produced by Him, 
and also for the good man's nature and principles. 

The conduct of the good man constitutes the subject of many sections 
of the Tao-te-king ; and the remainder of it consists of Lao-tze's ^^^ conduct 
political system. Nothing is more prominent than his opposition of the 
to self-display. '^ He who is self-displaying does not shine. He 
who is self-approving is not held ij^. esteem. He who is self-promising 



148 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

has no merit. He who is self-exalting does not stand high." In fact, it is 
Self- not possible to go beyond Lao-tze in self-depreciation. In one 
depreciation, place he says : " In mind how like I am to the fool. I am all in 
a maze. The common people are brightly intelligent ; I alone seem to be 
in the dark. I am tossed as the ocean ; I roll as if never to stop. All other 
men have something that they can do ; I alone am good for nothing, and 
despicable. I alone differ from other people, but I glory in my nursing 
mother (Tao)." Again he says, that any one wishing to reform the world 
will never have done. The spiritual vessels of the world must not be made. 
He that makes mars. He that grasps loses. While one goes ahead, an- 
other will lag behind. While one blows hot, another will blow cold. 
Therefore the wise man simply puts away all excess and gaiety and 
grandeur. . . . He who conquers others is strong. He who conquers 
himself is mighty. He who knows when he has enough is rich. He who 
dies, hut perishes not, enjoys longevity.^' 

Again, he says : ^' True goodness and humanity are good, because they 

make no a-ccount of mere doing. The great man abides by the solid, and 

Humility '^^^^^ ^^^^^ ^^ what is flimsy." Three things he held precious, 

reality, compassion, frugality, and humility. The good should be treated 

with goodness, and also the not-good. Virtue is good, absolutely. 

The faithful should be met with faith, and also the not-faithful. Virtue is 

faithful, absolutely. The sage thinks of all the people as his children. He 

takes care of his own part of the contract, and exacts nothing of others. 

He who knows his true life shall fear no wild beast, nor needs he armour in 

the armed host. He has no mortal part. The saint hoards not ; the more 

he does for others, the more he has of his own. The more he gives to others, 

the more he is increased. " This is the Way of Heaven, which benefits and 

does not injure. This is the Way of the sage, who acts but does not strive." 

So ends this small but remarkable book. 

We cannot go into the political teachings of Lao-tze, which are based 
apon his moral system. The government should be conducted by the best 
people, who should rule through humility and service, repressing selfishness. 
Reality, rather than over-regulation, should be aimed at. Nor can we dis- 
cuss the fanciful views of ivoman Catholic missionaries, who have imagined 
Imaginary in- that they found many things about the Trinity in Lao-tze's 
terpretations. 3^yg^j(3 utterances. Some have even believed that the following 
passages contained the characters of the Hebrew name for Grod (Jehovah or 
Jahveh). " That which is as though it were visible, and yet cannot be 
seen, is called KM (to be read i), that which is visible and yet speaks not to 
the ears is called Hi, that which is as though it were within one's reach, 
and yet cannot be touched, is called TFei." However, we cannot but place 
Lao-tze ahead of all the sages of the Oriental world whose outline is clearly 
Originality seen by US. Even Buddha cannot be held to surpass him in 
of Lao-tze. range and originality of thought, although he went beyond him 
in practicality of ideas. The man, who six centuries before Christ, invented 
or endorsed the view that, " He who bears the reproach of his country shall 



LAO-TZE. 



149 



be called the Lord of the land, and he who bears the calamities of his 
country shall be called King of the world," well deserves to be held in per- 
petual remembrance. In teaching that goodness was to be manifested 
equally to the good and the evil, faithfulness to the faithful and the un- 
faithful, he rose beyond every teacher of the East except the Founder of 
Christianity. 

Lao-tze was not the founder of a religion, yet his name is identified with 
one, and he is regarded as the founder of modern Taoism. This, however, 
is so different from anything that he imagined or originated, that it must 
be dealt with in a separate chapter. 

[Chalmers, "The Speculations of 'The Old Philosopher,' Lau-tsze" (C). Doolittle, "Social 
Life of the Chinese." Douglas's "Confucianism and Taouism." Legge, " The Eeligions of China." 
In " Chuang Tzu," 1889, Mr. H. A. Giles attacks the Tao-te-king, saying, that while it undoubtedly 
contains many of Lao-tze's sayings, it contains much that he never said and never could have said, 
belonging rather to the period when the pure Tao began to be corrupted by alchemistic research and 
gropiugs after the ehxir of life.] 




TAOIST PKIEST, TALI. 




THE THREE PURE ONES [see p. 157). 

CHAPTER V. 
©ebelopment anlr presient Contiition of Caois^m* 

Development of Taoism— Lieh-tze's teaching— Chwang-tze— Desire of longevity favoured magic— 
The Chin-j in— Temple to Lao-tze— Ups and downs of Taoism— The use of charms— Asceticism- 
Public worship— Reported reappearances of Lao-tze— Walking through fire— Sects of Taoists— 
The Book of Blessings— Book of Actions and- Retributions— Great number of Taoist deities— The 
Three Pure Ones— Yuh-hwang Shang-ti—Wan-chang— Deified powers of nature and deified men 
— A Taoist temple— Several trinities— Kwan-ti, the god of war— Purgatory and remission — 
Horrible punishments— Dread of evil spirits— The feng-shui— Selection of graves and sites. 

LAO-TZE'S life, retiring and inconspicuous, left no such mark on the 
Chinese character as that of Confucius, public and ever seeking to 
regulate the outward life. His thoughts were as alien to the average 
Development Chinese mind as those of Confucius were in accord with it. 
of Taoism. "^^J^ile Confucius satisfied every one who was proud of his coun- 
try and its ancient kings, Lao-tze was only welcomed by those who were 
discontented with the whole state of society. How then has Taoism be- 
come a great system or congeries of beliefs and practices, constituting a more 
widely prevalent religion than even Confucianism ? The answer is, that it 
gradually, in developing, adapted itself to popular beliefs and created new^ 
Lieh-tze's superstitions. Already, in the fifth century B.C., Lieh-tze, a fol- 
teachmg. lower of Lao-tze, is found introducing magical marvels and 
preaching a philosophy, not of self- depreciation, humility, and frugality, but 
one of selfish enjoyment and absence of anxiety. Since death was close at 
hand, he would enjoy to-day, leaving to-morrow to take care of itself. He 
describes imaginary states of happiness seen in dreams, where life w^as 
satisfactory because desires were kept within bounds, and the people cared 
for nothing and feared nothing. To this he added particulars of the fai];y- 
tale type, depicting people walking in water without being drowned, sur- 
rounded by fire and not burnt, cut without being hurt, etc. Thus he 
fostered belief in magical possibilities. Thus he travestied Lao-tze's teach- 
ing about the possible union of mankind with the spirit pervading the 
universe, and so becoming superior to the laws of nature. He tells many 
wondrous tales of magic and conjuring — of a man who after three months' 



DEVELOPMENT OF TAOISM. 151 



de8p tliought was able to change tlie seasons and produce ice in summer 
and thunder in winter, etc. He further advances a scheme of creation by 
spirits or gods, whom he named ''The great Change," " The great Begin- 
ning," " The great First," and " The great Pure." So much, however, was 
Lieh-tze's teaching adapted to the popular ignorance, that it was readily 
swallowed ; and its countenance of sensual and selfish enjoyment made it 
the more acceptable. 

Chwang-tze, a little later, contemporary with Mencius, adhered more 
closely to Lao-tze, and was strongly antagonistic to the Confucians. He 
preached the vanit}^ of human effort, disliking efforts and strug- 
gles to become benevolent and righteous, as well as ceaseless 
attempts to observe the rules of propriety. He believed that Tao and virtue 
were being destroyed by the very endeavours to establish benevolence 
and righteousness by works. Scholars and sages, as well as mean men, 
were greedy after some object ; and Chwang-tze did not consider that the 
difference in their objects entitled the former to praise. All were outraging 
nature. Chwang-tze went further, and doubted the reality of personal 
existence ; everything was a series of phantasms. He cared to live, but was 
indifferent to death ; for, he said, " I will have heaven and earth for my 
sarcophagus, the sun and moon shall be the insignia when I lie in state, 
and all creation shall be the mourners at my funeral." He did not object 
to his body being exposed to the birds. " What matters it ? Above are 
the birds of the air ; below are the worms and ants. If you rob one to feed 
the other, what injustice is there done ? " It is readily seen that Chwang- 
tze had no teaching which could elevate. Thus the loftier parts of Lao- 
tze's teaching found little favour, especially its features of humility and 
self-depreciation ; while magic and charms gradually assumed prominence. 
Everybody wanted to live as long as possible, and already in Che-hwang- 
ti's time charms to confer this boon were loudly vaunted : and Desire of 
the king himself exempted the Taoist books from the general f^^^ed 
destruction of literature which he endeavoured to bring about, magic. 
Such a believer was likely, as he did, to favour professors of magical arts, 
who promised him riches and long life, and to spend vast sums in expe- 
ditions in search of various wonders. These professors called themselves 
the Chin-jin, or true men, and gave themselves credit for being able ^^^ ^-^if^.y^^ 
to achieve all sorts of impossibilities. Their death put an end to 
their prophecies ; but their allies always gave out that they had disappeared 
into an unknown paradise. These professors made themselves more and 
more essential to the Chinese emperors of several dynasties, and in fact con- 
stituted themselves a priesthood ; and emperors and priests devoted them- 
selves to a search for the elixir of life and the philosopher's stone, leaving 
on one side all the lofty teachings of Lao-tze. 

But about the time of the Christian era these magicians were played 
out, and both Confucianism and the teaching of Lao-tze revived. Temple to 
During the reign of the Emperor Hwan (a.d. 147-168) imperial ^^o-*^'®- 
sacrifices were hrst offered in the temple dedicated to Lao-tze at Ku-hien, 



152 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

his supposed birth-place. Buddhism was now rapidly advancing in favour, 
and began to influence Taoism, so that legends of Lao-tze appeared, bearing 
a great resemblance to those about Buddha. For a long time after Hwan's 
reign Taoism languished ; and in the fourth century all religious orders 

Upsand ^^^® abolished, including the Taoist magicians and doctors. 

downs of But in the fifth century a Taoist became the emperor Tai-wu-ti's 
adviser, and persuaded his master to avow his adhesion to Taoism 
by accepting a magical charm, signifying that by practising benevolence, 
love, rest, and self-rectification, he had won long life and become in- 
corporated with Tao. This charm consisted of a white book, containing 
5,000 characters giving the names of the officers of heaven, and various 
incantations for deceiving demons. 

Ko-hung, a Taoist doctor in the fourth century, thus described the 
use of charms. " All mountains," he said, " are inhabited by evil spirits. If 

The use of ^^® traveller has no protection, he will fall into some calamity. 

charms. ^ ^ ^ Mountains should not be traversed during the winter ; the 
third month is the best, and then a lucky day should be chosen for setting 
out. Fasting and purification for several days beforehand are necessary, and 
a suitable charm should be worn on the person. Sometimes a mirror is 
needed ; for living things, when they grow old, can all, by means of their 
pure part, assume the human form. In such cases their true forms can be 
infallibly detected by means of a mirror, which should be nine inches in 
diameter, and suspended from the neck behind. These deceiving elves do 
not dare to approach it ; or if one should approach, bent on mischief to the 
wayfarer, a glance in the mirror at the reflected image of the monster will 
reveal its true form." 

The influence of Buddhism led the Taoists to adopt a kind of asceticism, 

not with the object of gaining absorption in Tao, but in order to gain length 

of years. Sitting still and cross-legged in an upright position, 

the devotee was siipposed to diminish the expenditure of vital 

energy, to repress the passions, and so ward off death. No doubt many 

ascetics attained a great age, and thus increased the vogue of the system. 

Next Taoism became developed in the direction of public worship, and 

temples and monasteries were built in the fifth century for the Taoists, 

Public resembling so closely those of the Buddhists as to lead to frequent 

worship, quarrels between them. The Buddhists, as originally foreign 
immigrants into China, were pointed at for expulsion by the Taoists, whom 
the former in turn called jugglers. The Emperor Woo, after his ascent to 
the throne (a.d. 566) held a great assembly of priests and learned men to 
discuss the three contending religious systems, and finally gave his decision 
in favour of Confucianism, placing Taoism after it, and Buddhism last ; a 
little later he abolished the two latter. Soon another change was brought 
about by the Emperor Tsing (a.d. 580) who again recognised .them, and 
commanded that in every temple where there were statues of Buddha and 
Lao-tze (termed " the honoured one of heaven ") they should be placed in 
positions of equal honour. We cannot follow the varied fortunes of Taoism 



DEVELOPMENT OF TAOISM. 153 

and the other religions during succeeding ages, now one gaining ascend- 
ency, now another. More than once Lao-tze was reported to have appeared 




TEMPLE IN MOUNTAINS OF FOKEIN. 



again on earth, leading to his being dignified with the title of Great^ ^^^e^jmce 
Sage Ancestor, and the distribution of his Tao-te-king throughout of Lao-tze. 



154 



THE WORLD S RELIGIONS. 



the empire. At one period tlie Taoist priests or doctors married, and 
engaged in ordinary occupations ; at another they were forbidden to marrj^, 
and the Buddhists were compelled to accept some of them as rulers of 
their religion. The Mahchus again put down the Baddhists, while the 
Mongols of Jenghiz Khan found in them apt representatives of their own 
sorcerers and soothsayers. In the time of Kublai Khan they held great 
Walking festivals to the " High Emperor of the Sombre Heavens," and 
through fire, walked through a great fire barefoot, preceded by their priests, 
bearing images of their gods in their arms. Notwithstanding the severe 
burns they always received, they constantly asserted, that if they possessed 
a sincere mind they would not be hurt by the fire. Later emperors now 
favoured, now tabooed the influential religion of the Taoists, who kept their 
hold on the people. The Manchu emperors of the seventeenth and eigh- 
teenth centuries promulgated penal decrees 
against them. Their sects had grown so nu- 
'merous and interfered so much with common 
life, that the emperor Chang-hi commanded 
that all members of the Do-nothing, the White 
Sects of Lily, the Incense-burners, the Hung, 
Taoists. -tiie Origin of Chaos, the Origin of 
the Dragon, and the Great Vehicle sects should 
be treated as criminals. But superstition dies 
hard, and. at the present day Taoism is more 
firmly seated in China than ever. 

Before describing the present state and 
practices of Taoism, we must give some account 
The Book of c>f two books which, much more than 
Blessings. ^]^q Tao-te-king, are the literary 
guides of the Taoists, namely, the Kan-ying- 
peen, or " Book of Actions and their Retribu- 
tions," otherwise translated " Book of E-ewards 
and Punishments," and the Yin-chi-wan, or 
Book of Secret Blessings. The latter is pro- 
bably ancient, and is supposed to have been written by the god Wan-chang 
Te-cheun ; but it has no reference to the special doctrines of the Taoists. 
It exclusively relates to moral questions, and being very short, containing 
only 541 words, it is widely distributed, and is given away freely by well- 
disposed persons. With comments and pictures, some editions form a con- 
siderable volume. Many of its precepts are of a high quality, thus : " Use 
not thy riches to oppress the poor. Invite to virtue by practising it in 
body and soul. Hide the faults of others and make known their virtues. 
Let not thy tongue say what thy heart denies. Give to posterity the 
instruction that will reform mankind. Surrender thy riches for the good 
of .the human race. In action be conformed to Heavenly Reason ; in speech, 
to the moral sense of humanity. Examine thy conscience in the solitude 
of thy bed." Its general principle is the necessity of purifying the heart. 




CHARM TO WARD OFF EVIL SPIRITS 
FROM A BRIDE. 



DEVELOPMENT OF TAOISM. 



155 



Straightforwardness, compassion, fidelity to friends and masters, filial con- 
duct to friends, are among tlie virtues inculcated. The hungry are to be 
fed, the naked clothed, and the dead buried. The poor and unfortunate 
must be kindly treated, the aged honoured, the sick and thirsty succoured, 
the good loved. A neighbour's faults are to be hidden, and only their good 
deeds published. Just weights and measures only are to be used, and the 
people are not to be overtaxed. Animals are to be protected, even insects in 
the forests. Travellers are to be guided and helped ; stones and debris are 
to be removed from the roadway, and footpaths and bridges repaired. We 
can scarcely credit such a book with other than a good influence ; yet, in 
spite of it, the lives of the Chinese contradict many of its precepts, as those 
of Christian peoples discredit the teachings of the New Testament. 

The Book of Actions and Retributions is 
still more widely read, and has been called the 
Bible of the Taoists. It consists „^ „ , , 

The Book of 
mainly of some two hundred pre- Actions and 

cepts as to good and bad conduct, ^®*"^^*^°^^' 
ascribed without grounds to Lao-tze himself, 
but probably not dating more than a few cen- 
turies back. It is in such a form that Chinese 
of all religions can accept its precepts, though 
they may not believe in the connecting frame- 
work. It begins by asserting that there are no 
special doors for calamity and blessing, which 
come as men call them ; meaning, that our bad 
and good fortunes are not determined in ad- 
vance, but come in accordance with our conduct. 
Recompenses follow good and evil actions as 
the shadow follows the substance. It is then 
stated that spirits exist in heaven and earth 
which search out the faults of men, and shorten 
their lives by periods of a hundred days, accord- 
ing to the gravity of their offences. This cur- 
tailment of life is attended by numerous calamities, punishments, and mis-' 
fortunes. Many of these spirits are named, some dwelling in the bodies of 
men, one being the spirit of the hearth in each household. These go on 
stated days to the palace of Heaven, to report on men's conduct. 

This preliminary is followed by a considerable number of positive 
moral precepts, in the main like those of the Book of Secret Blessings. 
Of the man who keeps them, it is said that all men respect him and Heaven 
protects him, the spirits defend him, and demons flee from him. Whatso- 
ever he does shall prosper, and he may hope to become an Immortal. If he 
desires to be an Immortal of heaven, he must do 1,300 good works ; but 300 
will suffice to make him an immortal of earth. Next follow more than two 
hundred prohibitions of conduct characteristic of the bad man, many being 
those of universal morality, others specially characteristic of the Chinese, 




KU-Sma, A GOD OF LITERATURE. 



156 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



such as, "Do not introduce vexatious reforms into the administration of 
the empire ; do not shoot at birds nor hunt animals ; do not drive insects 
from their holes, nor frighten roosting birds ; do not bury the effigy of a 
man to charm away his life ; do not listen to what your wife and concu- 
bines say ; do not kill and cook domestic animals, except in accordance with 
the rites ; do not abuse the spirits ; do not leap over a well or a hearth, thus 
insulting the gods ; do not pass either over food or over men ; do not kill 
your children, either before or after birth." Several refer to ordinary 
Chinese practices. " Do not sing and dance on the last day of the month or 
year ; do not weep or spit towards the north, where resides the prince of 
the stars of the north ; do not rise in the night naked, a crime against the 
gods, who walk abroad at night ; " and so on. 

Towards the end of the book we find the statement, that when a man 




MA-CHU, GODDESS OF SAILORS, AND HEB TWO ASSISTANTS. 

takes unjustly the riches of others, the spirits calculate the number of his 
wives and children, and make them die one by one as a retribution, or cause 
him to suffer disasters by fire, flood, thieves, sickness, or slander. Finally, 
the treatise ends with the following sentence : " When one's mind is 
directed to good, though the good be not yet done, the good spirits follow 
him ; and when one's mind is directed to evil, though the evil be not yet 
done, the evil spirits follow him. If he has done the wicked thing, and 
afterwards alters his way and repents, not doing anything wicked, but 
endeavouring to do everything good, after a time he will obtain good 
fortune and prosperity : this is changing calamity into blessing." 

" The words, looks, and deeds of the good man are all good. If all 
these are seen to be so every day, after three years Heaven will surely send 
down blessing on him. The words, looks, and deeds of the bad man are 
ail evil. Should you not exert yourself to do what is good ? " 



MODERN TAOISM. 



157 



But modern Taoism is largely a religion of gods and spirits and 
demons. Originally it had no special objects of worship, though Shang-ti, 
the supreme God, and various nature and ancestral spirits were^j.^^^^^^^^^ 
believed in. The great development of Taoist ideas about ofTaoist 
deities is generally believed to have been due to the advent of 
Buddhism. In imitation of the honour paid to Buddha, Lao-tze was deified, 
and represented as the third member of a divine trinity ; or the The Three 
trinity is represented as the same person in different incarna- Pure Ones, 
tions. The trinity is known as San-tsing, the Three Pure Ones, the images 
of which are always to been seen in Taoist temples. 

According to Edkins, the highest god of the Taoists of the present day, 
Yuh-hwang Shang-ti, dwells in the heavens, being their creator and sus- 





KWAN-TI, GOD OF WAR. 



GOD OF THIEVES. 



tainer, and the source of all truth ; he is immaterial and spontaneous. 
The second divinity, Wan-chang, presides over literature, and yuh-kwan^ 
is the diffuser.of renovating influences. The third is Lao-tze. shang-ti. 
Wan-chang is officially worshipped at every altar twice each 
year by representatives of the emperor. Part of the invocation 
to him runs thus ; " From generation to generation thou hast sent thy 
miraculous influence down' upon earth. Thou hast been the lord and 
governor of learning among men. In upholding that which is right, long 
hast thou brightly shone and stirred up hearts to thankfulness. . . . 
May the fumes of this sacrifice and the odour thereof be acceptable to 
thee. Look down, we beseech thee, on our devotion and our humility." 

Not only is imperial worship paid to Wan-chang, but there are temples 
in every city dedicated to him, often adjoining the colleges. In the prin- 



158 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



cipal hall of the temple may be seen an altar and shrine, within which is 
" a venerable figure, seated in calm and dignified repose, a benign expres- 
sion manifested in the gilded features, and a flowing beard descending to 
the lap upon which the hands lie folded. In front stand the narrow per- 
pendicular tablets, set in deep frameworks of elaborate carving, which in- 
dicate the titles of the object of worship." In Canton alone there are ten 
of these temples. His principal temple is at Chu-tung-yun, where Wan- 
chang is said to have been born, or rather incarnated, for, as with many 
others of their gods, it is said that a star descended and became incarnate, 




PASSING THROUGH THE DOOK. 



not once, but many times, in virtuous men ; his representative in the 
heavens is a small constellation near the Great Bear. The great regard 
paid to this deity by the student class in China shows that' Taoism has 
deeply influenced Confucians, in spite of the old antagonism between these 
two systems. The image of Ku-sing, the god of Literature, we figure, is 
placed directly in front of Wu-chang's ; he represents a particular star. 

There is practically no end to the multitude of Taoist deities now 

Deified worshipped ; and it is this, with their ancestor- worship, which 

nature and gi^es rise to the saying that in China more gods are worshipped 

deified men. than there are people. They belong to two main classes, deified 



MODERN TAOISM. 



159 



powers of nature and deified men. There are sea and river gods, star gods, 
weather gods, agricultural gods. On the sea-coast may be found temples 
to the spirit of the sea, the king of the sea, and the god of the tide. 
Dragon-kings have their shrines on the banks of the rivers ; they are sup- 
posed to reside partly in air, partly in water. Any remarkable phenomenon 
in the sky or water is often pointed at as a dragon. Many of the stars are 
w^orshipped as gods, and are regarded as sublimated essences of material 
things. The earth is described as made up of ^siq kinds of matter, metal, 
wood, water, fire, and earth ; and these are all said to have souls or essences, 
which when highly purified rose to the starry heavens and became planets. 
Mercury being the essence of water, Venus of metal. Mars of fire, Jupiter 




SACRIFICE TO GOD OF KITCHEN. 



of wood, and Saturn of earth. The fixed stars are also essences or souls of 
matter, and there are other invisible ones, which are also called stars by 
the Chinese. "In this way," says Edkins, " the word star has come to have, 
in the Chinese language, a meaning additional to the common one. A 
living material soul, the sublimated essence of matter, is so denominated." 
The Taoists see in the starry firmament the upper portions of the sea of 
ether of which our atmosphere forms the lower part. In it the star 
divinities revolve and powerfully influence the fortunes of men. So it 
comes to pass that alchemy and astrology, dealing with essences and stars, 
are so important in the Taoist religion and in Chinese thought. 

We cannot devote space to any fuller account of these deities. It is 
evident that the task would be endless, while a specimen suffices to indi- 



i6o 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS 



cate their nature. Nor can we recount the numberless legends of imaginary 
ATaoist genii or spirits, some of islands and mountains, some celestial 
temple, ^nd residing in various heavens. A complete Taoist temple 
makes provision for all aspects of the popular Taoist beliefs. There are 
halls set apart for the superior and inferior divinities, corresponding to the 
heavens in which they are believed to dwell, and some of them are repre- 
sented by images. Among them are to be found ancestral worthies, 
hermits and alchemists, termed collectively Seen-jin ; and among higher 
deities the great god, Yuh-hwang Shang-ti, and the Three Pure Ones 
already mentioned have the highest place. The former they identify with 
the Confucian Shang-ti, and make him out to be the ancestor of the 
hereditary chief priest of their religion, whose family name is Chang. The 
birthday of the god is kept on the ninth day of the first month. 

The Taoists have other trinities besides the Three Pure Ones ; one is 

that formed by the gods of happi- 

Severai ness, rank, and old age. 
trinities. These are stars and star 
gods, and are very common sub- 
jects for Chinese paintings and 
carvings. Another trinity is the 
San-kwan, the three rulers of 
heaven, earth, and water, said to 
form in their unity one great god, 
and to send down good and ill 
fortune on men and save the lost. 
Another important divinity is the 
god of riches, worshipped by the 
trading classes, who believe he 
causes their profits and losses. 
The number of temples erected to 
him is very great. There is even 
a god of Thieves, worshipped by 
those who wish to gain wealth. The State gods have been readily adopted 
by the Taoists, who in most cases discharge the rites for them. Among 
Kwan-ti, the recent additions to the Hst is Kwan-ti, the god of war, who 
god of war. ^^s raised to the rank of a god in 1856, and made equal to 
Confucius in particular, because of a victory over the Tai-pings. The de- 
scription of many of the gods shows a Buddhist colouring, and the style of 
many of the prayers is Buddhistic, exhibiting similar views of the universe 
and of the interference of divinities in the affairs of men. 

A recent further development of Taoism adopts the Buddhist ideas of 
transmigration of souls in a very gross form, together with an elaborate 

purgatory and hell. A book called the Divine Panorama, said 
PTirsratorv x^ *^ 'J _.-_ 

and to be pubhshed by the mercy of Yu-ti (the same as Yu-hwang 

remission gj^^^g.^^)^ ^j^^t men and women may repent and make atonement 

for their sins, gives a full account of it. In it the souls of men are said to 




BKINGlNa BACK THE SOUL OF A SICK MAN INTO HIS 
CLOTHES ON THE BAMBOO. 



MODERN TAOISM. 



i6i 



live for ever, and retribution is declared for all evil done in this life. There 

are said to be ten courts of justice at the 
bottom of a great ocean under the crust of 
the earth, and pictures of the punishments 
inflicted are shown in the temple of the 
'' Spirit of the Eastern Mountain," an ap- 
pendage of the temple of the greater tu- 
telary deity of each provincial city. It is 
related that on the birthday of the saviour, 
Pu-sa (a brief Chinese rendering of the 
Buddhist Bodhi sattva, or one who has onl}- • 
to pass through one more human life be- 
fore attaining Buddhahood, but used by the 
Chinese for a deity in general, and here for 
the ruler of the infernal regions), as the 
spirits of purgatory were offering their 
congratulations, the ruler of the infernal 
regions said: "My wish is to release all' 
souls, and every moon as the day comes 
round, I would wholly or partially remit 
the punishment of erring shades, and give 
them life once more in one of the six paths 
(the six kinds of existence, see Buddhism 
later). But also the wicked are many, and 
the virtuous few. Nevertheless the punish- 
ments in the dark region are too severe and 
require some modihcation. Any wicked 

soul that repents and induces one or two others to do likewise, shall be 

allowed to set this off against the punishment which should be inflicted. 

The judges of the ten courts then agreed that all who lead virtuous lives 

from their youth upwards shall be escorted 

at their death to the land of the immortals ; 

that all whose balance of good and evil is 

exact, shall escape the bitterness of the three 

states (hell, pretas, and animals) and be born 

again among men ; that those who have re- 
paid their debts of gratitude and friendship, 

and fulfilled their destiny, yet have a balance 

of evil against them, shall pass through the 

various courts of purgatory, and then be born 

again among men, rich, poor, old, young, 

diseased or crippled, to be put a second time 

upon trial. Then, if they behave well, they 

ma}^ enter into some happy state ; but if 

badly, they will be dragged by horrid devils 

through all the courts, suffering bitterly as they go, and will again be born, 

M 




' TALL WHITE DEVIL.' 




• SHOUT BLACK DEVIL." 



i62 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

to endure in life the uttermost of poverty and wretchedness, in death the 
everlasting tortures of hell." (Appendix to Giles's translation of " Strange 
Stories from a Chinese Studio.") 

This relaxation in severity of punishments, having been approved by 
the judges of the ten courts, was sanctioned by the ruler Pu-sa, and then 
submitted to Yu-ti, who authorised it, and added that any mortal who 
repented and had had two punishments remitted, if he succeeded in doing 
five virtuous acts, should escape all punishment and be born again in some 
happy state ; if a woman, she should be re-born as a man. More than five 
such acts should enable a soul to obtain the salvation of others, and redeem 
. his wife and family from hell. 

The description of the various courts as given is too long to quote. 
One of them has a great gehenna, many leagues wide, with sixteen wards, 
Horrible ^nd the following horrible punishments are said to be inflicted in 
punishments, them, still further exemplifying the Chinese genius for devising 
tortures. " In the first, the wicked souls have their bones beaten and their 
bodies scorched. In the second, their muscles are drawn out and their bones 
rapped. In the third, ducks eat their heart and liver. In the fourth, dogs 
eat their intestines and lungs. In the fifth, they are splashed with hot 
oil. In the sixth, their heads are crushed in a frame, and their tongues and 
teeth are drawn out," and so on through a sickening catalogue of bar- 
barities. Contrast this with the original teaching of Lao-tze, and it will be 
seen how far a religion can degenerate, and how childish as well as de- 
graded must be the minds which can accept this as true. 

An exaggerated animism marks Taoism as well as Confucianism ; and 
a vast number of the spirits believed in are malevolent. The simple China- 
Dread of evil ^^^ dreads spirits, and imagines them in all the sounds of the 
spirits, night and in many natural phenomena, as producing sicknesses 
and continually trying to deceive men. The Taoist priests, little elevated 
above Mongolian Shamans, except sometimes in cunning, are magicians 
who find occupation and wealth in overcoming the evil spirits by charms 
and spells. " The charms," says Dr. Legge, " are figures, and characters, 
single or combined, drawn and written in grotesque forms. The myriads 
of doors on which you see them pasted shows the thriving trade that their 
writers must have. A few years ago, over a large extent of country, men 
were startled by the sudden and unaccountable disappearance of their pig- 
tails. An invasion of cholera could not have frightened the people more. 
It was the work of malevolent spirits ! There was a run upon the charm 
manufactories. It was thought that four characters, mysteriously woven 
together and wrapped up in the pigtail, warded the spirits off." 

In this connection we must mention the practices known as feng-shui^ 

or wind and water, ceremonies by which the spirits of air and water are 

Tue propitiated, and including the repose of the dead, the influence of 

feng-shui. ^he dead upon the welfare of the living, the selection of sites for 

dwellings, and of graves for the dead. Every individual has three souls, 

the rational in the head, the sensuous in the breast, and the material in the 



MODERN TAOISM. 



163 



stomacli. At death the first may become fixed in the memorial tablets, the 
second in the tomb, the third escapes into space and seeks to enter some other 
body. If proper observances are neglected, it will become hostile to the famity. 
Incense sticks are kept constantly burning at the entrance of houses and 
shops, in order to prevent the entrance of these and other malignant spirits. 




The selection of a grave is of the utmost importance, and must be per- 
formed by persons skilled in interpreting signs or in inventing ggigg^ion ^f 
them. "I have known bodies kept unburied," says Dr. Legge, graves and 
" lying in their large and carefully cemented coffins, for a long 
time, from the difficulty of selecting the best site for the grave. I have known 



i64 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

great excitement and expenditure in connection with tlie removal of a coffin 
from a grave which had turned out unpropitious, to one that was likely to 
enable its tenant to rest in peace, and leave his family circle unmolested." 
The same spirit pervades all kinds of practices. Good and evil spirits being 
continually passing to and fro, it is most necessary to build houses, make 
roads and bridges, canals and wells, in such a way as to obstruct the evil and 
aid the joiirneys of the good spirits. In every part of the country mines 
and quarries have been filled up owing to complaints that they have caused 
bad harvests by letting the demons pass. Neighbours accuse each other of 
having turned the good spirits aside by making changes on their lands. The 
planting of a tree on a favourable spot or a new tower rightly built, may 
bring fortune to a whole district. All straight lines are disastrous, while 
curves in anything promote prosperity ; good spirits come from the south, 
evil spirits from the north. 

No wonder that the Taoist priests are despised by the educated Chinese, 
and win their chief spoils from the ignorant ; but the extent to which they 
have received recognition by the Government in connection with the State 
religion is undoubtedly an evil. The priests are supposed to study five 
years, but practically they do little but assist the acknowledged priests, 
learning their tricks and practices, and a certain amount of knowledge 
which will enable them to give proper "oracles" in answer to the prayers 
of the sick and dying. Their morals are low, and their nunneries are 
generally believed to be haunts of vice. There is scarcely any religion of 
a great people which can surpass Taoism in degradation. A volume could 
readily be filled with descriptions of their ceremonies and practices, but our 
space is exhausted. Mr. Doolittle's " Social Life of the Chinese " may be 
referred to for abundant information on this head. 

We must briefly describe some of our illustrations, not otherwise 
referred to. " Passing through the Door " (p. 158) is an important cere- 
mony for children, performed more or less frequently till childhood is over. 
Taoist priests come to the house, arrange an altar, place on it censers, candle- 
sticks, and images of gods, especially that of the goddess '^ Mother " ; and 
also a table full of various eatables. Certain goddesses are invited by name 
to be present, by ringing of bells, beating of drums, and reciting the names 
and residences of the goddesses. The priests recite prayers and invitations 
while the goddesses partake of food. The " door " to be passed through- is 
made of bamboo covered with red and white paper, and is seven feet high. 
After several ceremonies, a procession is formed to pass through the door, 
the head of the family and all the children following. This is repeated 
several times, the " door " being successively removed to all corners of the 
room, while the priest recites various formulas. Soon after, the door is cut 
to pieces and publicly burnt. The idea is, to benefit the children by causing 
them to recover, if sick, or to continue well if in good health. 

Incense and candles are regularly burnt before the god of the kitchen 
on the first and fifteenth of every month, morning and evening ; some do it 
daily. An annual sacrifice of meats (p. 159) is made to the kitchen god. 



MODERN TAOISM. 



165 



and, together witli mock money, is put upon the kitchen furnace before a 
slip of paper representing the god. The Chinese believe that the kitchen 





god ascends to heaven and reports to the 
supreme ruler the behaviour of the family 
during the year. 

When a man is very ill and his spirit, 
or one of his spirits, is believed to have 
left his body and to be hovering near, the 
Taoist priests repeat their formulas for his 

benefit, and attempt to bring back his soul by the following means (see 
p. 160). A long bamboo with green leaves at the end is taken, and a 
white cock is often fastened near the end. A two-foot measure is sus- 



1 66 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

pended from tlie bamboo, and to it is fastened a coat recently worn by 
the sick man. A mirror is so arranged as to occupy the place where the 
head would be, one of the family holds the bamboo as shown in the illustra- 
tion, while a priest repeats his formulas, with the name of the sick person, 
to induce his spirit to enter the coat. If the pole turns round slowly in the 
hands of the holder, success is believed to have been attained, and the 
spirit can be taken back to the sick man ; the coat is then placed as soon 
as possible on his body. 

" Tall White Devil," and '' Short Black Devil " (p. 161), are only 
foreigners' names for two of the five images of emperors or rulers who 
control epidemics, and which are paraded about the streets of Fu-chow. 
The image is formed of a bamboo framework in each case, covered with a 
garment, and carried by a man standing inside it. 

Our illustration (on p. 163) depicts a strange custom observed by many 
families soon after a death. First has come the loud outburst of lamentation 
immediately following death. The deceased being believed to be unable to 
see how or where to walk, candles and incense are lighted to enable him to see. 
After the body has been laid out, the sons-in-law of the deceased erect a sort 
of bamboo chandelier as seen in our engraving, the body is on a table on one 
side of this, another table has candles and incense, and some large paper 
placards describe or depict the state of the departed. The long pole is pushed 
gently by the eldest son, followed by the married daughter covered by a 
veil, and the rest of the family ; so the bridge-ladder is slowly pushed round 
several times, while the priests chant a liturgy to the sound of cymbals, 
and all lament and weep loudly. This is done in daylight. The object is to 
assist the deceased on his way to the abode of the dead, the pole or bridge aid- 
ing him to cross rivers, the tree-like ladder to climb steep places. After this 
wine and food are offered to the deceased by the eldest son ; the feelings of 
the dead man being manifested by the way in which their small copper 
" cash " behave when shaken out of his sleeve. Very many other cere- 
monies are obssrved by the truly devout before the body is consigned to the 
grave, everything being designed either to show the sorrow of the living or 
to comfort or help the deceased. Many of these customs are observed for 
months. They vary, like others mentioned, from district to district. 

On the forty-second day after death, it is believed that the spirit arrives 
at a certain place in the other world, whence he looks back on his old home 
and becomes for the first time aware of his own decease. He is then sup- 
posed to lose his appetite and to bs unable to partake of the food provided 
for him, afterwards he is provided with one large last meal, signifying that 
he must thenceforth procure and cook his own food, and at the same time 
a large amount of mock paper money is provided for him and burnt. 

[In addition to works already quoted, Mr. H. A. Giles's "Gems of Chinese Literature," 1884, 
and " Chuang-tzu" (or Chwang-tze), 1889, may be consulted with advantage.] 




JAPAN : PRESENT!. >?G NKW-BORN BABE IN SHIN-TO TEMPLE. 
(The aychway in front is the general symbol of Shinto.) 



CHAPTER YI. 
^f)i\uto\^m (3Hpan)^ 

Japanese less religious than Chinese— The way of the gods— Resemblance to Taoism— Erection of 
temples— Ancestral worship —Shin-to mythology— The sacrei mirror— Modem reformers of 
Shin-toism— Results of the late revolution— Hirata's views— The old liturgies —Hirata's ritual — 
The god and goddess of wind— Parted spirits — The rulers of the Unseen -The spirits of the dead 
— Classes of temples— The uji-gami— Household gods— Priesthood and services— Shin-to temples 
—The torii— The temples of Ise— Ritual— Re-huilding of temples. 

JAPAN is by no means so interesting in a religious point of view as 
China. The people are as a whole less concerned about religious 
matters, and less under the influence of the dread of unseen powers. As in 
China, religions exist side by side without inconsistency or clash- Japanese less 
ing ; in fact, the vast majority of the people may be described as religious than 
Shin-toists as well as Buddhists, and few profess either religion 
exclusively, except in the province of Satsuma, from which the Buddhist 
priests have long been excluded. A philosophical system known as Siza, 
having some resemblance to Confucianism, is professed by many of the 

1G7 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS, 



upper classes, while also adlienng to Shin-toism ; it is essentially a system 
of moral trntlis and maxims. 

The term Shin-to literally means the way of the gods or genii ; but 
the Japanese word which renders the two Chinese characters Shin- to is 

The way of Kami-no-michi. There is no donbt whatever that it is properly 

the gods, (described as animism, and is largely developed from ancestor- 
worship. Thus there is a remarkable resemblance in essence to Chinese 
Resemblance Taoism and ancestor-worship, though the exaggerated features of 

to Taoism. ^]^q Chinese types are absent. The Shin-to cult is very ancient, 
probably dating from before the Japanese immigration, while the name 
Shin-to only came into use after the introduction of Buddhism, as a means 
of distinguishing between the two. It is useless to speculate which origi- 
nated first, the worship of ancestors, or that of the nature-deities. From time 
immemorial offerings have been presented to the household or family spirits 
or deities, consisting of swords, food, clothing, horses, etc, all of which are of 
the class usually offered to ancestral- spirits. Very early no doubt the spirit 
or spirits worshipped by the ruler acquired pre-eminence. When the wor- 
ship of the spirits of trees, animals, rivers, rocks, wind, fire, mountains, and 
heavenly bodies arose, we cannot tell, but it could scarcely have been till a 
subsequent period that the Mikado's earliest ancestor was identified with 
Erection of "the sun, for which a separate temple was erected at least fifteen 

temples. Imnclred years ago, and a daughter of the Mikado was appointed 
chief priestess. Then the erection of temples to ancestors became general, 
but they were of a simple character, aiid usually contained no image of the 
god, but merely a mirror as an emblem. These temples had priests who 
were either direct descendants of the deified ancestor or of his chief attendant ; 

Ancestral ^1^^ ^^lis custom largely continues to the present day. Thus ances- 

worship. -j-pg^i worship is a very essential element in Japanese religion ; 
and, as Mr. Satow tells us, " in almost every Japanese house, by the side of 
the domestic altar to the Shin-to gods will be found the shrine of the 
favourite Buddhist deit}^, and the memorial tablets of dead members 
of the family, who immediately on their decease become ' Buddhas ' 
to whom prayers may be offered up." There can be little doubt that the 
most popular and most worshipped gods are those who are the reputed 
ancestors of the Mikado, and deified heroes even of modern times. So much 
is this the case that no separation or distinction is made by the Japanese 

Shin-to between the Shin-to mythology and their own national history. 
mythology. National egotism makes Japan the first country created, and does 
not trouble itself about the rest of the world. The oldest cosmogony, the 
Kojiki, dating from the eighth century a.d., recounts that at the beginning 
of the world three gods came into existence in succession, named the Master 
of the Centre of Heaven, the August High-August-Producing Deity, and the 
Divine-Producing Deity. Then followed a series of pairs of deities, repre- 
senting the stages of creation, concluding with Isanagi and Isanami, the 
two parents of the earth, sun, moon, and all living creatures. A most fanci- 
ful origin of all these and of many things on earth from these two parents 



SHIN-TOISM {JAPAN). 169 



is related. Amaterasn, the sun-goddess, was the ancestor of the first Japanese 
sovereign. Jimmu Tenno, descended from Ninigi-no-mikoto, the adopted 
grandson of the snn-goddess, is the early ruler from whom the sovereign 
known to Europeans as the Mikado is descended, the name by which he is 
known to the Japanese being Teushi, or Son of Heaven. When the sun- 
goddess made Ninigi sovereign of Japan, she delivered to him " the way of the 
gods," and decreed that his dynasty should be immovable as long as the sun 
and moon should endure. She gave to him three sacred emblems, the 
mirror, sword, and stone, saying as to the first, " Look upon this The sacred 
mirror as my spirit, keep it in the same house and on the same i^airror. 
floor with yourself, and worship it as if you were worshipping my actual 
presence." The story is, that in the year 92 b.c. the reigning Teushi 
removed it to a temple, whence, after further removals, it was deposited in 
B.C. 4, in the Naiku temple or palace at Yamada, in the province of Ise. 
Most extravagant names are given to the various deities, each name being 
preceded by " Kami," which is applicable to a god, goddess, or spirit, while 
the Mikado's ordinary title is 0-Kami. It must be borne in mind that the 
translation god for this term, is liable to be misleading, for its real meaning- 
is simply " superior," and very varied significations may be given to it. 

A remarkable revival of pure Shinto took place in the last and present 
centuries, endeavouring to discover and re-establish the ancient religious 

belief as it was before Buddhism and Confucianism modified it. -^ , ^ 

Modem 

It has produced several notable scholars, especially Mabuchi reformers of 

(1697-1769), Motoori (1730-1801) and Hirata (1776-1843). The ^i^in-toism. 

latter published something like a hundred separate works. From the ninth 

to the seventeenth centuries Buddhism was paramount in Japan, including 

and absorbing most of the old Shin-toism. But the revival of the older 

views by these scholars caused a very marked reaction, the support of the 

Mikado and his court being obtained for them while the Shogun and his 

following disliked them. The new school hoped, at the revolution of 1868, 

to get Buddhism suppressed, and Shin- to made the one national religion ; 

but Western ideas and a certain carelessness about religion combined to 

limit the reform to a liberation of Shin-toism from the fetters of „ ,^ , 

Kesults of 
Buddhism, and the separation of one from the other. The the late 

Buddhist priests were expelled from the Shin-to temples, and ^®^°^^*^°^' 

the excrescences and additions which they had imposed upon them were 

taken away, including many treasures and architectural ornaments- 

Nevertheless Buddhism once more proved its power of overcoming obstacles 

and opposition, and has recently been regaining much of its former 

influence, while Shin-toism has again declined. Still its temples are 

supported by the Government and by local revenues, and certain yearly 

festivals at court are attended by all the principal officials. Yet on the 

whole it occupies about the same position that it has done for a thousand 

years past. 

The result of Hirata's studies is, that in ancient times the celebration of 

the worship of the gods was the chief duty of the Mikado. When the first 



lyo THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

Mikado descended from heaven, he was instructed by his divine ancestors 
Hirata's how to rule the country. They taught him that everything in this 
views, "v^orld depended on the spirits of the gods of heaven and earth, 
and that consequently their worship was of primary importance. The gods 
(or spirits) who worked injuries must be appeased, so that they might not 
punish those who had offended them ; and all the gods must be worshipped, 
so that they might be induced to increase their favours. The art of govern- 
ment was termed " worshipping," and personal worship by the sovereign 
was essential. Consequently the early Mikados regularly prayed that the 
people might have sufficient food, clothing, and protection from the elements ; 
and twice a year they celebrated the festival of general purification, by which 
the whole nation was purged of calamities, offences, and pollutions. 

However firmly Hirata believed that he was relating the old beliefs 
before the influence of Chinese thought, we cannot fail to see here a similar 
The old idea to that of the Chinese State religion ; and thus we may date 
liturgies, "both back to a period in the dim past when the Chinese and 
Japanese stocks had not yet separated. The rites of Shin- to for many 
centuries occupied a conspicuous place in the rales and ceremonies of the 
court, ten of the fifty volumes of the Yengi Shiki being devoted to them, 
including liturgies for the general festivals, the names of 3,132 gods in 2,861 
temples at which the Court worshipped, either personally or by envoys. 
Every important matter was preceded by worship of the gods. Hirata says 
that, as it is the duty of subjects to imitate the incarnate god who is their 
sovereign, every man must worship his ancestors and the gods from whom 
they spring ; but as the number of gods possessing different functions is so 
Hirata's great, it is convenient to worship only the most important by 
ritual, name, and to include the rest in a general petition. Those who 
cannot go through the whole of the morning prayers, may content them- 
selves with adoring the emperor's palace, the domestic spirits, the spirits of 
their ancestors, their local patron god, and the deity of their particular 
calling. His view of the superiority of the Mikado's prayers is clearly 
shown in the following extract. '' In praying to the gods, the blessings 
which each has it in his power to bestow are to be mentioned in a few 
words, and they are not to be annoyed with greedy petitions, for the 
Mikado in his palace offers up petitions daily on behalf of his people, which 
are far more effectual than those of his subjects. Rising early in the 
morning, wash your face and hands, rinse out the mouth, and cleanse 
the body. Then turn towards the province of Yamato, strike the palms 
together twice, and worship, bowing the head to the ground. The proper 
posture is that of kneeling on the heels, which is ordinarily assumed in 
saluting a superior." 

Hirata gives the following explanation of the names of the god and 

™r- ^ ^ 2:oddess of wind : Their first names mean Pillar of Heaven and 
The god and ^ , 
goddess of Pillar of Earth, and they are given because the wind pervades 

^^ the space between Heaven and Earth and supports the former, 

as a pillar supports the roof of a house. Part of the prayer to these deities 



SHIN-TO ISM (JAPAN), 171 

runs thus : " I say with awe, deign to bless me by correcting the unwitting 
faults which, seen and heard by you, I have committed, by blowing off and 
clearing away the calamities which evil gods might inflict, by causing me 
to live long like the hard and lasting rock, and by repeating to the gods of 
heavenly origin and the gdds of earthly origin the petitions which I present 
every day, along with your breath, that they may hear with the sharp- 
earedness of the forth-galloping colt." Hirata classifies faults into those 
committed consciously and unconsciously. The latter, he says, are com- 
mitted by every one ; and if we pray that such as we have committed may 
be corrected, the gods are willing to pardon them. By evil gods he means 
bad deities and demons who work harm to society and individuals. These 
spirits originated, he states, from the impurities contracted by Izanagi 
during his visit to the nether world, and cast off by him during the 
processes of purification. They subsequently increased in number, 
especially after the introduction of Buddhism. The two deities of wind 
can, he says, blow away anything it pleases them to get rid of, including 
the calamities which evil spirits endeavour to inflict. Men are dependent 
upon them for the breath which enables them to live ; and therefore it is 
right to prajT" to them for long life, and to carry their prayers to the gods. 

Another prayer given by Hirata, illustrates a curious Shin-to doctrine, 
according to which a god throws off portions by fissure, producing what are 
called Parted Spirits, with special functions. Thus a grand- parted 
daughter of the god of fire and the goddess of soil is described spirits, 
by eight different names, which signify that she is goddess of all kinds of 
food. Two of the parted spirits thrown off by her are named producer of 
all trees and parent of all grasses. Strange to say, we hear of the dead 
body of this goddess of food, from which dead body rice and other seeds, 
cattle, and the silkworm were produced. Consequently it early became a 
custom to worship this goddess on moving into a new house, built as it was 
of the wood and thatched with the grass of which she was the creator. 

The paired grouping of the gods is very noticeable in Japan. One ot 
the most noteworthy parts of Hirata's '' Tama-dasuki " is that which refers 
to Oko-kuni-nushi, who rules the Unseen, and his consort Suseri- The Rulers of 
bime. The term Unseen, he says, includes " peace or disturbance *^® unseen, 
in the empire, its prosperity and adversity, the life and death, good and 
bad fortune of human beings, in fine, every supernatural event which 
cannot be ascribed to a definite author." A man's secret sins draw down 
upon him the hatred of the invisible gods, who inflict diseases, misfortunes, 
short life, etc. Conversely, the gods bestow happiness and blessings on 
those who practise good, giving them exemption from disease, good luck, 
long life, and prosperity to their descendants. Hirata's teaching here 
becomes more lofty, and worthy of all commendation. " Never mind the 
praise or blame. of fellow-men," he says, "but act so that you need not be 
ashamed before the gods of the Unseen. If you desire to practise true 
virtue, learn to stand in awe of the Unseen, and that will prevent you from 
doing wrong. Make a vow to the god who rules over the Unseen, and 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



cultivate the conscience implanted in you, and then you will never wander 
from the way. You cannot hope to live more than a hundred years under 
the most favourable circumstances; but as you will go to the unseen realm 
of Oko-kuni-nushi after death, and be subject to his rule, learn betimes to 
bow down before him." 

We are told by Hirata that the spirits of the dead continue to exist in 
the unseen world, which is everywhere about us, and that they all become 
The spirits of gods (kami) of varying character and degrees of influence. While 

tiie dead. gQ^^e reside in temples built in their honour, others hover near 
their tombs, and continue to render services to their prince, parents, wife, 
and children as when they were in the body. 

Just as in China, we find chief provincial temples, city temples, and 
village temples ; and all new-born infants have to be presented to the local 

Classes of deity to be put under his protection. The local deity is correctly 

temples. ^^^^ a gQ^ of ^]^q native earth or land." There are other local 
deities (uji-gami) which really signify the common ancestor of a number of 
people who bear the same name, or one who has merited equivalent honours 
by benefits. The local differences between people, animals, and plants, are 
explained as being due to the different character of the patron god. All 
The the uji-gami are supposed to rule the fortunes of human beings 

uji-gamL Iqq^q^q ^-^^ after birth, and even after death. In some pro- 
vinces it is customary before starting on a journey to proceed to the temple 
of the local uji-gami and beg for his protection. The priest then gives him 
a paper charm to protect him from harm on the road ; the traveller also 
takes a little sand from the site of the temple, which he mixes in small 
quantities with water and drinks on the journey whenever he feels uncom- 
fortable. The remains of the sand must be duly returned when he geta 
back, and naturally he returns thanks for the protection afforded. It is a 
still more serious event when a person removes his residence to another 
place. The uji-gami of his old home has to make arrangements with that 
of the new one, else all will not be right. Consequently the man must take 
due leave of his old uji-gami, and pay a visit to the new one as soon as 
possible. Whatever may be the apparent reasons which a man may think 
have induced him to change his residence, it is said that there can be only 
two ; one being that he has offended the uji-gami of his old home and is 
expelled, the other, that the uji-gami of the new home has arranged his 
removal. 

The household gods of the Japanese represent the most universally 
practised form of Japanese worship. Their shrine contains tablets covered 

Houseiioid with paper, on which are painted the titles of the gods of Ise, and 
gods. q£ other gods in whom the householder places his trust. Before 
these tablets the householder offers up on particular days, such as the first 
day of the year, the 2nd, 15th and 28th of the month, sake, the favourite 
Japanese drink, rice, and leafy twigs of the sacred tree {Cleyera Japojiica) 
belonging to the cameUia and tea order. Every evening a saucer of oil with 
a hghted wick in it is placed before the domestic shrine. The following is 



SHIN- TO ISM {JAPAN). 173 

Hirata's version of the proper prayer to be made before it : " Reverently 
adoring the great god of the two palaces of Ise in the first place, the eight 
hundred myriads of celestial gods, the eight hundred myriads of terrestrial 
gods, all the fifteen hundred myriads of gods to whom are consecrated the 
great and small 'temples in all provinces, all islands, and all places of the 
Great Land of Eight Islands (Japan), the fifteen hundred myriads of gods 
w^hom they cause to serve them, and the gods of branch palaces and branch 
temples, and sohodo-no-kami (the scare-crow, reputed to know everything in 
the empire), whom I have invited to the shrine set up on this divine shelf, 
and to whom I offer praises day by day, I pray with awe that they will deign 
to correct the unwitting faults which, heard and seen by them, I have 
committed, and blessing and favouring me according to the powers which 
they severally wield, cause me to follow the divine example, and to perform 
good works in the Way." 

Shin-toism is remarkable for its lack of public services, for the incon- 
spicuous part played by its priests, and for the simplicity of character of its 
temples. The priests are not celibates, and may take up any other Priesthood 
calling. They offer morning and evening sacrifices, and when go ^^^ ^*^^^^<^®s- 
engaged wear a long loose gown with wide sleeves and a girdle, and on the 
head a black cap bound round the head by a broad white fillet. The priests 
recite prayers and praises of which we have given some types, and present 
offerings of rice, fish, fruits, flesh, sake, etc. A general purification service 
is held twice a year in many of the principal Shin-to temples, to wash away 
the sins of the people with water. Formerly it was practised also in indi- 
vidual cases ; and sins or crimes were expiated by the sacrifice of valuable 
gifts in proportion to the fault committed. 

Shin-to temples usually have a chapel of two chambers, the inner con- 
taining the emblem of the god, usually a mirror, sometimes a sword, or 
even a curious stone, which the priest himself may only see shin-to 
rarely, and kept in a box within other boxes, covered with many *®^Pi®s- 
wrappings of silk and brocade. The outer hall contains an upright wand, 
from which hang pieces of white paper cut out to resemble the offerings of 
cloth anciently made at festivals. In front of the chapel, and connected 
with it by an ante-chamber, may usually be seen an oratory, sometimes 
with a gong over its entrance, by ringing which the worshipper calls the 
attention of his god ; sometimes this oratory is only a shed on four uprights, 
before which the worshipper bows and clasps his hands together, but utters 
no audible prayer ; he then throws a few copper coins on the floor and 
departs. The priests of these temples eke out their scanty income by selling 
slips of paper bearing the title of the god as charms. Near the main build- 
ing there may often be additional buildings dedicated to various Shin-to 
deities ; around the whole is a grove of trees. There is no elaboration of 
architecture or design or colouring in these temples, the type of which is 
said to be the primeval hut, many having thatched roofs, though some are 
tiled or have coppered roofs. Normally, they are made entirely of wood, 
of the finest quality ; the flooring is wooden, raised some feet above the 



174 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

gronnd, allowing of a balcony all round outside, approached by a flight of 
steps. 

Another distinctive feature of a Shin-to temple is the fom, literally 

" bird-perch/' an arch of very plain form at the entrance to the grounds, 

and often repeated at intervals up to the temple. It is never 

decorated with carving, but is sometimes made of stone or bronze, 

or painted bright red and inscribed with the names of the gods to whom 

the temple is dedicated. 

There were formerly many highly decorated temples, but this was the 
work of the Buddhists when they got control of them. In the precincts of 
many temples they erected pagodas, chapels to their deities, bell and drum 
towers, etc. All the distinctively Buddhist buildings in Shin-to grounds 
were, however, destroyed after 1808 ; but the chapels which they had built 
to Shin-to gods were left untouched, so that many of these remain, highly 
decorated with carvings, gilt fastenings, and bright colouring. 

The famous temples of Ise at Yamato, the Naiku and the Greku, show 
the pure Shin-to simplicity, and are among the most ancient shrines of the 
The temples religion. They are annually visited by great numbers of pil- 
ofise. grims. At these temples, says a recent visitor, are to be seen 
" no grandeur of form or cunning workmanship, no sacrifices, hardly any 
symbols. Except that the main posts are supported on hewn-stone blocks 
instead of entering the ground, that the floors are raised, and that wooden 
walls have taken the place of mats, the buildings approximate in form and 
strLicture to the primeval Japanese hut. Wood and thatch form the 
materials ; brass, bronze, and iron, scantily used, the sole adornments ; plain 
fences of posts, rails, and palisades the outer and inner cathedral enclosures. 
There is no patch of paint or scrap of carving — no colour but the browns 
and drabs of thatch and weather-worn woodwork. For gateways there are 
merely open tovii.^ constructed of bare round logs, in the form with which 
the world is now familiar ; for gates nought but hanging screens of thin 
white silk ; for sacrifices, daily offerings of water, rice, fish, salt, and other 
simple products of the land and sea. The very lamps for the service of the 
temple are of coarse white paper, decorated only in black, with the chry- 
santhemum flower, which is the crest of the Son of Heaven. As for 
emblems, they too are of the same simple and unaffected type. Rice-straw 
ropes and wisps, sprigs and wands of the rare and sacred sakaki tree {Cleyera 
Japonka)^ hanging slips of notched white paper — each symbolical of some 
incident in the well-known legend of the Sun-goddess's enticement out of 
the cave to which she had retired, in wrath and pain, from the Moon-god's 
violence — that is all. Though the sacred mirror and its copies are there 
too, they are never now seen by human eyes. For each there is a spruce- 
wood box, shrouded in a wrapper of plain white silk and covered by a 
wooden cage, which again is completely hidden under a voluminous silken 
mantle. Within the box reposes the mirror, in a sack of brocade, or rather 
in a succession of sacks, for, as soon as one begins to perish from age, a new 
one is added without removing it. 



SHIN-TOISM {JAPAN). 175 



'' Of public ritual at these shrines there is virtually none, except on 
occasional feast-days ; and even then it is of the most unpretending kind. 
Two or three plain-robed priests, calling the deity's attention by 
strokes upon a gong, recite short prayers and formulas for a few 
minutes, worship, bow the head, and retire. Now and then the Icagura — a 
maiden dance of great antiquity, and said to be emblematic of the goddess 
Uzume's choragic feats before the cave of Amaterasu — is performed in a 
building outside of the temple ; but it is not a feature of the ritual proper. 
And the lay- worshippers ; what of them ? Again the same tale of pro- 
found simplicity. First, purified by washing their hands in the neighbour- 
ing river, the}^ advance to the silk screen at the fourth torii^ cast a few 
coppers into the receptacle for tribute, clap their hands twice together, and 
then, with bowed heads and bended knees, or in a kneeling posture, remain 
for a minute or so in silent or muttered prayer. Petitions for prosperity 
and long life, for correction of faults, and exemption from evil, sin, calamity, 
and pestilence — these, with humble expressions of worship, all in the fewest 
possible words, form the Shin-to believer's prayer." 

These temples are allowed to decay by natural processes, although 
every part of the grounds is kept scrupulously neat and clean. But the 
buildings are renewed every twenty years, not by pulling down Rebuilding' 
one set and building another in its place, but by using a precisely ®^ temples, 
similar site near by, and building the new temple on it, reproducing the 
old one most exactly in every detail. Thus two sites are alternately occu- 
pied. The trees in the surrounding groves are the finest in Japan. 

Such is the Shin-to system of Japan, which, evidently akin to the 
State and ancestral worship of China, falls short of it in the slightness of 
its associated moral teaching. Perhaps this is the reason why it appears to 
have on the whole but a moderate hold on the Japanese, and why they 
have shown so much readiness on the one hand to accept the more definite 
moral teaching and the more astounding marvels of Buddhism, and on the 
other to throw aside ancestral beliefs, and seek a new philosophy and 
religion from Europe. 

["Introduction to Murray's Handbook for Japan: Religious," by E. M. Satow. "The Revival 
of Pure Shin-to," and other papers in " Transactions of Asiatic Society of Japan."] 





VAKUXA (FKOil A NATIVE PICIUEE). 



BOOK III. 



beahmaxis:m. 



CHAPTEK I. 
€\n €arli) S^rliic JAfligt'oii. 

Analogies to Greek and Roman Religion— Date of the Rig- Veda, anterior to writing— Language of 
Rig- Veda — Religious basis— Tlie earliest lijnnns— Worship of powers of Nature personified— 
Dyaus and Prithivi (heaven and earth)— The origin of things— Mitra and Varuna— Indra, the god 
of the clear blue sky — The Maruts, or storm-gods— The sun-gods, Surya and Savitri— Pu^han — 
Soma, the Indian Bacchus or Dionysus— Ushas, the dawn goddess— Agni, the god of fire— 
Tvashtri— The Asvins— Brahmanaspati— Visbnu— Yama, and a future life— Virtues rewarded by 
heaven— Future punishment— Transition to monotheism and pantheism— Visvakarman— Absence 
of later Hindu doctrines— Organisation of early Hindus— Morals— The other Vedas— The Brah- 
manas— Human sacrifice- Animal sacrifice— Tradition of a flood— Immortality— Idea of the sun's 
course— Origin of caste — Self-assertion of Brahmans— Nature of the Brahmanas— Household 
sacrifices— Purification— Fasting— Establishment of sacrificial fires— The Upanishads— The syl- 
lable Om— The origin of the world in ether— The Atman, or self-existent— The Svetas-vatara— 
Transmigration of souls— Purpose of the Upanishads. 

Analogies to 'Y'^THATEVER may have been the history of the Aryans, by 
^Rom^^ \ \ whom the Vedas ^ were produced, previous to their enter- 
reiigion. ing India, it is certain that when they did so, long before Budd- 

^ See Muir, " Original Sanskrit Texts "' (\[.) ; Max Miiller, " History of Ancient Sanski-it Litera- 
ture," "Lectures on the Origin and Growth of Eeligion,'' " Sacred Books of the East '' (M. M.) ; 
Sir Monier Williams, "Indian AYisdom," "Hinduism" (M. W.) ; Sir W. W. Hunter, "Lidia"; 
H. H. "Wilson's works. 

176 



THE EARLY VEDIC RELIGION. 177 

liism took its rise, in the sixth century B.C., they had developed religious 
ideas and conceptions which present singular analogies and similarities to 
those which appear to be most primitive among the Greeks ; and which 
suggest, if they do not prove, that the European and Hindu Aryans sprang 
from a common stock. When we find their divinities termed " devas," or 
" the shining ones," and recognise the same word in the Latin Deus, 
divinity ; when we compare the Dyaush-pitar (Heaven-Father) of San- 
skrit, with Jupiter or Dies-piter of Rome, and the Zeus of Greece ; Varuna, 
the encompassing sky in Sanskrit, with Ouranos Uranus in Greek ; and 
many other like words, we cannot help realising that, strange as it might 
seem at first, Brahmanism and Greek and Latin religion sprang from 
a similar source. And it is not very important which is the older. "We 
know that the Hindu sacred books, the Vedas, — at any rate some of them, 
— are among the oldest of extant human compositions, and exhibit to us 
some of the earliest human ideas that were handed down by writing. 

The best opinions place the date of the Rig-Veda somewhere between 
800 and 1200 b.c. The collection consists of ten books, containing altogether 
1,017 hymns ; eight out of ten books begin with hymns addressed Date of the 
to Agni, and others addressed to Indra follow. It appears pro- i^i^-veda. 
table that at least two distinct generations or series of authors composed 
them, the later being more imitative and reflective ; and it is probable that 
some of the hymns date from a period earlier even than 1200 e.g. In the 
whole series there is no reference to anything connected with writing, and 
this suggests that they are relatively anterior to the Book of Exodus, where 
" books " and writing are distinctly mentioned. Even long after the period 
of the Rig- Veda, writing is never mentioned. Thus we must ascribe the 
preservation of these wonderful collections entirely to memory. Anterior to 
which is, no doubt, equal to the task. Many years, we know, writing, 
are still regularly spent by Brahmans in the slow, methodical learning and 
repetition of their sacred literature ; and there is every sign of this habit 
having been handed down from a period when no other means of preservirg 
the Vedas existed. In ancient compositions, later than the Rig- Veda, we 
are told in detail every event in the life of a Brahman, but there is no 
mention of his learning to write. It is not till we come to the Laws of 
Manu that writing is spoken of. 

The very language of the Rig- Veda is a further confirmation of its 
antiquity. The words are so difficult of explanation as to have given rise to 
extensive commentaries ever since. When the words are known. Language of 
great differences of opinion arise as to how they are to be con- Ri&-veda. 
nected together, or what idea they represent. Often the most puerile or 
irrelevant things (to us) are interspersed among the loftiest sentiments, and 
great verbosity alternates with the most terse and pregnant aphorisms. 
This precludes the idea of single authorship of any considerable portions. 
In fact, early Hindu literature was not concerned about authorship in the 
modern sense. The word Veda, meaning " knowledge," clearly refers to 
Divine knowledge, imagined as proceeding like breath from the self-existent 

N 



178 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

Spirit, and inspiring a class of sages called E-ishis ; and thus it is held to this 
day to be absolutely infallible. 

The general form of the Yedas is that of -the simplest lyrical, poetry, 
with a not very regular metrical flow ; and the matter is almost exclusively 

Religious religious. This fact is regarded as due largely to the character 
basis. Qf the people. " No great people, surely," said Prof. Whitney, 
' ' ever presented the spectacle of a development more predominantly reli- 
gious ; none ever grounded its whole fabric of social and political life more 
absolutely on a religious basis ; none ever meditated more deeply and ex- 
clusively on things supernatural ; none ever rose, on the one hand, higher 
into the airy regions of a purely speculative creed, or sank, on the other, 
deeper into degrading superstitions — the two extremes to which such a 
tendency naturally leads." 

Although the earliest Yedic hymns are so ancient, they must have 
been preceded by an indefinitely long period of growth and development 
The earuest of "the race, for the language is fixed, complex, full-grown ; the 
hymns, y^q^^. of gods was fully developed, indeed their number ^eems to 
have been fixed as thirty-three, who are described as all great and old, and 
are besought not to lead their votaries far from the paths of their fathers. 
It may be said generally that in the earliest hymns each god that is mani- 
fested is for the time being contemplated as supreme and absolute, and 
not limited by the powers of the rest. Max Mliller says, " Each god is to 
the mind of the suppliant as good as all the gods. He is felt at the time 
as a real divinity, as supreme and absolute, in spite of the necessary limita- 
tions which, to our mind, a plurality of gods must entail on every single 
god." In fact the early Hindu of the Yedas was a worshipper of the powers 

Worship of of Nature personified, and capable of being influenced by his 

^Nature°^ praises, prayers, and actions. Their qualities are not precisely 
personified, limited or distinguished from one another. While the gods are 
termed immortal, they are mostly not regarded as uncreated or self-existent, 
but are often described as the offspring of heaven and earth. There is no 
uniformity, however, on this point. But there are numerous passages recon- 
cilable with the view that some of these gods represent deified ances- 
tors, as where they are said to have acquired immortality by their acts, or 
their virtues, or by gift of Agni ; and it is even implied that the gods named 
were the successors of others previously existing. Thus we find Indra thus 
invoked, " Who made thy mother a widow ? What god was present in the 
fray, when thou didst slay thy father, seizing him by the foot? " and there 
is no doubt that at times the gods are represented as being at war with 
one another. As to the powers and prerogatives of the gods, they are above 
all mortals, who can by no means frustrate their decrees, they will reward 
dutiful worshippers, and punish the negligent. 

Heaven and Earth, the progenitors of the gods, are represented by 

Dyaus and Dyaus and Prithivi. Hymns addressed to them include the fol- 
(Heaven lowing, " At the festivals (I worship) with offerings, and celebrate 

and earth), the praises of Heaven and Earth, the promoters of righteousness. 



THE EARLY VEDIC RELIGION. 179 

tlie great, the wise, the energetic, who, having gods for their offspring, thus 
lavish, with the gods, the choicest blessings, in consequence of our hymn. 
With my invocations I adore the thought of the beneficent Father, and tliat 
mighty inherent power of the Mother. The proKfic Parents have made all 
creatures, and through their favours (have conferred) wide immortality on 
their offspring." ... So closely did the old Hindus approach the Greeks 
and Romans in their conceptions of Mother Earth and Father Heaven. In 
various passages, however, they are themselves spoken of as created, 
especially by Indra, who formed them out of his own body, and to 
whom they do homage. How then was the origin of things The origin 
imagined ? The following extract is from Sir Monier Williams's ^^ tii"iss. 
metrical rendering of one of the most remarkable Vedic hymns. 

" In the beginning there was neither nought nor aught, 
Then there was neither sky nor atmosphere above. 
What then enshrouded all this.teeming universe ? 
In the receptacle of what was it contained ? 
"Was it enveloped in the gulf profound of water ? 
Then there was neither death nor immortality, 
Then there was neither day nor night, nor light nor darkness, 
Only the Existent One breathed calmly, self-contained. 
Then first came darkness hid in darkness, gloom in gloom. 
Next all was water, all a chaos indiscrete 
In which the One lay void, shrouded in nothingness." 

But Dr. Muir's literal translation gives a better notion of the original ; 
'' There was then neither nonentity nor entity ; there was no atmosphere nor 
sky above. "What enveloped (all) ? Where, in the receptacle of what (was 
it contained) ? Was it water, the profound abyss ? Death was not then, nor 
immortahty ; there was no distinction of day or night. That One breathed 
calmly, self-supported ; there was nothing different from, or above it. In 
the beginning darkness existed, enveloped in Darkness. All this was un- 
distinguishable water. That One which lay void, and wrapped in nothing- 
ness, was developed by the power of fervour. . . . Who knows, who 
here can declare, whence has sprung, whence, this creation ? The gods are 
subsequent to the development of this (universe) ; who then knows whence 
it arose ? From what this creation arose, and whether (any one) made it or 
not, — he who in the highest heaven is its ruler, he verily knows, or (even) he 
does not know." From this we see that man in the ancient Vedic times had 
progressed almost, if not quite, as far in speculation as to the origin of things 
as the latest and most^'advanced of men, and with as little definite result. 

Leaving aside Aditi, apparently a personification of universal Nature 
or Being, the mother of the gods (Adityas), and capable of setting people 
free from sin, but confessedly a difficult personification to explain, Mitra and 
we pass to consider the characters of Mitra and Varuna, sons varuna. 
of Aditi, frequently associated, and often interpretable as day and night. 
Varuna is sometimes represented as visible ; and the two deities are said to 
mount on a car drawn by horses, and soar to the highest empyrean, and 
behold all things in heaven and earth. Sometimes the sun is called tbe 



iSo 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



eye of Mitra and Yaruna ; and bofch jointly and separately they are termed 
king of all and universal monarcli. Yaruna has attributes like those of the 
Greek Ouranos, Latinised as Uranus. He made the sun to shine ; the wind 
is his breath ; river courses are hollowed out by his command, and the 
rivers pour their water into the one ocean but never fill it. He knows the 
flight of birds in the sky, the path of ships on the ocean, the course of the 
far-travelling wind, and beholds all the sacred things that have been or 
shall be done. He beholds as if he were close at hand. Whatever two 
persons sitting together, devise, Yaruna the king knows it, as a third. He 
has unlimited control of men, and is said to have a thousand remedies ; 
hence he is besought to show his deep and wide benevolence, and drive 
away evil and sin. Muir's verse translation, almost literal, is so attractive 

that it demands quotation. 

" The mighty Lord on high, our deeds as if at 
hand, espies ; 
The gods know all men do, though men would 

fain their deeds disguise. 
Whoever stands, whoever moves, or steals 

from place to place. 
Or hides him in his secret cell — the gods his 

movements trace. 
Wherever two together plot, and deem they 

are alone, 
King Varuna is there, a third, and all their 

schemes are known. 
This earth is his, to him belong those vast 

and boundless skies ; 
Both seas within him rest, and yet in that 

small pool he lies. 
Whoever far beyond the sky should think his 

way to wing, 
He could not there elude the grasp of Varuna 

the King. 
His spies descending from the skies glide all 

the world around, 
Their thousand eyes all-scanning sweep to 
earth's remotest bound. 
Whate'er exists in heaven and earth, whate'er beyond the skies, 
Before the eyes of Varuna, the King, unfolded lies. 
The ceaseless winkings all he counts of every mortal's ej^es ; 
He wields this universal frame, as gamester throws his dice. 
Those knotted nooses which thou fling'st, God, the bad to snare 
All liars let them overtake, but all the truthful spare." 






INDKA (from a native PICTURE). 



In this and in many other passages Yaruna appears as a moral Being 
of high elevation. His forgiveness is implored by the Rishi or sacred bard; 
and it is urged that wine, anger, dice, or thoughtlessness have led him 
astray. Yery much the same attributes are ascribed to Mitra and Yaruna 
together as to the latter alone. It will be seen later how closely the 
Zoroastrian Mithra resembles the Indian Mitra ; and there cannot be much 



THE EARLY VEDIC RELIGION. 



doubt that this conception of the Deity existed previous to the separation 
of the Indian from, the Iranian (Persian) branch. Later, Varuna became 
specially associated with the rule over water, and was solicited to send flood 
and rain from the sky. 

Indra and Agni, at first less important than the foregoing, later grow 
in importance : they were born of parents, and have various striking 
qualities, and there are many features of personal description 
given. Indra, god of the clear sky, is handsome, ruddy or golden- god of the 
haired, with long arms, but has endless forms which he can ^^®gj^^^® 
assume at will. He rides on a shining golden car drawn by two 
golden horses, which move more swiftly than thought ; he has a thunderbolt 
and other weapons, and is exhilarated by the libations of soma offered by his 
worshippers. In many 
passages the known ef- 
fects of this favourite 
intoxicant were sup- 
posed to be felt by the 
gods. One of Indra's 
especial functions is to 
encounter and vanquish 
the hostile demons of 
drought. As Muir says, 
the growth of these 
ideas is perfectly 
natural and intelligible 
to those who have wit- 
nessed the phenomena 
of the seasons in India. 
" Indra is thus at once 
a terrible warrior and 
a gracious friend, a god 
whose shafts deal de- 
struction to his enemies 
while they bring de- 
liverance and prosperity to his worshippers. The phenomena of thunder 
and lightning almost inevitably suggest the idea of a conflict between 
opposing forces ; even we ourselves often speak of the war or strife of the 
elements. The worshipper would at one time transform the fantastic 
shapes of the clouds into the chariots and horses of his god, and at another 
time would seem to perceive in their piled-up masses the cities and castles 
which he was advancing to overthrow." Frequentty Indra is saluted as 
the god most powerful over the external world, '' the most adorable of the 
adorable, the caster down of the unshaken, the most distinguished of living 
things." His worshippers are enjoined to have faith in him, and his power 
is asserted against denials of scepticism. He has a love for mortals, and 
is the helper of all men, a wall of defence and a deliverer, hearing and 




AGNI (fEOM moor's "HINDU PANTHEON 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



answering prayers. He is supposed to be capable of bestowing all kinds 

of temporal benefits, and in fact - arbitrarily to control the destinies of 

men. Yet tbe simplicity of the worshipper is sometimes shown by prayers 

that the god will prove his prowess, and statements that " little has been 

heard of as done upon earth by one such as thou art." Indra is especially 

the champion and guardian of the Aryan Hindus against the darker races 

whom they subjected. It appears almost as if the conception of Indra 

expanded with the advance of the Aryans over India, while that of Yaruna 

declined, who is more directly related to the early common Aryan belief 

before India was reached, and which appears also in the Zoroastrian 

Ormuzd and the Grreek Ouranos. Another view regards Dyaus as the 

god whom Indra threw into the shade ; answering to the difference between 

the time when in the more elevated and mountainous regions of Central 

Asia, the brilliant radiance of heaven was the holiest and most desirable 

thing, and the later time, in India, when the rainy sky was most longed for, 

and its representation as Indra became most popular. 

Passing by Parjanya, the thundering rain god, and Yayu, the wind, 

as less important deities, we find the Maruts, Rudras, or storm gods, many 

_. „ 4. in number, often associated with Indra and with A2:ni. Some 
The Maruts, ' ^ . . 

or storm- extracts from one of the hymns addressed to them will give a 
^° ^' better idea of the conceptions attached to them than a description. 
" They shake with their strength all beings, even the strongest, on earth 
and in heaven. . . . They who confer power, the roarers, the devourers 
of foes, they made winds and lightnings by their powers. The shakers 
milk the heavenly udders (clouds), roaming around they fill the earth with 
milk (rain). . . . Mighty you are, powerful, of wonderful splendour, 
firmly rooted like mountains, (yet) lightly gliding along ; — you chew up 
forests like elephants. . . . Grive, Maruts, to the worshippers 
strength glorious, invincible in battle, brilliant, wealth-conferring, praise- 
worthy, known to all men. Let us foster our kith and kin during a 
' hundred winters." (M. M.) 

The gods personifying the Sun, under different phases, are Surya and 

Savitri, who are praised and described in the Yeda with appropriate epithets; 

The Sun- ^^^1 ^^^ drawn in cars by numerous horses, preserve all things, 

gods, Surya enable men to perform their work, and see all things, both the 

' good and the bad deeds of mortals. Surya is sometimes said to be 

dependent on Indra, who causes him to shine and prepares his path. Pushan 

is another solar deity, a guide on roads and journeys, a protector 

and multiplier of cattle and of human possessions generally. A 

hymn addressed to him runs thus : " Condu.ct us, Pushan, over our road ; 

remove distress, son of the deliverer ; go on before us. Smite away from 

our path the destructive, and injurious wolf which seeks after us. Drive 

away from our path the waylayer, the thief, the robber. ... god 

who bringest all blessings and art distinguished by thy golden spear, make 

wealth easy of acquisition.. Convey us past our opponents ; make our paths 

easy to traverse; gain strength for us here." Another hymn more em- 



TBK EARLY VEDIC RELIGION. 183 

pliaticall}^ praj's the god for personal favours : " Bring to us wealth suitable 
for men, and a manty suitable householder who shall bestow on us gifts. 
Impel to liberality, glowing Pushan, even the man who would fain 
bestow nothing ; soften the soul even of the niggard. Open up paths by 
which we may obtain food ; slay our enemies ; let our designs succeed, 
glorious god." With him is sometimes associated Soma, and the two are 
celebrated together as the generators of wealth and preservers of the Avorld. 

Soma, the god animating the exhilarating juice of the soma plant, 
probably a species of Asclepias^ seems to represent Dionysus or Bacchus 
among the early Indian gods. The whole of the hymns, 114 in 
number, of the ninth book of the Rig- Veda are dedicated to him. Indian 
Prof. Whitney says of him : " The simple-minded Aryan people ^j^o'^aj^g^^^^^ 
had no sooner perceived that under the influence of this liquid 
the individual was prompted to and capable of deeds beyond his natural 
powers, than they found in it something divine ; the plant which afforded 
it became to them the king of plants ; the process of preparing it was a holy 
sacrifice ; the instruments used therefore were sacred." The worship of 
Soma was very ancient, as it is mentioned in the Zend-avesta. To Soma are 
attributed almost all divine power and honours, especially in reference to his 
influence on the other gods and on his human votaries ; but his worship 
declined and almost wholly passed away with the early Yedic worship. 

Ushas, the goddess of dawn, has many of the most beautiful hymns 
addressed to her. She is describsd as restoring consciousness, smiling like a 
flatterer, awakening all creatures to cheerfulness, rousing into ^shas the 
motion every living thing, born again and again, revealing the dawn 
ends of the sky. " Blessed Ushas," says the worshipper, " thou 
who, animated by strength, shinest forth with wonderful riches, may I 
obtain that renowned and solid wealth which consists in stout sons, 
numerous slaves, and horses." (M.) Ushas is most usually described as 
the daughter of the sky, and is said to have the sun for her lover. The 
name Ushas (Ushasa) is identical with the Greek 'Hw? (Eo^) and the Latin 
Aurora ( = Ausosa). 

Agni, the god of fire (the Roman Ignis, the Slavonian Ogni), is a most 
prominent deity, being only paralleled, in the number of hymns addressed 
to him, by Indra. His characteristics aptly portray the wonder ^^^j^ ^^le 
with which our forefathers viewed fire. Agni is an immortal ^°^ °^ fi^®- 
and messenger from and to the gods, who has taken up his abode with man. 
He is both sage and sacrificer, supreme director of religious ceremonies and 
duties. " Agni, thou from whom, as a newborn male, undying flames 
proceed, the brilliant smoke goes towards the sky, for as messenger thou art 
sent to the gods : thou whose power spreads over the earth in a moment, 
when thou hast grasped food with thy jaws, — like a dashing army thy blast 
goes forth ; with thy lambent flame thou seemest to tear up the grass. 
Him alone, the ever youthful Agni, men groom like a horse in the evening 
and at dawn ; they bed him as a stranger in his couch." (M. M.) The world 
and the heavens are made manifest at his appearance, after having been 



184 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



swallowed up in darkness. He is all-devouring, lias a burning head, is 
thousand-eyed and thousand-horned ; his flames roar like the waves of the 
ssa, he sounds like thunder, and roars like the wind. He is described as 
having the highest divine functions of all kinds, and his votaries prosper 
and live long. He protects and blesses the worshipper who sweats to bring 
him fuel, or wearies his head to serve him. Prayers were made to him for 
all kinds of blessings, and for forgiveness for any sin committed through 
folly. The same simple familiarity in speaking to the gods which w^e have 
noticed before is seen in such an address as this : "If, Agni, thou wert a 
mortal, and I were an immortal, I would not abandon thee to wrong or to 
penury. My worshipper should not be poor, nor distressed, nor miserable." 
That there was also an association of Agni with a future may be gathered 
from the following paraphrase. (M. W.) 

" Deliver, mighty lord, thy worshippers, 
Purge us from taint of sin, and when we die, 
Deal mercifully with us on the pyre, 
Burning our bodies with their load of guilt, 
But bearing our eternal part on high 
To luminous abodes and realms of bliss, 
For ever there to dwell with righteous men." 

Tvashtar is the artisan and skilful con- 
triver, and in many ways answers to He- 
phaistos and Vulcan. He sharpens 
the iron axe of Brahmanaspati 
and forges the thunderbolts of Indra. All 
kinds of created powers are attributed to 
him. The Asvins are the earliest bringers 

of li2:ht in the morning sky, be- 
The Asvins. o j 7 

' fore the dawn, and are often con- 
nected withSurya; they were enthusiastically 
worshipped and praised, being hailed as 
chasers away of darkness, and described as 
the guardians of the slow and hindmost, 
as physicians restoring the lame, blind, and 
sick, as placing the productive germ in all 
creatures, and as capable of renewing the youth of all. Consequently they 
were supplicated for varied blessings, and were begged to overwhelm and 
destroy the niggard who offered no oblations. It is thought by good author- 
ities that these gods represent deified mortals who were at the same time 
swift in their movements and appeared to possess remarkable healing powers. 
A somewhat later god than these is variously known as Brihaspati and 
Brahmanaspati, and personifies the worshipper, represented by the priest 
Brahmanas- and sacrificer interceding with the gods, thus showing a distinct 
P^*^ advance in moral ideas. The word Brahman is one of the most 
difficult in all Sanskrit, having been very diversely derived and explained ; 




Tvashtar. 



BBAHMA (fEOM A KATIVE PICTURE). 



but while in its highest use it came to denote the objective Self or Cause 



THE EARLY VEDIC RELIGION. 



■85 



of the universe, it may have originally represented the impulse and striving 
towards the gods, then every sacred word, formula, ceremony, or act, and 
finally the priest. Brahmanaspati is represented as the god of prayer, 
aiding Indra in conquering the cloud demon, and in some instances appear- 
ing to be identified with Agni. He is the offspring of the two worlds 
(Heaven and Earth), and is the inspirer of prayer, and by prayer ac- 
complishes his designs ; he mounts the chariot of the ceremonial and 
proceeds to conquer the enemies of prayer and of the gods. He is the 
guide and protector of the pious, whom he saves from calamities and blesses 
with wealth. 

Vishnu is a god comparatively little mentioned in the E,ig-Veda, but 
attaining great importance later. He is most characterised of 
old by the three steps by which he strode over the world ; by 
his threefold existence as fire on earth, as lightning in the atmosphere, and 
as the sun in the sky ; or as the sun in 
his three positions of rising, culmination, 
and setting. Triple power and functions 
are variously asserted of him, and he is 
said to assist other gods. Only sometimes 
is he adored independently, as thus : '^ Our 
hymns and praises have proceeded to 
Vishnu, the worker of man^^ Avonders : he 
is the wide-stepping, the exalted, whose 
primeval, creative wives are indefatig- 
able." Often he is closely associated with 
Indra. How different a position he after- 
wards assumes we shall see later on. 
Most of the goddesses mentioned in the 
Veda we must omit reference to, as they 
are of less importance. 

It is in the later portions, the ninth 
and tenth books, of the Rig-Veda, that ^^^'^ (^'^^"^^ ^ ^^"^^ pictuke). 

we find a marked reference to the ideas of immortality and a future life, 
although they are not entirely wanting previously, as in passages yama and a 
where mortals are said to have attained immortality, or to have future ufe. 
gone to the gods, who prolong their lives. Sometimes, too, the souls of 
ancestors, the fathers existing with the gods, are invoked. These ideas 
are in the later books especially connected with Yama, the divine ruler of 
the spirits of the dead, by some supposed to represent the first man, and 
having a twin sister, Yami (Max Milller dissents from this view). Sir 
Monier Williams thus represents Yama in verse : — 

" To Yama, mighty king, be gifts and homage paid. 
He was the first of men that died, the first to brave 
Death's rapid rushing stream, the first to point the road 
To heaven, and welcome others to that bright abode. 
No power can rob us of the }iome thus won by thee. 



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Aj 


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P( 


fr= B' 



i86 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

king, we come ; the born must die, must tread tlie path 
That thon hast trod — the path by which each race of men, 
In long succession, and our fathers, too, have passed. 
Soul of the dead ! depart ; fear not to take the road — • 
The ancient road — by which thy ancestors have gone ; 
Ascend to meet the god — to meet thy happy fathers, 
Who dwell in bliss with him. Tear not to pass the guards — 
The four-eyed brindled dogs — that watch for the departed. 
Eeturn unto thy home, soul ! Thy sin and shame 
. Leave thou behind on earth ; assume a shining form — 
Thy ancient shape — refined and from all taint set free." 

The two four-eyed dogs are of interest in comparison witli Cerberus, the 
dog of Tartarus. Yama is not represented in the Rig- Veda, though he is in 
the later mythology, as having anything to do with the future punishment 
of the wicked. His dogs are said to wander about among men as his 
messengers, and to guard the road to his abode ; the dead are advised to 
hurry past them with all speed. When the remains of the dead one have 
been placed upon the funeral pile, Agni, the god of fire, is besought not to 
scorch or consume him, but to convey him to the fathers as an offering. 
" Let his eye go to the sun, his breath to the wind. Go to the sky and to 
earth, according to nature ; or go to the waters, if that is suitable for thee. 
As for his unborn part, do thou (Agni) kindle it with thy heat ; with those 
forms of thine which are auspicious convey it to the world of the righteous." 
The spirit is then imagined to enter upon a more perfect life in which all 
desires ara fulfilled ; occupation will also be found in fulfilling the pleasure 
of the gods. It must not be supposed that in a time when even the gods 
are represented as marrying and indulging in soma, the heaven of the 
departed would be idealised. 

The following passage will give an idea of the virtues for which 
heaven was given : " Let him depart to those who through rigorous 
abstraction are invincible. Let him depart to the combatants 
rewarded toy in battles, to the heroes who have there sacrificed their lives, 
Heaven. ^^ ^^ those who have bestowed thousands of largesses. Let 
him depart, Yama, to those austere ancient fathers who have preached and 
promoted sacred rites." These fathers are in some hymns held up as objects 
of admiration to their descendants ; their descendants supplicate their good 
will, deprecate their wrath, and pray for their protection. They are asked 
to give them wealth, long life, and offspring. Thej^ are supposed to rejoice 
in libations and sacrificial food, and to come in thousands to the sacrifices. 

As to future punishment, Indra is in the tenth book of the Eig-Yeda 
prayed to consign to the lower darkness the man who injures his worshipper ; 
Future l^Tit it is not always certain that this lower darkness signifies a 
punishment, pi^ce of punishment. In the ninth book Soma is said to hurl the 
hated and irreligious into the abyss ; but references to future punishment 
are confessedly vague and indistinct in the E,ig-Yeda. 

One of the finest of the hymns of the Rig-Yeda is the 121st in the tenth 
book, thus translated by Max Mliller : — 



THE EARLY VEDIC RELIGION. 187 



'' In the beginning there arose the Sonrca of golden Hght — He was 
the only born Lord of all that is. He established the earth, and the sky ; — 
Who is the God to whom we shall offer our sacrifice ? (This last clause is 
repeated after each verse.) 

" He who gives life, He who gives strength ; whose blessing all the 
bright gods desire ; whose shadow is immortality ; whose shadow is death. 

" He who through His power is the only King of the breathing and 
awakening world ; He who governs all, man and beast. 

" He whose power these snowy mountains, whose power the sea pro- 
claims, with the distant river — He whose these regions are as it were His 
two arms. 

" He through whom the sky is bright and the earth firm. He through 
whom the heaven was established, nay the highest heaven. He who 
measured out the light in the air. 

'' He to whom heaven and earth, standing firm by His will, look up, 
trembling inwardly ; He over whom the rising sun shines forth. 

" Wherever the mighty water-clouds went, where they placed the seed 
and lit the fire, thence arose He who is the only life of the bright gods. 

" He who by His might looked even over the water-clouds, the clouds 
which gave strength and lit the sacrifice. He who is God above all gods. 

" May He not destroy us. He the creator of the earth ; or He the 
righteous who created the heaven ; He who also created the bright and 
mighty waters ! '' 

Thus we have contsmplated in the earliest Yedic hymns a series of 
conceptions of distinct deities associated with the powers of Nature, and 
correspondingly named. It is only later that the idea seems to Transition to 
arise that these were all representations of different aspects of '^^''^ J^^®'^"^ 
one power, and sometimes this appears to proceed from a desire to pantheism, 
magnify the particular god whose praises are being specially celebrated ; 
later, new names were used to signify these more enlarged conceptions, such 
as Visvakarman and Prajapati, not limited to any particular department, 
but believed to be the divine powers governing the earth. Another kind 
of expression shows an early form of pantheism, identifying the godhead 
with Nature : Thus " Aditi is the sky, Aditi is the air, Aditi is the mother 
and father and son. Aditi is all the gods and the five classes of men. 
Aditi is whatever has been born. Aditi is whatever shall be born." (M.) 

Yisvakarman (at first a name of Indra), the great architect of the 
universe, is in the tenth book of the Rig- Veda represented as the all-seeing 
god, who has on every side eyes, faces, arms, and feet, the father visva- 
generator, who knows ail worlds, and gives the gods their names, barman. 
Similar attributes are in other hymns ascribed to other divine beings, 
such as Brahman, Prajapati^ etc. ; these being probably by difierent authors. 
We see here the product of the most advanced thought among these early 
Aryans, including a singular variety of attempts to express the thoughts to 
which the great i^henomena of the universe gave rise in their minds. That 
these conceptions should be vague and often discordant and confused, and 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



should include much that is puerile, is to be expected, when we remember 
that the sum of human thought up to the present day is " man cannot by 
searching find out God." 

Sir Monier Williams thus expresses his mature conclusions on some 

important points : " The Vedic hymns contain no allusion to the doctrine of 

Absence of ''^^'"^^smigration of souls, which is a conspicuous characteristic of 

later Hindu the Hindu creed in the later system. Nor do they afford any 

sanction to the prohibition of widow marriages, the encouragement 

of child-marriages, the iron rules of caste, and the interdiction of foreign 

travel. Nor is there in them any evidence that the personifications of the 

forces of nature were represented by images or symbols carved out of wood 

or stone." Animals were killed for sacrifices as well as for food, and we 

find no trace of the objection to eat the flesh of cows, which became so strong 

at a later period. 

The people of the Vedas appear to have inhabited the Punjab, and to 
have only gradually extended their power into the tracts watered by the 
Organisation ^^^^^ ^^^ Ganges. Every father of a family at first was entitled 
of early to act as priest in his own family, every chief in his own tribe ; 
but as the hymns or prayers or offerings began to grow elaborate, 
there was a tendency to restrict worship, especially on important occasions, 
to special priests, who knew the approved hymns or the prayers which had 
been believed to be successful. In time it became a part of the chief's credit 
to retain about him favourite or noted priests, and their offices, like those of 
the chiefs, tended to become hereditary. Great gifts were lavished upon the 
priests by the kings, and many of the Vedic hymns commend this practice. 
Some of the hymns themselves were composed by kings ; and the Rishis 
gradually asserted themselves so far as to claim superior rank to the temporal 
rulers, and erect themselves into a distinct caste of Brahmans ; this position 
was not, however, acquired without a struggle. Special families were dis- 
tinguished by symbols, such as the number and arrangement of their locks 
of hair, or their being shaven in peculiar ways. 

As to morals under this regime.^ it appears that one wife was the rule, 
while a plurality was tolerated ; women might marry a second time, and 
appear to have had some freedom of choice. Immorality was by no 
means' unknown, and Indra is said to have declared that " the mind 
of a woman was ungovernable, and her temper fickle." Untruth was con- 
demned, and the gods were said to punish lying ; thieves and robbers are 
mentioned as infesting the highways or stealing secretly. Liberality and 
fidelity were held in high esteem. 

How forcible is the contrast between the beneficence and the bright- 
ness, the helpfulness and the kindliness of the gods, as imagined by the 
earlier Aryans, and the severity, the ruthlessness, the cruelty, afterwards 
associated with Hindu gods. Direct access to the gods, direct benefits in 
return for prayer and ofierings ; intensity of prayer and meditation, fervency 
of petition, inevitably securing blessing, these are cardinal features of the 
early Hindu religion. 



THE EARLY VEDIC RELIGION. 



The Sama-Veda, and the Yajnr-Yeda are smaller collections formed 
mainly out of the Rig-Veda, but considerably modified ; the former in verse, 
relating to the Soma offering, the latter in prose, relating to the The other 
other sacrifices. The Yajur-Veda belongs to a period when the Vedas. 
Aryans had progressed into Eastern India, and when the Brahmans had 
acquired supremacy. The fourth great Yedic collection, the Atharva-Yeda, 
belongs to a still later period, probably that of the Brahmanas, and contains 
the hymns and services then in use, modified or developed from the Yedic 
time. They exhibit a growth of belief in evil powers, and contain a series 
of formulas designed to protect against these, and against diseases and 
noxious animals and plants, together with cursings of enemies, and magic 
verses about all kinds of daily events, designed to counteract unfavourable 
events. This Yeda contains a great number of words used by the people. 

Not yet within the region of dates and relation to known persons, we 
come to the next great division of ancient Hindu literature, the Brahmanas, 
which exhibit to us a fully developed sacrificial system, and are The 
intended for the use of the priests or Brahmans. "We find here a brahmanas. 
series of prose compositions describing the connection of the sacred songs 
and words with ' the sacrificial rites. They may date from the seventh or 
eighth centuries B.C. AYe see in them, as in the case of so many priesthoods, 
the tendency to elaborate, to develop a ritual which could only be carried 
out by an hereditary caste, and which furnished a means of demanding large 
contributions from the votaries. The length of the Brahmanas themselves 
is wearisome, and is matched by their dogmatic assertion and their complex 
symbolism. Each of the collections of Yedic hymns has its proper Brahmanas, 
there being no fewer than eight Brahmanas to the Sama-Yeda. Besides 
ceremonial directions, these Brahmanas contain niimerous materials for 
tracing the growth of Hindu religious ideas. In one story of a Human 
king who had no son, after extolling the benefits that a son sacrifice, 
brings, the king offers, if a son be born to him, to sacrifice him to Yaruna. 
When the son was born and was told of his destiny, he refused, and left his 
father's home. Disappointed of his victim, Yaruna afflicted the father with 
dropsy. The son wandering for years in the forest, at last found a Brahman 
hermit in distress, whose second son voluntarily offered to be sold in order 
that he might be sacrificed instead of the king's son. Finally the substitute, 
by the virtue of Yedic prayers, was released from sacrifice. Another narra- 
tive describes how the gods killed a man for their victim, and the Animal 
part of him fit for sacrifice entered successively into a horse, an sacrifice, 
ox, a sheep, and a goat, which were all sacrificed in turn. The sacrificial 
element remained longest in the goat, which thus became specially fit for 
sacrifice. Here we may see how an introduced human sacrifice may have 
been replaced by animal sacrifice. 

In the Satapatha-Brahmana, perhaps the most interesting of all these 
books, there is found an early tradition of a flood. Manu, a holy Tradition of 
man, was warned by a fish that a flood would sweep away all crea- ^ ^<^°<^- 
tures, but he would rescue him. He was directed to build a ship and enter 



I go THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

it wlien the flood rose ; he did so, and fastened the fish to the ship, and was 
drawn by it beyond the northern mountains. When the flood subsided 
Manu was the only man left ; a daughter was mysteriously born to him by 
virtue of religious rites, and ultimately the world was peopled with the sons 
of Manu. In later times it was said that the fish was an incarnation of 
Brahma, who assumed that form in order to preserve Manu. 

The doctrine of immortality is more definitely presented in the same 

Brahmana than in the Yedic hymns. The gods had by toilsome religious 

rites become immortal. Death complained to the gods that men 

^^^'^ ^ "would follow their example. The gods enacted that no being 

should thenceforward become immortal in his own body, but should first 

present his body to Death. 

A remarkable passage shows that the ancient Brahmans had a very 
advanced conception about the sun : " The sun never sets nor rises. When 
Idea of the people think to themselves the sun is setting, he only changes 
sun's course, about after reaching the end of the day, and makes night below 
and day to what is on the other side. Then when people think he rises in 
the morning, he only shifts himself about after reaching the end of the 
night, and makes day below, and night to what is on the other side. In fact 
he never does set at all.'' 

There seems little doubt that the origin and establishment of the caste 
system was largely due to the successful assertion by the Brahmans of their 
Origin of superior rank, combined with the growth of a class of cultivators 
caste. distinct from the warriors who at first were the great majority of 
the people. By this time the conquering Aryans had spread themselves 
over the basin of the Jumna and Ganges, and the Brahmans found it 
necessary and advantageous to show that they had a more noble, powerful, 
and important religion than the aborigines whom they conquered. Con- 
Seif-assertionSequently we meet with such assertions as the following : " Verily 
of Braiimans.-j^j^Q gods do not eat the food offered by the king who is without a 
purohita (family priest)." In the Atharva-Yeda, " May perfect, unceasing 
and victorious power accrue to those whose purohita I am. I perfect their 
kingdom, their might, their vigour, their strength. With this oblation I 
cut off the arms of their enemies." This development was accompanied 
with the development of ceremonial to such an extent that several classes 
of priests were required. 

It is exceedingly difficult, without entering into great detail, to give an 
idea of the contents of the Brahmanas. Assuming the older ceremonials to 
Nature of the be known, they comment upon every detail supposed to require 
Brahmanas. explanation, discuss the meaning of particular verses or even of 
the metres used, and furnish explanations of the origin of the sacrifices, 
frequently consisting of legends and myths, often told very diffusely. A 
few extracts, somewhat abbreviated, from Mr. Eggeling's translation of 
parts of the Satapatha-Brahmana may give some notion of their contents. 

Every Brahmanical householder, from the period of setting up a house- 
hold fire of his own, was enjoined to perform two monthly sacrifices, one at 



THE EARLY VEDIC RELIGION. 191 

new the other at full moon, each, lasting two days. The first was a fast day, 
in which the fire-places were swept and trimmed, and the fires Household 
lighted, and the Brahman and his wife took the vow to abstain sacrifices, 
from meat and some other foods, to cut off the beard and hair, except the 
crest-lock ; to sleep on the ground in one of the chief fire-houses ; and 
to observe silence. '' He who is about to enter on the vow touches 
water, while standing between the (sacrificial) fires, with his face turned 
towards the east. The reason why he touches water is, that man 
is (sacrificially) impure on account of his speaking untruth, — and 
because by that act an internal purification is effected, for water is indeed 
(sacrificially) pure. . . . Looking towards the fire, he enters on the vow, 
with the text, ' Agni, Lord of Vows ! I will keep the vow ! May I be 
equal to it, may I succeed in it ! ' For Agni is Lord of Vows to the gods, 
and it is to him therefore that he addresses these words." As to the fasting, 
it is contended that the essence of the vow consists in fasting; for the gods 
see through the mind of man, and when he takes the vow they 
know that he means to sacrifice to them next morning, and 
betake themselves to his house. It would then be unbecoming in him to 
take food before they have eaten, and he may only eat what is not offered 
in sacrifice, which must be only what grows in the forest. 

Every night and morning a burnt-offering of fresh milk had to be made 
io Agni, and on the morning of the sacrificial day, the householder chose 
his Brahman or superintending priest, an official who now becomes pro- 
minent — this class having indeed been no doubt the originator of the 
modern Brahmans. Then follows a most complex series of directions and 
explanations as to the various offerings. 

Equally elaborate are the directions given for the ceremony of establish- 
ing sacrificial fires by a young householder. Four officiators were required 
besides the sacrificer ; they erected two sheds or fire-houses by EstabUsh- 
strict rules, and the fire was to be produced afresh by friction, sacrificial 
or from certain definite sources, and placed upon the carefully fires, 
purified fire-place. Towards sunset the sacrificer invoked the gods and 
ancestors thus : '^ Gods, fathers, fathers, gods ! I sacrifice, being whom I 
am ; neither will I exclude him whose I am ; mine own shall be the offering, 
mine own the toiling, mine own the sacrifice ! " He and his wife then 
entered the respective houses, and received with various ceremonies two pieces 
of wood specially prepared for reproducing the sacred fire the next morning. 
The offerings which followed were chiefly of rice and clarified butter. Later 
the sacrificer, having honoured the priests by washing their feet and giving 
them perfumes, etc., and given to each his share, invited them to eat. The 
Soma ceremony, according to the Brahmanas, is still more developed ; but 
it is quite impossible to compress an account of it into a short Sjface. 

The Vedas and the Brahmanas in time proved insufficient for securing 
the hold of the priestly class on the people. The next great The 
group of compositions were the Upanishads or mystical doctrine, upamshads. 
Some of these are contained in a class of writings supplementary to the 



192 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



Brahmanas, known as the Aranyakas, or forest-books, intended for those 
Brahmans who, after having performed all the duties of a student and a 
householder, retired to the forest to spend their remaining days in con- 
templation. The word Upanishad is said by native authorities to mean "to 
set ignorance at rest by revealing the knowledge of the supreme spirit " ; 
its real etymological meaning is a session, especially of pupils round a 
teacher. These books consequently became the most important Yedic 
treatises for learned Hindus. Max Mliller considers that although the 
Upanishads are later than the Brahmanas, their germs already existed in 




BRAHMA, VISHNO, AND SIVA, FROM THl L 



the Eig-Veda ; and the earliest of them, he says, will always maintain a 
place in the literature of the world among the most astounding pro- 
ductions of the human mind in any age and in any country. • 

The Khandogya Upanishad, which continues the succession of the 
Sama-Yeda, is one of the most important Hindu philosophical books. It 
The syllable begins by the astonishing advice (to the Western mind), " Let a 
°"^- man meditate," or as some translate it, " Let a man ' worship ' 
the syllable Om." The real meaning is, first, that by prolonged repetition 
of the syllable, the thoughts should be drawn away from all other subjects 
and concentrated on the subjects of which that syllable was the symbol. 



THE EARLY VEDIC RELIGION. 



193 



It was the beginning of tlie Veda, and the essence of it, the symbol of all 
speech and all life. Om therefore represented man's physical and mental 
powers, and especially the spirit or living principle, and this is identified 
later with the spirit in the sun or in nature ; and the beginning of this 
Upanishad teaches that no sacrifices, however perfectly performed, can 
secure salvation, while meditation on Om alone, or what is meant by it, 
will secure salvation or immortality. Finally the discussion reaches the 
highest philosophical subjects. The declaration that the origin of the 
world is ether, " for all beings take their ^j^^ origin of 
rise from the ether, and return into the the world in 
ether ; ether is older than these, ether is 
their rest," has a striking significance when com- 
pared with the sentiments and speculations of 
philosophers at the British Association in 1888. 
But there is a further elevation of the ether, which 
includes more than the physical, for after defining 
Brahman as the immortal with three feet in heaven, 
the Upanishad says : " The Brahman is the same 
as the ether which is around us ; and the ether 
which is around us is the same as the ether which 
is within us. And the ether which is within, that 
is the ether within the heart. That ether in the 
heart is omnipresent and unchanging. He who 
knows this obtains omnipresent and unchangeable 
happiness." (M. M.) 

The highest doctrine of the Upanishad, accord- 
ing to Max Miiller, is that the human Brahman 
recognised his own Self or "Atman" as The Atman 
a mere limited reflection of the Highest orseif- 
Self, and aimed at knowing his own Self 
in the Highest Self, which may be identified with 
the Divine Being, the Absolute, of Western philo- 
sophers. Through that knowledge he was to re- 
turn to the Highest One and to regain his identity 
with it. '' Here to know was to be, to know the 
Atman was to be the Atman, and the reward of that 
highest knowledge after death was freedom from 
new births, or immortality." This Atman was also 
the source of all visible existence, identical with the Brahman and the Sal, 
the true and real, which exists in the beginning and for ever, and gives rise 
to every kind of existence. Although there is much associated with this 
philosophy that seems trivial or fanciful, it contains the essence of pan- 
theism ; modern philosophers find it hard to advance really further than the 
ancient Hindus. There are many references to the sacrifices and to par- 
ticular gods, and it is said that he who knows or meditates on the sacrifices 
as enjoined, has his reward in different worlds with the gods for certain 

o 




FIGUKE OF HINDU PRAYING. 
(From lem.'gle at Madura.) 



194 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

periods of time, till at last he reaches the true Brahman. In this state he 
neither rises nor sets, he is alone, standing in the centre ; to him who thus 
knows this doctrine " the sun does not rise and does not set. For him there 
is day, once and for all." 

The meditation on the five senses is one of the most striking ; but the 
one which follows must be quoted as expressing one of the essential exposi- 
tions of Brahman philosophy. 

'' All this is Brahman. Let a man meditate on that (visible world) as 
beginning, ending, and breathing in it (the Brahman). 

" Now man is a creature of will. According to what his will is in this 
world, so will he be when he has departed this life. Let him therefore 
have this will and belief. 

" The intelligent, whose body is spirit, whose form is light, whose thoughts 
are true, whose nature is like ether (omnipresent and invisible), from whom 
all works, all desires, all sweet odours and tastes proceed ; he who embraces 
all this, who never speaks, and is never surprised, — 

" He is my self within the heart, smaller than a corn of rice, smaller than 
a corn of barley, smaller than a mustard seed, smaller than a canary seed, 
or the kernel of a canary seed. He also is my self within -the heart, greater 
than heaven, greater than all these worlds. 

" He from whom all works, all desires, all sweet odours and tastes pro- 
ceed, who embraces all this, who never speaks and who is never surprised, 
he, my self within the heart, is that Brahman. When I shall have departed 
from hence, I shall obtain him (that S.elf)." (M. M.) 

In the Talavakara Upanishad occurs the following notable passage : 
'' That which is not expressed by speech and by which speech is expressed, 
that alone know as Brahman, not that which people here adore: That 
which does not think by mind, and by which, they say, mind is thought : 
That which does not see by the eye, and by which one sees the eyes : That 
which does not hear by the ear, and by which the ear is heard : That which 
does not breathe by breath, and by which breath is drawn, that alone 
know as Brahman, not that which people here adore." (M. M.) This 
Upanishad is asserted to rest on penance, restraint, and sacrifice ; " the Yedas 
are its limbs, the True is its abode. He who knows this Upanishad, and 
has shaken off all evil, stands in the endless unconquerable world of 
heaven." 

The Svetasvatara contains a more 'fully developed doctrine, although 
it at times identifies the Brahman or highest self with several of the lower 
The Svetas- divinities. It teaches the unity of souls in the one and only 
vatara. g^jf . ^^ unreality of the world as a series of figments of the 
mind, as phenomenal only. There is no evolution of the Brahman ; he is 
absolute and does not directly create. He deputes that office to Is vara or 
Deva, the Lord, Brahman under the semblance of a personal creating and 
governing god. 

It is interesting to compare the pantheism of this Upanishad with 
previous expressions. Thus " I know that great Person of sunlike lustre 



THE EARLY VEDIC RELIGION, 195 

beyond the darkness. A man who knows him truly, passes over death ; 
there is no other path to go. This whole universe is filled by this Person, 
to whom there is nothing superior, from whom there is nothing different, 
than whom there is nothing smaller or larger, who stands alone, fixed like 
a tree in the sky. That which is beyond this world is without form and 
without suffering. They who know it, become immortal, but others suffer 
pain indeed. ... Its hands and feet are everywhere, its eyes and head 
are everywhere, its ears are everywhere, it stands encompassing all in the 
world. Separate from all the senses, yet reflecting the qualities of all the 
senses, and it is the lord and ruler of all, it is the great refuge of all." (M.M.) 

Certain of the narratives incidentally introduced into the Upanishads 
show a still further development of what is dimly visible in the Rig- Veda, 
and still more clearly expressed in the Brahmanas, namely, a struggle 
between the good or bright gods (devas) and the evil spirits. In one of 
these Indra, as chief of the devas, and Virokana, chief of the evil spirits, 
are represented as seeking instruction of Prajapati, as a supreme god. 
Prajapati said, " The self which is free from sin, free from old age, from 
death and grief, from hunger and thirst, which desires nothing but what 
it ought to desire, and imagines nothing but what it ought to imagine, that 
it is which we must search out, that it is which we must try to understand." 
(M. M.) The two seekers desire to realise that self, and are led on by 
successive stages of illusion, Virokana being easily satisfied with the idea 
that the body is the self ; but Indra persists in inquiries, and finally learns 
that the real self is the knower or seer as distinct from the mind or the eye 
as instruments. 

Another Upanishad introduces in full expression the doctrine of trans- 
migration. The immortality of the Self is taught, and that after death 
some are born again as living beings, some enter into stocks and Transmigra- 
stones. " He, the highest Person, who wakes in us while we are*^°^ °^ ^°^^' 
asleep, shaping one lovely sight after another, he indeed is called the Bright^ 
he is called Brahman. . . . There is one eternal thinker, thinking non- 
eternal thoughts ; he, though one, fulfils the desires of many. The wise 
who perceive him within their Self, to them belongs eternal peace. . . . 
He, the Brahman, cannot be reached by speech, by mind, or by the eye. 
He cannot be apprehended, except by him who says : He is. When all 
desires that dwell in the heart cease, then the mortal becomes Immortal^ 
and obtains Brahman." 

Max Milller sums up the purpose of the Upanishads as being " to show 

the utter uselessness, nay the mischievousness of all ritual performances ; 

to condemn every sacrificial act which has for its motive a desire purpose of 

or hope of reward ; to deny, if not the existence, at least the the 

.,,,,, ,, Upanishads. 

exceptional and exalted character of the devas, and to teach that 

there is no hope of salvation and deliverance, except by the individual self 

recognising the true and universal Self, and finding rest there, where alone 

rest can be found." 




WOBSHIPPING THE GANGES. 

CHAPTER II. 
Cbe §3rai)manis;m of tbe Coireg. 

The Sutras— Rationalist philosophers— The six Shastras— Common tenets— How to attain emancipa- 
tion — The hanefulness of activity— The Sankhya philosophy— The Yoga philosophy— Early rituals 
— Gautama's institutes— Rites of purification— The four orders of Brahmans— The ascetic — The 
hermit— The householder's duties— Kings— When the Veda is not to be recited— Various restric- 
tions—The duty of women— Outcasts— Penances and penalties— The laws of Manu— -Date— Alleged 
origin— Self-repression inculcated— Study of the Veda a privilege— The gods in Manu— New 
births and hells— Duties of the four castes— Lofty claims of the Brahmans— The four periods of 
life— The student— Some liberal sentiments— The householder— The chief daily rites— Sacrifices 
for the dead— Position of women— Gifts— Spiritual merit— The hermit in the forest— The mendi- 
cant ascetic— The duties of a king— The Brahman's superiority— Crimes— Punishments and pen- 
ances—Falsehood excused— Caste— Growth of mixed castes— Transmigration of souls— Efficacy 
of the code— Code of Yajnavalkya. 

THE very mass of the Yedic sacred literature became its bane. No one 
could learn it all and understand it all. There arose a need for con- 
densed statements of the revealed truth and the laws of ceremonial, and 

™^ « X "^^ have these in the form of Sutras, or collections of aphorisms 
The Sutras. . . . ' . ■*- 

tersely giving the most needful information ; and these were com- 
posed by different authors for different Brahmanical families, and are exceed- 
ingly numerous. They are based upon the Yedas and the subsequent 
Brahmanas, and exhibit many of the peculiarities of the Vedic language. 
They give us for the first time a full account of the castes, composed at a 
time contemporaneous with the rise and spread of Buddhism. 

During the same period, probably about 500 B.C., there arose, contem- 



THE BRAHMANISM OF THE CODES. 197 

porary with Buddha, a number of rationalist philosophers, who, while accept- 
ing the authority of the Vedas and the supremacy of the Brah- Rationalist 
mans, speculated freely on questions of philosophy and the moral P^^^'sop*^®^^- 
government of the universe. Finally these were arranged in six main 
systems of teaching, sometimes called the six Shastras. Which The six 
of these is the earlier cannot yet be considered settled. But a snastras. 
great deal is common to most of the systems, and is still held by the majority 
of educated Hindus. Such articles of common belief are : the common 
eternity of the soul, both the supreme soul or Brahman and the tenets, 
individual soul or Atman ; the eternity of matter, or that substance out of 
which the universe is evolved ; that the soul can only exercise thought and 
will when invested with some bodily form and joined to mind, and has in 
successive ages become manifest as Brahma, Vishnu, Siva, etc., and in the 
form of men ; that the union of the soul with the body is a bondage, and in 
the case of men produces misery ; that consequences inevitably follow acts, 
whether good or bad, and these are partly suffered in heaven or hell, and 
partly have to be worked out through continual transmigrations of the soul 
in varied animal, material, or higher forms ; that this transmigration is the 
explanation of all evil, but the soul bears the consequences of its own acts 
only, though these may have taken place in an inconceivable number of 
past existences, not recollected ; and finally, that the great aim of philosophy 
is to produce indifference in thought, feeling and action, and to enable the 
individual to return to the condition of simple soul. 

The terseness of these Sutra philosophies may be illustrated, from the 
Nyaya of G-autama (a philosopher distinct from the great Buddha). Deliver- 
ance from the misery of repeated births is to be thus attained : 
" Misery, birth, activity, fault, false notions ; on the removal of attain eman- 
these in turn (beginning with the last), there is the removal also ^^^^ ^^^ 
of that which precedes it ; then ensues final emancipation " (M.W.). A Hindu 
comment on this is as follows : " From false notions proceed partiality and 
prejudice ; thence come the faults of detraction, envy, delusion, intoxication, 
pride, avarice. Acting with a body, a person commits injury, theft, and 
unlawful sensualities — becomes false, harsh, and slanderous. This vicious 
activity produces demerit. But to do acts of charity, benevolence, and ser- 
vice with the body ; to be truthful, useful, agreeable in speech, or given to 
repetition of the Veda ; to be kind, disinterested, and reverential — these pro- 
duce merit. Hence merit and demerit are fostered by activity, sanefuiness 
This activity is the cause of vile as well as honourable births, of activity. 
Attendant on birth is pain. That comprises the feeling of distress, trouble, 
disease and sorrow. Emancipation is the cessation of all these. What in- 
telligent person will not desire emancipation from all pain ? " 

This system, with its supplement, the Vaiseshika, teaches the eternity 
of material atoms, and also of the supreme Soul and of individual souls. The 
Sankhya philosophy is still more positive on these points, and The sankhya 
says : " There cannot be the production of something out of no- pi^iiosopiiy- 
thing ; that which is not cannot be developed into that which is." It recog- 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS, 



nises that there is a being or essence which evolves or produces everything 
else, together with Souls which neither produce nor are produced, but become 
united with the world-evolver in varied degrees. The development of these 
ideas in later Hindu theology and philosophy will be referred to hereafter. 

The Yoga philosophy is the foundation of much of the asceticism of the 
Hindu. It directly acknowledges the supreme Being, and aims at teaching 
The Yoga ^'^ human soul to attain perfect union with the supreme Soul, 
phuosophy. ji^ it ^e have the fuller development of the benefits of contem- 
plating the syllable Om^ the symbol of the deity. Mental concentration is 
facilitated by bodily restraint and postures, religious observances, suppres- 
sion of the breath, restraint of the senses, etc., and by these in their varied 
forms, the devotee is supposed to attain union with the supreme Being, even 
in the present life. 

The remaining chief systems of philosophy, the Jaimini and the 
Vedanta, are mainly concerned with ritual. The former may be said to 
have made a god of ritual, and appealed to the Veda as infallible. The 
Vedanta professes to be based upon the Upanishads and their pantheism. 

Much of the ceremonial of the Hindus was also very early condensed in 
Sutra form, and every school had its own form. Several of these, preceding 
the celebrated laws of Manu, have come down to us. They are a 
^ ^ * kind of manual composed by the Vedic teachers for use in their 
respective schools, and only later put forward as binding on Aryans gener- 
Gautama's ^Hy. The "Institutes of the Sacred Law," ascribed to Grautama, 
Institutes, "begins by acknowledging the Veda as the source of the sacred 
law, and proceeds to fix the period and mode of initiation of a Brahman, 
and the rites of purification after touching impure things. Here is a speci- 
men of these rites. 

" Turning his face to the east or to the north, he shall purify himself 
from personal defilement. Seated in a pure place, placing his right arm 
Rites of hetween his knees, arranging his dress (or his sacrificial cord) in 
purification. \\^q manner required for a sacrifice to the gods, he shall, after 
washing his hands up to the wrist three or four times, silently, sip water 
that reaches his heart, twice wipe his lips, sprinkle his feet and his head, 
touch the cavity in the head with his right hand, and place it on the crown 
of his head and on his navel." 

Students of the Vedas had to study each for twelve years, but might 

restrict their study to one Veda only. After the Veda had been studied, he 

might choose which order of Brahmans he would enter ; that of 

orders of the student, the householder, the . ascetic, or the hermit in the 

ra mans, ^^^^jg^ rpj^^ ascetic was required to live by alms, to restrain every 

desire, and maintain an attitude of indifference towards all creatures, whether 

they did him an iniury or kindness. The hermit was to live in 
The ascetic . 

" the forest, and subsist on roots and fruits, practising austerities. 

He was to worship gods, manes (ancestor worship), men, goblins, and Rishis 

(great Vedic teachers). He must not enter a village, nor step on 

' ploughed land ; his dress must be made of bark and skins. 



THE BRAHMANISM OF THE CODES. 199 



For the honseholder, marriage and its rites are of the utmost im- 
portance, and full directions are given as to the choice of a wife and the 
ceremonies attending marriage, which vary according to the kind ^^^ nouse- 
of marriage. The offspring of marriages with other castes give holder's 
rise in each case to a distinct caste. Complex domestic cere- 
monies are prescribed, with offerings to the deities presiding over the eight 
points of the horizon, at the doors of the house to the Maruts, to the deities of 
the dwelling inside the house, to Brahman in the centre of the house, to the 
Waters near the water pot, to the Ether in the air, and in the evening to the 
beings walking about at night. A kindly courtesy is shown in the direction 
that a householder before he eats shall feed his guests, infants, sick people 
and women, aged men, and those of low condition. A Brahman is allowed 
to earn his living by varied occupations in times of distress ; but he is 
forbidden to sell a great many specified kinds of goods. 

The authority of kings is upheld in Gautama's Institutes, but at the 
same time high privileges are demanded for Brahmans, who, if 
of high rank and religious character, must not be corporally 
punished, imprisoned, fined, exiled, or reviled. Truth-speaking and the 
ascertainment of truth are strongly inculcated. 

One of the most curious chapters in these Institutes details a multitude 
of circumstances in which the Yeda is not to be recited ; as for instance, if 
the wind whirls up the dust in the daytime, or if it is audible at ^^^^^ ^^^ 
night, if the barking of many dogs and jackals or the braying of vedaisnotto 
many donkeys is heard, when the reciter is riding in a carriage 
or on beasts of burden, in a burial ground, in the extremity of , a village, 
when it thunders and rains, etc., etc. Equally curious are the particulars . 
of the gifts which may be accepted from twice-born persons (i.e., pure 
Aryans). If the means of subsistence cannot be otherwise various 
obtained, it may be accepted from a Sudra (one of the slave or restrictions, 
subject races). A householder may not eat food into which a hair or an 
insect has fallen, nor what has been smelt at by a cow, nor what has been 
cooked twice, nor what has been given by various people of bad character 
performing low offices. The classes of animals that may not be eaten re- 
mind one of the ceremonial restrictions of Leviticus ; but in fact the principle 
of tabooing certain things to those who belong to a higher or select order 
is found in many parts of the world. The milk of sheep, camels, and 
entire-hoofed animals was forbidden to the Brahmans. Five- toed animals 
were not to be eaten, except the porcupine, the hare, the boar, the iguana, 
the rhinoceros, and the tortoise ; nor animals with a double row of teeth, 
those covered with an excess of hair, those with no hair, entire-hoofed 
animals, and indeed whole groups of creatures. 

"Women were enjoined to fulfil their duty to their husbands strictly, 
and restrain their tongues, eyes, and actions ; yet much that Christians 
would revolt against is declared lawful and right for her to do. The duty of 
Early betrothals are enjoined. The crimes for which a man be- women, 
comes an outcast are very varied, including murder and many crimes 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



against Brahmans, and association with outcasts ; thus boycotting is almost 

as old as Brahmanism, if not older. " To be an outcast," says 

Gautama, "means to be deprived of the right to follow the lawful 

occupations of twice-born men, and to be deprived after death of the 

rewards of meritorious deeds." 

Numerous and severe penances for various offences are enjoined. He 
who has killed a Brahman must emaciate himself and thrice throw himself 
Penances and^^^C) a fire, or remaining chaste he may, during twelve years, 
penalties, enter the village only for the purpose of begging, carrying the 
foot of a bedstead and a skull in his hand, and proclaiming his deed ; thus 
standing by day, sitting at night, and bathing thrice a day, he may be 
purified in twelve years, or by saving the life of a Brahman. It is most 
striking how vigorously the Brahman literature maintains the sanctity and 
inviolability of its priests, and claims to exert throughout the life of the 
Aryans a minute authority scarcely paralleled by the Church of Rome. Some 
of the severest penalties are those inflicted for touching spirituous hquor. 
Thus " they shall pour hot spirituous liquor into the mouth of a Brahman 
who has drunk such liquor ; he will be purified after death." Severe secret 
penances are enjoined on those whose sins are not publicly known. It is 
not to be supposed that the worship of the gods is intentionally lowered by 
these regulations; but the very great importance assumed by ceremonial 
observances and penances naturally tended to lower the dignity of the gods 
and raise that of the Brahmans. It is not wonderful, therefore, that Budd- 
hism should have arisen. 

TEE LAW& OF MANU. 

We have not space to compare this lawbook with later ones which bear 
the names of Vasishtha, Baudhayana, and Apastamba, or to give an account 
of the G-rihya Sutras or books specially on domestic ceremonies ; 
but must pass on to the celebrated Laws of Manu, a metrical 
Version of the whole Brahmanical scheme, dating, according to some 
authorities, from the fifth century b.c. ; but Prof. Blihler does not consider 
it certain that it existed in its present form earlier than the beginning of 
the second century a.d., though undoubtedly it is derived from earlier 
versions containing substantially the same matter. It results, in fact, from 
the gradual transformation of the teaching of a school into a general law- 
book. But in process of time this book became surrounded by a multitude 
of fictitious legends designed to support its divine authority and secure the 
obedience of all Aryans. The first chapter of Manu is an apt illustration 
of this, and we therefore quote a portion from Buhler's translation. 

" The great sages approached Manu, who was seated with a collected 
mind, and having duly worshipped him, spoke as follows : — 

AUeged " ' Deign, divine one, to declare to us precisely and in due 

origin, order the sacred laws of each of the four chief castes and of the 
intermediate ones. 

" ' For thou, Lord, alone knowest the purport {i.e.) the rites, and the 



THE BRAHMANISM OF THE CODES. 



knowledge of the soul, tauglit in this whole ordinance of the Self -Existent, 
which is unknowable and unfathomable ! 

" ' He who can be perceived by the internal organ alone, who is subtile. 




HINDOO KELIUIOUS MENDICANT. 



indiscernible, and eternal, who contains all created beings and is incon- 
ceivable, shone forth of his own will. 

" ' He, desiring to produce beings of many kinds from his own body, 
first with a thought created the waters, and placed his seed in them. 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



" ' That seed became a golden egg, in brilliancy equal to the sun ; in that 
(egg) he himself was born as Brahman, the progenitor of the whole world.' " 

After a very fanciful account of the derivation of all creation and of the 
relations of the creator to the creatures, it is stated that the creator himself 
composed these Institutes and taught them to the author, Manu, who deputes 
Bhrigu his pupil to recite them. 

It appears that the introduction of the Laws of Manu as a general 
authority was due to the great accumulation of older works, having but a 
local and limited authoritiy, and to the gradual extension of the influence of 
a particular school of general religious and legal instruction. No doubt one 
factor which contributed to its wide reception was the extended description 
of the duties and powers of the king and of the administration of justice, and 
another was its general relation and suitability to all Aryans, whatever their 
caste. Their authority was clenched and upheld by their being given out 
as the work of Manu, the typical man, the offspring of the self-existent 
Brahman, and consequently of double nature, divine and human. Hence he 
was invoked as Lord of created beings, and even as identical with Brahman, 
the supreme Soul. In the E-ig-Veda he is frequently termed Father Manu, 
and it is stated that 'Hhe five tribes" or " the races of men " are his off- 
spring. "We have already referred to the legend in the Satapatha-brahmana 
in which Manu is said to have been saved from a great flood which de- 
stroyed all other creatures. He thus naturally represents social and moral 
order, and is the type of the temporal ruler, the inspired teacher and the 
priest combined. In many passages' of the E-ig-Yeda his sacrifices are men- 
tioned, and the gods are begged to accept the offerings of the priests as they 
accepted those of Manu. 

That writing was known and in considerable use when the Laws of 
Manu were compiled, is evident from several passages, and also from the com- 
plex translations which are mentioned, which would have been impossible 
without writing. The number of archaic phrases and the primitive customs 
described show that it is based on earlier works ; and by careful study a 
very good idea of its development may be formed. 

In giving some account of the Laws of Manu an endeavour will be made 

to dwell principally upon their religious aspect ; but it is difficult for the 

„. Western mind to realise the extent to which every detail of a 

religious Hindu's life and conduct is connected with and supported by 

his religious belief. In fact the Christian ideal, that the whole 

life should be religious, has long been practised by a vast number of Hindus, 

although the form, basis, and nature of the religions differ so widely. 

The assent of the heart is the inner sanction of the Hindu law, sup- 
ported by the authority of Manu, the Veda, the Vedic teachers, and the 

customs of holy men. The desire of rewards is declared to be 
Self-repres- , -^ . 

sion incui- not laudable in itself, but it is recognised and utilised ; and the 

man who discharges his prescribed duties is promised the attain- 
ment of the deathless state, and even in this life the realisation of all his 
desires. How completely the system was directed to self-repression and the 



THE BRAHMANISM OF THE CODES. 203 

production of passivity in this life may be seen by this verse : " That man 
may be considered to have really subdued his organs, who, on hearing and 
touching and seeing, or tasting and smelling anything, neither rejoices nor 
repines." The privilege of being instructed in the Veda is strictly ^ ^^ 
fenced in, but the limitations may be relaxed by presents of the Veda 
money. Even in times of dire distress, however, a Vedic teacher ^ ^^^^ ^^^' 
was rather to die with his knowledge than sow it in barren soil. The Brahman 
unlearned in the Veda is stigmatised as useless, like a wooden elephant, 
having nothing but the name in common with his kind. The Veda is, 
indeed, extolled to a position which is only rivalled by those whom some 
have called Bibliolaters. Thus we read that the Veda is the eternal 
eye of the manes, gods and men, and beyond human comprehension. 
Everything not founded on it is founded on darkness, and produces no 
reward after death ; the eternal lore of the Veda upholds all created beings. 
He only who knows the Veda deserves royal authority, the office of a judge, 
the command of armies. By knowledge of the Veda the taint arising from 
evil acts is burnt out of the soul. A Brahman who retains the Rig- Veda in 
his memory is not stained by guilt, though he may have destroyed the 
three worlds. Study of the Upanishads is mentioned as necessary to the 
attainment of union with the supreme Soul. 

As to the gods other than this universal Spirit or Soul, they scarcely go 
beyond the lists already given in the Vedic period, such as Indra, Surya, 
the Maruts, Yama, Varuna, Agni, etc., whose energetic action the The gods in 
king is to emulate ; but they appear to occupy a very moderate ^^^^■ 
place in the scheme, the Supreme Spirit and the Brahmanic rites being chief. 
Indeed, there is a manifest leaning towards pantheism, it being frequently 
declared that everything proceeds from Brahma the universal Soul, and will 
ultimately be absorbed once more in the same. The whole philosophy is 
affected by the doctrine of transmigration of souls, new births in New births 
the same or a lower order of creation or in hells being the result ^^^ ^®^^* 
of evil conduct, and absorption in the Supreme Soul being the grand result 
of the greatest merit. The hells described, though terrible, are consequently 
only temporary. Among the torments are '' being devoured by ravens 
and owls, the heat of scorching sand, being boiled in jars," etc. Altogether, 
theology is largely absent from Manu. Bub it must be remembered that 
the constant study of the Veda is everywhere inculcated. There is scarcely 
any reference to public worship or to temples ; and from its whole tone we 
see how the family was the keystone of the Brahmanic religion. The 
influence of the Brahmans over the domestic life of the people was pro- 
found and suf&cient at the time when the code of Manu was composed. 

The original castes are stated to be four, the Brahman, the Kshatriya 
or warrior, the Vaisya (cultivator), and the Sudra or servant ; and (as in the 
tenth book of the E-ig-Veda) they originated respectively from Duties of the 
the mouth, arms, thighs, and feet of Brahma, who assigned them ^o^^ castes, 
their separate duties. To Brahmans he assigned teaching and studying 
the Veda, sacrificing for their own benefit and for others, and giving and 



204 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

accepting of alms ; to Kshatriyas the protection of tlie people, the bestowal 
of gifts, the offering of sacrifices, the study of the Veda, and abstinence from 
sensual pleasures ; to the Vaisyas tending cattle, the bestowal of gifts, the 
offering of sacrifices, the study of the Veda, trading, lending money, and 
the cultivation of land ; to the Sudras simply to serve the other three. 

The Brahman caste is exalted far above the others, having sprung from 
the mouth of Brahma, being the first-born, the preserver of the Veda, and 
Lofty claims ■'^^'^^■'^S ^^® right of expounding it. "What created being can 
of the surpass him, through whose mouth the gods continually consume 
the sacrificial viands and the offerings to the dead ? " The most 
distinguished Brahman is he who fully performs his duty and knows the 
Brahman ; he in fact becomes one with Brahma the creator. The most ex- 
travagant claims of lordship over all creatures, of possession of everything, 
are made on his behalf. In fact, not only is everything bestowed upon him, 
his own already, but other mortals are stated to owe their subsistence to the 
benevolence of the Brahmans. In some passages of Manu a Brahman is even 
lifted to the rank of a divinity, whether he were ignorant or learned, and 
even if he were occupied in a mean occupation. A Brahman who studies 
Manu and faithfully performs his duties is said to be never tainted by sins 
of thought, word, or deed, and to sanctify any company he may enter, 
together with seven ancestors and seven descendants. Surely more arrogant 
self-assertion was never advanced and admitted than by these Brahmans. 
The king is warned not to provoke them to anger, for it is asserted that 
they could instantly destroy him and his army, by their power over all 
creation, and by the utterance of magic texts. Yet inconsistently enough, 
it is allowed that just as Kshatriyas cannot prosper without Brahmans, 
so Brahmans cannot prosper without Kshatriyas. Their persons are de- 
clared inviolable, and the crime of threatening a Brahman with a stick will 
be punished in hell for a hundred years, while the actual striker of a 
Brahman will remain in hell a thousand years. Still more extravagant is 
this further threat : "As many particles of dust as the blood of a Brahman 
causes to coagulate, for so many thousand years shall the shedder of that 
blood remain in hell." This system could of course only be maintained by 
the receipt of heavy fees. The repetitions of the Veda, and the perform- 
ance of the sacrifices were made to depend upon the gifts to the officiating 
Brahmans. No taxes were to be paid by them ; and any king who suffered 
a learned Brahman to die of hunger would have his kingdom afflicted 
by famine, while the meritorious acts of any Brahman whom he protected 
would increase the king's wealth, length of life, and kingdom. Yet, if 
after aU these injunctions, a Brahman failed to receive proper patronage 
and support, he might become a soldier, a cultivator, or a trader. 

We must give some further detail of the Brahman's life and course of 

study ; for although it only partially applies to the other classes of Hindus, 

, .j,j^g fQ^ it represents that ideal which they continually looked up to and 

periods of life, revered, and is as characteristic of Hindu religious life as that of 

the clergyman of the present day is of our own. We cannot 



THE BRAHMANISM OF THE CODES 



205 



fail to be astonished at the lengthy student period which the Brahman 
must go through. Studentship might last for nine, eighteen, or thirty-six 
years, or even for the whole of life. The most important of the numerous 
preliminary rites was the investiture with the sacred cord or sacrificial string, 
which must be of three threads of cotton, twisted to the right, and worn 
over the left shoulder and across the body to the right hip. The ceremony 




HINDU SDTTEE (SATi), OR THE SELF-IMMOLATION OF A WIDOW. 

commenced with taking a staff as tall as the piipil, and worshipping the sun 
while standing and walking round the sacred fire, after which he begged 
alms and food in succession of each person present according to a fixed order. 
After having eaten, and purified himself with water, a series of formalities 
is required before the teacher begins to instruct his pupil in the Veda, the 
syllable Om being always pronounced at the beginning and end of a lesson. 



2o6 THE WORLDS RELIGIONS. 

Once initiated, regular bathing, with, libations of water to the gods, the 
inspired Rishis, and deceased ancestors, is required of the Brahman student, 
and he must reverence the deities (explained later to mean, "worship the 
images of the gods "), and place fuel on the sacred fire. He must live a chaste 
life, refrain from meat and all sensuality, from dancing, singing, and playing 
musical instruments, must never injure any living creature, must not wear 
shoes or use an umbrella, and must refrain from anger, covetousness, idle 
disputes, and gambling. The regulations for securing reverent behaviour 
towards the teacher are very elaborate ; and parents and elders generally 
are to be highly regarded. It is declared that the trouble and pain which 
parents undergo on the birth of their children cannot be compensated even 
in a hundred years, and obedience to them and to the teacher are the best 
forms of austerity ; the son must rejoice to do what is agreeable and bene- 
ficial to them ; by honouring them the three worlds are gained ; for him who 
honours them not, all rites are fruitless. 

Somewhat surprisingly, in the midst of these stringent regulations we 
come upon the following liberal sentiments : " He who possesses faith may 
Some liberal receive pure learning even from a man of lower caste, and an 
sentiments, excellent wife even from a base family." 

" Even from poison nectar may be taken, even from a child good advice^ 
even from a foe a lesson in good conduct, and even from an impure sub- 
stance gold. 

" Excellent wives, learning, the knowledge of the law, the rules of purity, 
good advice, and various arts may be acquired from anybody." 

Finally, the Brahman who has not broken his vow during his student 
stage is promised after death the highest abode, and that he will not be 
born again in this world. 

The stage of a householder being at length reached, the Brahman 
must marry a wife of equal caste, free from bodily defects and having vari- 
The '^'^^ good qualities; but polygamy is allowed though not recom- 
houseiioider. niended, and when the first wife is one of equal caste, another 
wife may be taken from each of the inferior castes. Eight different 
forms of marriage, four laudable and four blamable, the chief differences 
being in the matter of dowry and attendant circumstances, the highest 
rank being accorded to a marriage where the parent of the bride offers her 
with costly garments and jewels to a learned Brahman ; the son of such a 
wife is said to liberate from sin ten ancestors and ten descendants if he 
does meritorious works. 

The Brahman householder had to perform daily five chief rites ; (1) 
muttering the Veda ; (2) offering water and food to ancestors ; (3) a burnt 
The chief offering to the gods ; (4) an offering to all creatures, including aged 
daily rites, parents, good and evil spirits, consisting of the scattering of rice- 
grains on the housetop or outside the door; (5) an offering to men, consisting of 
Sacrifices for hospitable reception of (Brahman) guests. This last was naturally 
the dead, considered of great importance, as it afforded the chief means of 
support to the students, ascetics, and hermits. Sacrifices for the dead were 



THE BRAHMANISM OF THE CODES. 207 

required to be performed every new moon, and at these times learned Brah- 
mans were specially entertained. A long list of those who must not be 
invited or who must be shunned on these occasions is given, including 
physicians, temple-priests (implying that these were rising in importance 
and were considered to have interests opposed to those of the domestic Brah- 
mans), sellers of meal, actors or singers, one-eyed men, incendiaries, drunkards, 
gamblers, those who had forsaken parents. The great importance assigned 
to these celebrations for deceased ancestors, — being declared much more im- 
portant than the rites in honour of the gods, — seems to indicate that ancestor 
worship among the Aryans was later than nature worship. The funeral 
sacrifices further acquired importance to the Hindus as affording the basis 
of their law of inheritance. All who offered the funeral cake and water 
together were bound in one family, represented by the eldest male, although 
the living family had a joint interest in the family property. This part of 
the subject we cannot here detail, although intimately connected with and 
enforced by the religious sanction. 

An astonishing number of daily rites and of things to be avoided is 
laid down for good Brahmans, and this can only be matched by the extreme 
of early Pharisaic restriction ; but although the eating of meat is forbidden 
in general, it is expressly enjoined on certain occasions. 

As regards the portion of women in Manu, it is one of complete sub- 
jection ; the husband was not to eat with his wife, nor look at her when she 
ate ; women were forbidden to repeat the Veda, or to perform Position of 
any religious rite separately ; they must continually feel their women, 
dependence on their husbands. The wife must worship her husband as a 
god. Women were credited with many inbred evils. When unfaithful to 
her husband she is born of a jackal in the next life, and tormented with 
diseases. No repudiation or divorce of a wife was (originally) recognised, 
and if sold or repudiated she could not be the legitimate wife of another. 
There is' no ground for the long-current statement that Manu or the Vedas 
supported or enjoined the burning of widows (Sati^). The re-marriage of 
widows is mentioned, but with censure, and a widow who remains chaste is 
rewarded with heaven. Very early marriage of girls was permitted if a 
suitor was distinguished and handsome. 

Householders are enjoined to be liberal in gifts. '' If he is asked, let 
him always give something, be it ever so little, without grudging ; " the 
giver receives corresponding rewards, either in worldly prosperity 
or in future existences. Truthfulness is highly recommended : 
"he who is dishonest in speech is dishonest in everything." Giving no pain 
to any creature, the householder is to slowly accumulate spiritual merit, 
the only lasting companion. " Single is each being born ; single spiritual 
it dies ; single it enjoys the reward of its virtue ; single it suffers merit, 
the punishment of its sin. . . He who is persevering, gentle, and patient, 
shuns the company of men of cruel conduct, and does no injury to living 
creatures, gains, if he constantly lives in that manner, heavenly bliss." 
' >%^/ means, ''she who is faithful," and is a feminine form of the root seenin"sootir' — trutli. 



2o8 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

The lierinit and ascetic periods of life were held up to Brahmans as the 
culmination of their existence. "We do not know how many Brahmans 
The hermit went through this discipline ; but it is recommended to the house- 
in the forest. Jiolder, that when his skin becomes wrinkled and his hair grey, 
and he has grandchildren, he should go and live in the forest, taking 
with him the sacred iire and implements for the domestic sacrifices which 
he is still to perform, and there live in control of his senses, wearing his 
hair in braids, and the beard and nails undipped. He was still to recite the 
Veda, and to be patient of hardships, friendly towards all, of collected mind, 
compassionate to all living creatures. He must feed only on special kinds 
of vegetables. A considerable number of austerities are enjoined on him, 
including exposure to fires in summer, living under the open sky and 
clothed in wet garments in winter, with other performances conducive to 
short life, much study not being forgotten. Finally he may, subsisting only 
on water and air, walk straight on '' until his body sinks to rest " ; then, 
having got rid of his body, he is exalted in the world of Brahma, free from 
sorrow and fear. 

The forest dweller who has not found liberation may become a mendi- 
cant ascetic, absolutely silent, caring for no enjoyment, indifferent to every- 
Themendi- thing, but concentrating his mind on Brahma. ''Let him not 
cant ascetic, (desire to live, let him not desire to die ; let him wait for his 
appointed time as a servant waits for the payment of his wages." " Let 
him patiently bear hard words, let him not insult anybody, and let him 
not become anybody's enemy. . . . Against an angry man let him not in 
return show anger, let him bless where he is cursed." These are only a 
few of the numerous precepts for promoting the high spiritual life of the 
ascetic. Meditation, self-repression, equability, contentment, forgiveness, 
honesty, truthfulness, abstention from anger, purification, etc. — these may 
be said to sum up the moral law for all Brahmans. 

We can only lightly dwell on the duties of a king and of government 
as described in Manu. The king represents Agni and Indra, the Maruts, 
The duties Varuna, Yama and other gods, out of all of whom he is supposed 
of aMng. to be framed ; thus he is " a great deity in human form." He has 
divine authority, is to protect all creatures, and be an incarnation of the 
law. He must have seven or eight ministers, the chief of whom must be a 
Brahman. Punishment is his chief instrument, indeed the only maintainer 
of the law. He is, however, to be obedient to the Brahmans, 
Brahman's and be determined not to retreat in battle. The Brahmans 
superiori y. ^^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ judges, either by themselves, or as assistants to the 
king. The criminal code is marked by much severity, and not a little incon- 
sistency. Offences by the low-born against the higher classes were very 
severely punished, often with great cruelty ; while Brahmans were very 
leniently treated. A Brahman's life was not to be taken, however grave 
or numerous his crimes. Among " mortal sins " are : killing a 
Brahman, drinking spirituous liquor, stealing the gold of a 
Brahman, adultery with a Gruru's (spiritual teacher's) wife, associating with 



THE BRAHMANISM OF THE CODES. 



209 



those who did those things, falsely attributing to oneself high birth, falsely 
accusing one's teacher, forgetting or reviling the Vedas, slaying a friend, 
giving false evidence, stealing a deposit, incest and fornication ; but the 




YOGIS (HINI^U KELIGIOUS Jb'ANAilCSj. 



classification and punishments show a very crude estimate of rxmisument 
their relative importance. Many punishments are designed as ^^^ penances, 
penances, to remove the guilt of the offender. Various ordeals are pre- 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS, 



scribed to ascertain if a witness speaks the truth, such as fire and water. 
Altogether, the rules of evidence do not inspire us with the idea that the 
early Brahmans had invented very excellent machinery for discovering 
Falsehood truth ; and such statements as the following are not calculated to 
excused, gjxow them in a favourable light. In some cases a man who, 
though knowing the facts to be different, gives false evidence from a pious 
motive, does not lose heaven. Whenever the death of a Sudra, a Yaisya, a 
Kshatriya, or of a Brahman would be caused by the declaration of the 
truth, a falsehood may be spoken. In cases of violence, of theft and 
adultery, of defamation and assault, the judge must not examine witnesses 
too strictly. But he is to exhort all witnesses to speak the truth, pro- 
mising them bliss after death and fame here below, while false witnesses 
are firmly bound by Yaruna and are helpless during one hundred exist- 
ences. 

Eeverting once more to the question of castes, we may note that the 
Brahman was supposed to have three births ; the first his natural birth, the 
second his investiture with the girdle of Munga grass, the third 
his initiation to perform the greater sacrifices ; the Kshatriyas or 
warriors, and the Vaisyas or cultivators, were only twice born, the second 
birth happening on their investiture with the sacred thread. We may 
recall here that the term caste is not an original Hindu or even an ancient 
word. It is believed to be an adaptation of a Portuguese word, casta^ race 
or family, from the Latin castm^ pure. The word used in Manu is varna^ 
or colour, while in later Hindu phrase caste is denoted by jati or jat^ 
meaning birth. 

The code of Manu was forced to recognise that wide departures took 
place from the original purity of caste, although maintaining [that only 
Growth of t^ose born of wedded wives of equal castes were to be considered 
mixed castes. ^^ belonging to the same caste as their fathers. Hence distinct 
names were given to the offspring between the different castes ; some of 
these are declared to be ferocious in manners and delighting in cruelty. These 
had already been assigned to distinct occupations, which increased as the 
Hindu life grew more settled and diversified. Some of them are said to be 
inherently fit only for low and degrading offices, and unworthy to receive 
the sacramental rites. The modern development of the caste system must 
be dealt with later. 

Finally, as to the important belief in the transmigration of souls, which 
in the Hindu system plays so large a part, it appears to have been wielded 
Transmigra- by the Brahmans very much as a mode of influencing actions on 
tion of souls, earth. Evil actions done with the body were to be punished by. 
being born next in something inanimate, those done by speech were followed 
by birth as a bird or a beast, while sins of the mind, such as covetousness, 
evil thoughts, and adherence to false doctrines, led to re-birth in a low caste. 
Self-control in all these respects led to emancipation from all births and 
final blessedness. This scheme is elaborated in great detail, many grada- 
tions being fixed in descending order, each the just recompense for some 



THE BRAHMANISM OF THE CODES. 



fault. The specific reason for many of these cannot be imagined, although 
some are intelligible enough, such as these: "men who delight in doing injury 
become carnivorous animals ; thieves, creatures consuming their own kind ; 
for stealing grain a man becomes a rat, for stealing meat, a vulture," etc. 
Sensual men are said to suffer in a succession of dreadful hells and agonizing 
births, slavery, imprisonment in fetters. The last pages of Manu are devoted 
to further glorification of Brahmans who do their duty, and to the extolling 
of the Self or Soul in all thino-s ; "for he who recognises the universe in the 



SCULPTURED FIGURES IN THE CAVE AT ELEPHANTA. 



Self, does not give his heart to unrighteousness. ... He who thus recog- 
nises the Self through the Self in all created beings, becomes equal-minded 
towards all, and enters the highest state. Brahman. A twice-born man, 
who recites these Institutes, revealed by Manu, will be always virtuous in 
conduct, and will reach whatever condition he desires." 

It must be owned that the system thus developed in Manu does not fail 
for lack of penalties or of precise directions. Its efficacy is to be sought 
in its gradual growth, its accordance with the ideas of creation, Efficacy of 
supreme power, and morality which had long been current, and *^® ^°^®- 
its promulgation by those who had most intellectual power and most capa- 
bility of swaying the conduct of men. Thus we may imagine the extra- 
ordinary influence which the sacred class of Brahmans attained in early 
Indian history, an influence which has been sufficient to perpetuate itself 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



to our own times, which remains very great, and which more than two 
thousand years ago was sufficient to produce by exaggeration and reaction 
the remarkable religion of Buddhism. But looking on it calmly, while 
■ admitting the loftiness of many of its. precepts and imaginings, it cannot be 
said that its general moral elevation was great. The scheme was powerful 
enough to bind together society for centuries, but not powerful enough to 
diffuse itself widely among other races, or to become more than a Hindu 
religion. 

There is one other code to which we must refer, besides that of Manu, 
namely the Darma Shastra of Yajnavalkya, possibly dating from the first 
Code of century a.d. It is still the chief authority in the school of 
Yajnavalkya. Benares. It is much shorter than that of Manu, is more syste- 
matic, and represents a later stage of development. It adds to the sources of 
authority the Puranas and various traditional and scholastic authorities. 
To some extent caste is carried farther, and a Brahman is forbidden to have 
a Sudra as a fourth wife. We have reached a period when writing is in 
regular use, and written documents are appealed to as legal evidence; coined 
money is in use. It is evident that Buddhism has arisen, and that the 
shaven heads and yellow garments of its votaries are well known ; the king 
is also reconjmended to found monasteries for Brahmans, an evident imi- 
tation of Buddhists. 

Compare the following philosophy with that of Manu. ^' The success of 
every action depends on destiny and on a man's own effort ; but destiny is 
evidently nothing but the result of a naan's act in a former state of existence. 
Some expect the whole result from destiny or from the inherent nature ; 
some expect it from the lapse of time ; and some from a man's own effort ; 
other persons of wiser judgment expect it from a combination of all these." 
(M. W.) But there is no sufficient difference in the nature of the precepts 
to make it necessary to quote further. 

We may here refer briefly to the celebrated rock-temples of India, 
excavated in solid rock many centuries ago, but by no means confined to 
Hinduism, having often been excavated by Buddhists and Jains. Some of 
them display surprising skill in construction as well as in sculpture. Many 
are ornamented with figures of the gods or scenes from their supposed 
adventures. The majority of the Brahmanic temples are dedicated to Siva. 
The most famous are those of Elephanta, an island in Bombay harbour ; 
one of them contains a colossal trimurti, or three-faced bust, representing 
Siva in his threefold character of creator, preserver, and destroyer. Many 
other caves, scarcely less famous, are at Ellora in the Nizam's dominions. 





DURGA. 
(From a native picture.) 



KAiniKEYA. 



CHAPTER III. 
ilrloiirru Inntinisjin I. 

Keaction from Brahmanism— Triumpli of Buddhism— Downfall of Indian Buddhism— The caste system 
—The Mahabharata— The Bhagavad-gita— Krishna— Incarnations of the Deity— Immortality- 
taught— The Ramayana— Partial incarnations— Conquests of Rama— Resistance of Brahmanism 
— Kumarila Bhatta—Sankara— Worship of the supreme Brahman— The Smartas— Vishnu worship 
—The Puranas— The Vishnu Purana— Description of the Supreme Being— Great Vishnuite 
preachers— Ramanand—Kabir—Chaitanya— Influence of Buddhism— The linga and the salagram 
—Brahma— Vishnu the preserver— Incarnations of Vishnu— Rama— Krishna— Buddha— Jagan- 
nath— Lakshmi— Siva the destroyer— Ascetic Sivaites—Durga—Kali—Ganesa—Gangsa— Local 
deities and demons— Worship of animals and trees— Deification of heroes and saints. 

IN our chapter on Buddhism, it will be shown that the new religion 
which deposed Brahmanism from supremacy in India, and Reaction 
greatly depressed it for more than a thousand years, was partly from 
a natural reaction from the haughty sway of the Brahmans, 
and their reliance on ritual and sacrifice, and partly the development of 



214 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

a movement which had already risen within the older system. The edu- 
cated Brahmans came to see that the Yedic gods were poetic imaginations 
which could not all be true, and that whereas various gods — the Sun, the 
Encompassing Sky, the Dawn, etc. — were represented as independent and 
supreme, they must be emanations of one supreme Cause. While they 
continued to uphold the popular ideas about the gods, and to conduct the 
customary sacrifices, they began to develop a theological literature, of part 
of which we have already given an account, the Upanishads and the 
Puranas, teaching the unity of God and the immortality of the soul, still 
mingled with many myths and superstitions. Their new system involved 
the brotherhood of man ; but it was reserved for Gautama to break through 
all the old conventions, and to found the great system of Buddhism. All 

Triumpii of dasses found in it something that was lacking in Brahmanism, 

Buddhism, and rejoiced in the upsetting of many things that had been irk- 
some. From the third century b.c. to the fourth century a.d., Buddhism in- 
creasingly triumphed, until it was professed by the majority of the Indian 
people. But in the fifth century the Buddhists were persecuted by the 
adherents of the old religion. By the end of that century the Buddhist 
leaders had taken refuge in China, and many of its priests had carried the 
faith to new lands. As late as the twelfth century a few remained in India, 
but now they are non-existent, unless Jainism be regarded as representing 
the old Buddhism. But the influence of Buddhism upon Brahmanism had 
been profound, and modern Hinduisn;! is a very different thing from the 
religion of the Vedas and Brahmanas. Indeed, Sir W. W. Hunter terms 
modern Hinduism the joint product of Buddhism and Brahmanism. The 
latter was active and slowly changing during all the time of the predomin- 
ance of the former, and we have the testimony of Greeks in Alexander's 
time and later, and of Buddhist priests from China who visited India in the 
fifth and seventh centuries, that Brahman priests were equally honoured 
with Buddhist monks, and temples of the Hindu gods adjoined the Buddhist 
religious houses. 

The Hindus date the final triumph over Buddhism from the preaching 
of Kumarila, a Bengal Brahman, who powerfully advanced the Vedic 

Downfall of ^^^-ching of a personal Creator and supreme Being, against the 
Indian impersonal negations of Buddhism ; but he also shone as a per- 
secutor. Sir W. W. Hunter, however, traces the change which 
followed to deeper-seated causes — such that the rise of Hinduism was a 
natural development of racial characters and systems. According to him it 
rests upon the caste system and represents the coalition of the old Vedio 
faith with Buddhism, as well as with the rude rites of pre-Aryan and 
Mongolian races. We cannot here give an account of the caste system. 
The immense subdivision of castes is the result partly of intermarriages, 
partly of varied occupations, partly of localit^^, partly of the introduction of 

The caste outside tribes to Hinduism. Religious exclusiveness and trades 

system, unionism, once grasped; made easy progress, and converted India 

into a vast grouping of separate classes. Caste is a powerful instrument 



MODERN HINDUISM. 215 

for personal discipline and the maintenance of convention and custom, but 
it is a weakener of united popular action and national unity. Its great 
force is in its hereditary instincts and in social and religious excommuni- 
cation. The offender against caste laws may be fined by his fellow-mem- 
bers, may be forbidden to eat or intermarry with them, and may be boy- 
cotted by the community. 

We cannot understand the growth of modern Hinduism without refer- 
ence to the two great Indian epic poems, the Mahabharata and the E,ama- 
yana. The former is a vast aggregation of poems and episodes, The 
arranged into a continuous whole, and is the longest poem in the Mahabharata. 
world, being fourteen times as long as the Iliad. It includes many 
portions dating back to Vedic times, with others of later date up to 
a comparatively modern time. It includes the whole cycle of Hindu 
mythology since the Vedas, and practically represents a deification of 
human heroes, side by side with views of Divine incarnation. Its central 
story relates a prehistoric struggle between two families descended from the 
Moon god for a tract of country around Delhi. It is believed to have 
existed in a considerably developed form five or six centuries before Christ, 
but it has been greatly modified by subsequent Brahmanic additions,^ 
especially didactic and religious in their nature, teaching the submission of 
the military to the Brahman power. 

The Bhagavad-gita, or song of Bhagavat, is the most important episode 
of this great epic, Bhagavat being a term applied to Krishna, one of the 
incarnations of Vishnu, the Pervader and Preserver. Krishna TheBha- 
makes a revelation to the hero Arjuna, just before a great battle, &avad-gita. 
in order to remove his scruples about destroying human life. This revela- 
tion in effect teaches the supremacy of the soul over the body, and in fact 
its eternity of existence in the supreme Being, so that death cannot harm 
it. Duty to caste and its obligations is highly extolled ; but the poem is 
most remarkable to us for its exposition in poetry of the Vedantist phil- 
osophy of Pantheism, which teaches that all the universe is indeed Brahma, 
from whom all proceeds and to whom all returns. Krishna in giving an 
account of himself to Arjuna, says (we quote from Sir Monier- Williams's 
^' Indian Wisdom ") : — 

" I am the ancient sage, without beginning, 
I am the ruler and the all-sustainer, 
I am incomprehensible in form. 
More subtle and minute than subtlest atoms ; 
I am the cause of the whole universe ; 
Through me it is created and dissolved, 
I dwell as wisdom, in the heart of all. 
I am the goodness of the good, I am 
Beginning, middle, end, eternal time. 
The birth, the death of all. I have created all 
Out of one portion of myself. Think thou on me. 
Have faith in me, adore and worship me. 
And join thyself in meditation to me. 
Thus shalt thou come to me, Arjuna ; 



2.1 6 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



Thus shalt tliou rise to my supreme abode, 
Where neither sun nor moon have need to shine, 
For know that all the lustre they possess is~mine." 

Among other revelations of Krislina, lie states that he is born on earth 
from time to time for the establishment of risihteousness. In 
lauding work, Krishna says : — 

" Know that work 
Proceeds from the supreme. I am the pattern 
For man to follow ; know that I have done 
All arts already ; nought remains for me 
To gain by action, yet I work for ever 
Unweariedly, and this whole universe 
Would perish if I did not work my work." 

It] will be evident 
from these quotations 
that the Bhagavad-gita 
contains much lofty 
thought ; indeed, it has 
been praised as un- 
equalled for sublimity of 
conception, reasoning, 
and diction. Yet it is in 
no slight degree parallel 
with Buddhist ideas, in 
preaching deliverance 
through self-renuncia- 
tion and devotion, end- 
ing in absorption in 
the Deity. Although 
women are not raised 
by it, yet the declara- 
tion of Krishna is, that 
all who resort to him 
will reach the highest. 
He says : " I have nei- 
ther friend nor foe ; I 
am the same to all ; and 
all who worship me dwell in me and I in them. To them that love me, I 
give that devotion by which they come at last to me. No soul that has 
faith, however imperfect the attainment, or however the soul have wandered, 
shall perish, either in this world or in another. He shall have new births 
till, purified and made perfect, he reaches the supreme abode." 

The repetition of incarnations of deity is an important feature in this 

Incarnations ^©^ching ; and from this rcot has developed the great " avatar " 

of the deity, or incarnation idea of the Hindus, the idea being that the deity 

is continually being manifested for the guidance and protection of his 




THE KRISHNA AVATABA. 

{^YOVtx a native picture.) 



MODERN HINDUISM. 



217 



people. Througliout tlie transition period, from Brahmanism to Hinduism, 
varying forms of Krishna, as the incarnation of Vishnu ^ are continually 
described. He appears as the protecting hero and saint and sage, the 
overcomer of evil spirits, the popular wonder-worker. 

From some of the characteristics of Krishna it has been imagined that 
he has been derived from Christ ; but there is no proof of this, and, indeed, 
the multiplication and varying form of the incarnations tells against this 
idea. In fact, the belief proceeds from a date before the Christian era. The 
meaning of the word Krishna, " black," also makes against the Christian 
relationship ; it rather points to respect for common humanity of black and 
white alike ; for Krishna 
is the teacher of Arjuna, 
'' white." 

This doctrine about 
Krishna brings into view 
the essential immortanty 
link by which taught, 
the intellectual Brahmans 
connected their higher 
philosophy with the com- 
mon beliefs of the people. 
Krishna manifests the 
noblest traits of Hindu ge- 
nius ; he also condescends 
to the most ordinary pur- 
suits of men and children, 
and even to sportive re- 
creation. The higher doc- 
trine of immortality is 
preached in such passages 
as the following in the 
Bhagavad-gita, " There is 
an invisible, eternal exist- 
ence, beyond this visible, 
which does not perish 
when all things else 
perish, even when the 
great days of Brahman's creative life pass round into night, and all that 
exists in form returns unto God whence it came ; they who obtain this 
never return. . . . Bright as the sun beyond darkness is He to the 
soul that remembers Him in meditation, at the hour of death, with thought 
fixed between the brows, — Him the most ancient of the wise, the primal 
ruler, the minutest atom, the sustainer of all, — in the hour when each finds 
that same nature on which he meditates, and to which he is conformed. . . . 

^ Vishnu is a god named in the Rig-A'eda as a form of the sun striding across the 
heavens in three paces. 




VISHNU. 
(From a nah'ue ji/cturc.) 



2l8 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



They who put their trust in Me, and seek deliverance from decay and death, 
know Brahma, and the highest spirit, and every action. They who know 
me in my being, my person, and my manifested life, in the hour of death, 
know me indeed." 

The other great epic poem, the Ramayana, or the goings of E-ama, is a 
chronicle which relates primarily to another region of Aryan conquest, Oudh, 
The ^^d then recounts the advance of the Aryans into Southern India. 
Ramayana. j^ represents perhaps a later stage than the earlier parts of 
the Mahabharata, but was arranged into something hke its present form a 
century earlier — perhaps about the beginning of the third century B.C. 
Like the sister epic, it presents the Brahman idea of the Grodhead in the 
form of an incarnation, E-ama, of Vishnu, to destroy a demon. Briefly 
stated, the story is as follows. It begins by relating the sonlessness of the 
king of Oudh, a descendant of the sun-god. After a sacrifice to the gods. 

Partial f^ur SOUS were born of 
incarnations. T^^g three wives, the eldest, 
Rama, having one-half the nature of 
Vishnu ; the second, Bharata, one- 
fourth ; and two others, twins, 
having each one-eighth. This ex- 
emplifies the Brahman doctrine of 
partial incarnations, Krishna being 
a full incarnation ; and, beyond this, 
there might be fractional incarna- 
tions of the Divine essence, in men, 
animals and even inanimate objects. 
The wonderful youth, marriage to 
Sita, and exile of Rama, are next 
told and the refusal of Bharata to 
take the kingdom on his father's 
death. E-ama continuing an exile, 
Havana, the demon king of the south, heard of his wife's beauty, and 
Conquests carried her off in a magical chariot to Ceylon. Rama then makes 
of Rama, alliances with the aboriginal peoples of Southern India, invades 
Ceylon, slays Ravana and delivers his wife, who has to undergo the farther 
trial of being suspected of infidelity and banished. She is the type of 
womanly devotion and purity, and after sixteen years' exile is "reconciled to 
her husband, with whom she is after all translated to heaven. 

Such was the framework in which the change from ancient Brahman- 
ism to modern Hinduism was developed and taught. These epics bear 
witness to the fact that notwithstanding the great extension of Buddhism 
in India, there was no time when Brahmanism was not working with great 
skill and intellectual force to adapt itself to the changed conditions. At 
Resistance of ^ council of the Buddhist monarch Siladitya at Kanauj on the 
Brahmanism. Ganges in A.D. 634, while a statue of Buddha was installed on 
the first day, on the second an image of the Sun-god, on the third an 




SIVA, BBAHMA, AND VISHNU. 



MODERN HINDUISM. 



219 



image of Siva, the product of later Bralimanism, was inaugurated. A great 

series of Braliman apostles arose simultaneously with the decay of Buddhism, 

beginning with Kumarila Bhatta, about a.d. 750, who revived the old 

Brahman doctrine of a personal God and Creator, and reconverted KumarUa 

many of the people. He was the first of a long line of influential Bhatta. 

religious reformers, who all solemnly cut themselves off from the world 

like Buddha, and give forth a simple message, readily understood, including 

in essence, according to Sir W. W. Hunter, '' a reassertion, in some form, of 

the personality of God and the equality of men in His sight." 

Sankara Acharya was the 

disciple of Kumarila, still more 

famous than his master ; „ , 
, T • 1 1 1 , Sankara. 

he popularised the late 

Yedantist philosophy as a national 
religion, and '' since his short life 
in the eighth or ninth century, 
every new Hindu sect has had to 
start with a personal God " (Hun- 
ter). He taught that the supreme 
God Brahma was distinct from 
the old Brahman triad, and must 
be worshipped by spiritual medi- 
tations, not by sacrifices ; and he 
perpetuated his teaching by found- 
ing a Brahman sect, the Smartas. 
However, he still allowed the 
practice of the Yedic rites, and 
worship of the deity in any popu- 
lar form ; and it is claimed by 
popular tradition that he founded 
many of the Hindu sects of the 
present day. Siva worship is sup- 
posed to be specially his work, 
though it existed long before ; and 
he has ever been represented by 
his followers as an incarnation of 
Siva. Siva is, as we have said before, the Rudra or Storm-god of the Rig- 




SIVA. 
{Yrom a native picture.) 



Veda, recognised as the Destroyer and Reproducer. He was worshipped 
contemporaneously with the Buddhist ascendency and is highly spoken of 
in the Mahabharata ; but Sankara's followers elevated his worship till it 
became one of the two chief forms of Hinduism. 

The doctrine of Sankara just referred to, that Brahma or Brahman, is 
the supreme God, distinct from the triad Brahma, Vishnu, and Worship of 
Siva, who are manifestations of him. The supreme Brahman is the supreme 
the absolute, having no form, nor shape, self-existent, illimit- 
able, free from imperfection. There are but a few worshippers of Brahman 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



or Bralima alone. As creator he is believed to have finished his work, and 
there is now only one temple to him, at Pushkara in Ajmir. Ward, in 
1818, wrote : " The Brahmans in their morning and evening worship repeat 
an incantation containing a description of the image of Brahma; at noon they 
present to him a single flower ; at the time of burnt-offering, ghee is 
presented to him. In the month of Magh, at the full moon, an earthen 
image of him is worshipped, with that of Siva on his right hand and Vishnu 
on his left." 

The Smart as of Southern India are a considerable sect who follow the 
philosophic teaching of Sankara. There are numerous religious houses con- 
nected with 
The Smartas. . , . , 

this sect, 

acknowledging the 
headship of the monas- 
tery of Sringiri, in the 
western Mysore hills ; 
and the chief priest of 
the sect, the head of 
this monastery, is spe- 
cially acknowledged 
by all Sivaite worship- 
pers, who regard San- 
kara as one of the in- 
carnations of Siva. 

" The worship of 

Yishnu," says Sir W. 

W. Hunter, 

"in one 

phase or another, is the 

religion of the bulk of 

the middle classes ; 

with its roots deep 

down in beautiful 

forms of non- Aryan 

nature -worship, and 

its top sending forth 

branches among the most refined Brahmans and literary sects. It is a 




Vishnu 
worship. 



EAVANA. 
.ative jiicture. See account of Eamayana.) 



religion in all things graceful. Its gods are heroes or bright friendly beings, 
who walk and converse with men. Its legends breathe an almost Hellenic 
beauty." This is the lofty position assigned to Vishnuism by one of the most 
learned and most impartial students — a very different opinion from that 
which regards the car of Juggernaut as the representative of all that is vile. 
The doctrines of modern Hinduism, in their learned aspect, are con- 
tained in the Puranas (in Sanskrit), a series of eighteen treatises, in which 
The various Brahmans expound, in lengthy dialogues, the supremacy 
Puranas. ^f Yishnu or Siva. The chief of them is the Yishnu Purana, 



MODERN HINDUISM. 



dating from tlie eleventh, century, but containing, as the word ''purana" 
signifies, ancient traditions, some of which descend from Vedic ^he Vishnu 
times ; and others are traceable to tbe two great epics. " It Parana. 
includes a complete cosmogony or account of primary creation, accounts 
of the destruction and renovation of worlds, genealogies of gods and patri- 
archs, the reigns of the Manus, the institutes of society, including caste 
and burial rites, and the history of the princes of th.e solar and lunar races, 
a life of Krishna, and an account of the end of the world. It is not 
necessary to dwell upon its contents, which would require a volume. 
Pantheism is 
woven into the 
general scheme, 
God and Nature 
being identified, 
and Vishnu, as 
supreme God, 
being incarnat- 
ed in Krishna. 

The style 
of the Vishnu 

^^^' Description of 
a n a the supreme 

Being. 
O n 

its philosophical 
side may be ga- 
thered from the 
following ex- 
tracts, relating 
to the supreme 
deity, as trans- 
lated by H. H. 
Wilson: ''Who 
can describe 
him who is not 
to be appre- 
hended by the 
senses, who is 

the best of all things, and the supreme soul, self-existent ; who is devoid of 
all the distinguishing characteristics of complexion, caste, or the like, and is 
exempt from birth, vicissitude, death, or decay ; who is always, and alone ; 
who exists everywhere, and in whom all things here exist ; and who is 
thence named Vasudeva (the resplendent one in whom all things dwell). 
He is Brahma, supreme lord, eternal, unborn, imperishable, undecaying ; 
of one essence ; ever pure as free from defects. He, that Brahma, was all 
things, comprehending in his own nature the indiscrete (spirit) and the 
discrete (matter). He then existed in the forms of Purusha and Kala. 




KALI DANCING ON SIVA. 
(Prora a 'native idcture.) 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



Purusha (spirit) is the first form of the supreme. Next proceeded two 
other forms — the discrete and the indiscrete ; and Kala (time) was the last» 
These four the wise consider to be the pure and supreme condition of 
Vishnu. These four forms, in their due proportions, are the causes of the 
production of the phenomena of creation, preservation, and destruction. 
Vishnu being thus discrete and indiscrete substance — spirit and time— sports 
like a playful boy, as you shall learn by listening to his frolics." Here it 
should be noted that the creation of the world is very commonly considered 
by the Hindu to be the sport or amusement of the supreme Being. 

The life of Krishna, as given by this Purana, is so full of fabulous 

marvels as to read like an Arabian Night's story, without its charm. It 

Great ^^ sufficient to say that this Purana did not work the great 

Visiinuite development of Vishnu worship, which was due to a series of 

pr ac er . Yj[g]^j^-^j^^Q preachers, beginning with Ramanuja in the 12th 

century, rising against the cruel doctrines of the Sivaites. It was not till 

the end of the 13th or beginning of the 14th century that the great 

development of popular religion in the name of Vishnu took place, under 

the apostolic leadership of Ramanand. This teacher had his 

headquarters in a monastery at Benares, and travelled from place 

to place in Northern India. He chose twelve disciples from the despised 

castes of the barbers, leatherdressers, weavers, and the like, who, like the 

Buddhist monks, had to forsake the world, and depend solely on alms, while 

they went about teaching religion. They addressed the people in the 

vernacular Hindi, and largely helped to make it a literary language. The 

inclusion of lower-caste men among Ramanand's chief disciples is a proof 

that his reaction was directed against Brahman exclusiveness ; and it 

embraced many features of Buddhism, including the monasteries or retreats 

for the mendicants. 

Kabir, the greatest of Ramanand's disciples, is notable for his effort to 
combine the Mohammedans with the Hindu.s in one religious fraternity. 
The caste system and Brahman arrogance, as well as image- 
worship, found in him a strong opponent. He taught that the 
god of the Hindu is the same as the god of the Mahometan. " To Ali (Allah) 
and to Rama " (writes one of his disciples) " we owe our life, and should 
show like tenderness to all who live. "What avails it to wash your mouth, 
to count your beads, to bathe in holy streams, to bow in temples, if, while 
you mutter your prayers or journey on pilgrimage, deceitf ulness is in your 
heart ? The Hindu fasts every eleventh day ; the Mussulman on the 
Ramazan. Who formed the remaining months and days, that you should 
venerate but one ? . . . Behold but one in all things. He to whom the 
world belongs. He is the father of the worshippers alike of Ali and of Rama." 
Kabir recognised in all the varied lots and changes of man, his hopes and 
fears and religious diversities, the one Divine Spirit; when this was re- 
cognised, Maya, or illusion, was over, and the soul found rest. This was to 
be obtained, not by burnt-offerings or sacrifices, but by faith and meditation 
on the Supreme being, and by keeping his holy names for ever on the lips 



MODERN HIND UISM. 2 2 3 

and in the heart. Kabir had a vast number of followers, especially in 
Bengal ; the headquarters of his sect is the Kabir Chaura at Benares. 

The worship of Juggernaut, more properly Jagannath (literally, the 
Lord of the world) dates only from the beginning of the 16th century, 
being mainly propagated by Chaitanya, who was so great a 
preacher of the Vishnuite doctrines that since his death he has 
been widely worshipped as an incarnation of Vishnu. He preached a 
religion of faith to Hindus and Mohammedans alike ; but he laid great stress 
on obedience to religious teachers. By contemplation rather than ritual he 
taught that the soul would find liberty from the imperfections and sins of 
the body. After death the soul of the believer would dwell for ever in a 
heaven of perfect beauty, or in the presence of Vishnu himself, known in 
his supreme essence. 

After the death of Chaitanya there appeared teachers who lowered 
the spiritual level of Vishnuism, some preaching the religion of enjoyment, 
others giving increased importance to the idea of physical love ; one adoring 
the infant Krishna as the cowherd. Vallabha-Swami (sixteenth century) 
was one of the chief of these ; he established a ritual of eight services in 
which the image of Krishna as a lovely boy is bathed, anointed, sumptu- 
ously dressed and fed, and in which beautiful women and other sensual 
delights figure largely. Such a religion appealed largely to the well-to-do, 
the luxurious, and the sensually minded, and was made the pretext for self- 
indulgence. 

Before particularising the forms of modern Hindu worship, we must 
" briefly indicate the influence which Buddhism and other popular religious 
of India have had on Hinduism. The brotherhood of man is influence of 
implicitly if not explicitly recognised by many of the Hindu buddhism, 
sects ; the Buddhist communities or monasteries are reproduced in the 
monastic houses of many Hindu brotherhoods. Sir W. Hunter describes 
the rules of the Vishnuite communities as Buddhistic, with Brahmanical 
reasons. One of the brotherhoods of Kabir's followers has as its first rule 
the very Buddhistic one that the life neither of man nor of beast may be 
taken, the reason being that it is the gift of God. Truth is enjoined as 
the great principle of conduct ; for all ills and ignorance of God spring from 
original falsehood. Retirement from the world is commended, worldliness 
being hostile to tranquillity of soul and meditation on God. Similarly the 
Buddhist trinity of ideas, Buddha, Dharma (the Law), and Samgha (the 
congregation) is largely present, more or less openly, in Hinduism. Not 
the least strange conjunction of Hinduism with other religions is that in 
which Siva-worshippers visit Adam's Peak in Ceylon to worship the foot- 
prints of their deity. Buddhists revere the same impression as the impression 
of Buddha's foot, while Mohammedans revere it as a relic of Adam, the 
father of mankind. This is but a specimen of the common resorts of 
Hindu pilgrims, where Mussulman and Hindu alike revere some sacred 
object. 

Hindus also absorbed or adopted many rites and superstitions of non- 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



Aryan peoples, such, as the serpent and dragon worship of the Nagas, re- 

„^ ,. verence for crocodiles and p-enerative emblems, fetish and tree 

The Imga . V . ' 

and the worship, etc. The worship of generative emblems (linga) 

saagram. £q^^(^ g^ wide field, among the Sivaites, whose god was the 

reproducer as well as destroyer ; while the fetish, or village or local god, 

in the shape of an unhewn stone (known as salagram) or a tree, usually the 

tulasi plant, became the usual symbols of the Yishnuite. In not a few 

cases their rites are little elevated above those of primitive savager}^ as 

conducted by low-caste Hindus. 

Coming now to a description of the chief Hindu gods as popularly 
worshipped, we find Brahma, the creator, represented as a red man with 
four heads, dressed in white, and riding upon a goose. Brahma's 
wife, Sarasvati, the goddess of wisdom and science, is depicted as 
a fair young woman with four arms ; with one right hand she presents a 
fiower to Brahma ; in the other she holds a book of palm-leaves ; in one of 
her left hands she carries a string of pearls. In the Mahabharata she is 
called the mother of the Vedas. She is worshipped once a year in the 
same month as Brahma by all who have any learning ; and with this 
worship are connected pens, ink, paper, books, etc. Women take no part 
in this festival. 

Vishnu is adored by the Vishnuite sects as the equal or even the 
superior of Brahma, and is especially termed the Preserver, exempt from 
impatience and passion. Various legends in the Puranas describe 
the other gods as submitting to Vishnu, who is termed om- 
niscient and almighty. In pictorial representations Vishnu usually appears 
as a black man with four arms : in one hand a club is held, in a second a 
shell, in the third a discus, in the fourth a lotus, and he rides upon the 
Garuda bird. 

Sir Monier- Williams describes both Vishnuism and Sivaism as forms 
of monotheism, because they set aside the coequal trinity Brahma, Vishnu 
and Siva in favour of their special god : but it may be doubted whether 
many of the Vishnuites can be called intelligent monotheists, rather than 
superstitious worshippers of they know not what. The opinion of this great 
Indian scholar, that Vishnuism '' is the only real religion of the Hindu 
peoples, and has more common ground with Christianity than any other 
non-Christian faith," must be taken as having but a limited application 
when he has to qualify it by referring to " the gross polytheistic supersti- 
tions and hideous idolatry to which it gives rise." We must acknowledge 
the distinguishing merit of Vishnuism to be, that it teaches intense devo- 
tion to a personal god, who exhibits his- sympathy with human suffering 
and his interest in human affairs by frequent descents (avatars) upon earth. 
Of these we must give a brief account. 

As many as twenty-eight avatars of Vishnu have been enumerated in 

the Puranas. They represent the descent into human bodies, by birth from 

Incarnations earthly parents, of a portion or the whole of the divine essence of 

of visiinu. the god ; they do not interfere with the divine body of the god, 



MODERN HINDUISM. 



225 



which remains unchanged. Of these we may enumerate (1) the Fish, 
whose form Vishnu took to save Manu, the progenitor of mankind, from the 
universal deluge. Manu obtained the favour of Vishnu by his piety, was 
warned of the coming deluge, and commanded to build a ship, wherein he 




was to take the seven Rishis or patriarchs and the seeds of all living things. 
When the flood came, Vishnu, as the Fish, dragged the ship, by a cable 
fixed to a horn on his head, to a high crag where it was secured till the 
flood went down. The avatars of the tortoise, the boar, the man-lion, the 

Q 



226 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

dwarf, and E-ama with, the axe, we must pass over. The great Rama, Rama- 
chandra, or the moon-like Rama, has been already referred to as 
the subject of the Ramayana. '' Every man, woman, and child 
in India," says Sir Monier- Williams, probably with some exaggeration, 
'' is familiar with Rama's exploits for the recovery of his wife, insomuch, 
that a common phrase for an ignorant person is ' one who does not know 
that Sita was Rama's wife.' From Kashmir to Cape Comorin the name of 
Rama is on every one's lips. All sects revere it, and show tbeir reverence 
by employing it on all occasions. For example, when friends meet, it is 
common for them to salute each, other by uttering Rama's name twice. 
No name is more commonly given to children, and no name more commonly 
invoked at funerals and in the hour of death. It is a link of union for 
all classes, castes, and creeds." 

But Krishna is the most popular of all the incarnations of Vishnu, and 
is represented as manifesting his entire essence. He is especially the god 
Krishna the 0^ the lower Orders, having been brought up among cowherds 
preserver, g^^^^ other peasants, with whom he constantly sported. A mul- 
titude of marvellous stories are told about him ; but it is evident from the 
history of Krishna literature and practices that he, like Rama, is a deified 
iero. Sir Monier- Williams identifies him as a powerful chief of the Yadava 
tribe of Rajputs in central India east of the Jumna, while the original 
of Rama was a son of a king of Oudh. So possible is it to trace gods 
adored by multitudes of human beings to the exaggeration and deification 
of heroic men. 

Thus we shall be little surprised to find Buddha adopted as one of the 
incarnations of Vishnu. The Brahmans account for this by saying that 
Vishnu, in compassion for animals, descended as Buddha in order 
to discredit the Vedic sacrifices. The Brahmanical writers, says 
Wilkins, " were far to shrewd to admit that one who could influence men 
as Buddha did could be other than an incarnation of deity ; and as his in- 
fluence was in favour of teaching opposed to their own, they cleverly say 
that it was to mislead the enemies of the gods that Buddha promulgated 
bis doctrine, that they, becoming weak and wicked through their errors, 
might fall an easy prey." 

Not content with incarnations that have taken place, the Vishnuites 
look for a future descent which they call the Kalki avatar. He is to appear 
at the end of the Kali age (which began with his descent as Krishna), 
when the world has become utterly wicked, and will be seen in the sky, 
seated on a white horse, wielding a drawn sword, for the destruction of the 
wicked and the restoration of the world to purity. 

We have not included Jagannath among the incarnations of Vishnu, 

both because it is believed that he is an appearance of Vishnu himself, and 

also because it is probable that he was originally the god of 

a non- Aryan tribe adopted into Hinduism. It is a sight of this 

god tbat is so vehemently desired, whether as he is bathed or dressed, or 

being drawn on his car. Chaitanya, the reformer, is another incarnation of 



MODERN HINDUISM. 227 

Visliiiu, according to the popular notion, althougli lie lived in almost modern 
times. Lakshmi, the wife of Vishnu, is very considerably wor- 
shipped as the goddess of Love, Beauty, and Prosperity. She is 
represented as of a bright golden colour, seated on a lotus, and having only 
the ordinary number of arms. 

Siva, the destroyer, is naturally represented as of a stern and vindictive 
disposition ; but yet this is compatible with his being regarded as a bene- 
ficent deity. Death being the transition to a new form of life, the giva, the 
Destroyer is truly the Re-creator, and this accounts for the mean- destroyer, 
ing of his name — the Bright or Happy one. Siva is exclusively a post-Yedic 
god, though he has been identified by the Hindus with the Rudra of the 
Vedas, and numerous features of Siva's character and history are developed 
from those of Rudra. In the E-amayana, Rudra (Siva) is represented as 
marrying Uma, the daughter of Daksha ; it is this same Uma who is much 
more widely known under the names of Parvati, Durga, and Kali. It is 
stated that a great quarrel arose between Siva and Daksha, his father-in-law. 
In this quarrel Uma gave herself voluntarily to the flames, and became a 
sati (suttee), and was reborn as Parvati. Siva then became an ascetic^ 
living with Parvati in the Himalayas, destroying demons. He is represented 
sometimes with Parvati, wearing round his black neck a serpent and a 
necklace of skulls, and with an extensive series of emblems, such as a 
white bull on which he rides, a tiger's skin, etc. ; he has three eyes, one 
being in his forehead. As Mahadeva (the great god), which is his most 
usual name, he may be shown as an ascetic with matted hair, living in 
meditation and self-discipline in a forest. It is said that Siva, in a quarrel 
with Brahma, cut off his fifth head, which, however, stuck to the destroyer's 
hand. To escape from a pursuing giant created by Brahma, Siva fled to 
Benares, where he became absolved from his sin and freed from the head of 
Brahma, thus causing Benares to become a specially sacred city. 

In consequence of Siva's patronage of the bull as his steed, a strange 
custom has arisen in connection with the funerals of Sivaites. "Whenever 
it is possible, a bull is set free to wander, and has a sacred character, so that 
no one dares to injure it ; sometimes as many as seven bullocks are thus set 
free. This is believed to secure the favour of Siva. Similarly, since he 
was an ascetic, many of his followers pay court to him by a life of austerity 
and painful suffering. This was much more frequent in former times than 
now, for the British Government has discouraged or prohibited many of the 
most painful exhibitions. Formerly many Siva worshippers would be 
swung from iron hooks fixed in their backs, or would jump from Ascetic 
a height upon the edges of sharp knives. But it is not easy to sivaites. 
put down such practices as the maintenance of the arms and legs in one 
position for years, the holding of the fist clenched till the nails grow 
through the palm, the keeping of silence or the fixing of the eye continuously 
upon the sun. There are still many thousands of these devotees in India. 
Intoxication is also freely indulged in by Sivaites during their worship, 
this being believed to be pleasing to the god. After all, Siva is most 



228 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



Durga. 



worshipped under tlie emblem of the Linga, although he is said to have 
a thousand names. 

The wife of Siva occupies a comparatively subordinate position as Uma 
and Parvati ; but as Durga she is a powerful warrior, with many stern 
and fierce qualities. In this character she is represented to have 
appeared in many incarnations, and is very widely worshipped. 
The name Durga was given to her as having slain a demon named Durga. 
The tales about this are of the most mythical and exaggerated nature. Not- 
withstanding her powers, Durga is portrayed with a gentle and beautiful face 
and a golden colour ; but she has ten arms, holding various weapons, while 
her lion leans against one leg and her giant against the other. Of the 
various forms of Durga we can only refer to Kali (the black woman), prob- 
ably some tribal goddess adopted into the Hindu series. She won a victory 
over giants by drinking their blood with the aid of Chandi, another form 
of Kali. The account of the image of Kali given later in describing one of 

the Bengal festivals will ex- 




BKAHMA AND SAKASVATI. 



plain some of her 
qualities. Former- 
ly human beings, as well as 
considerable animal sacri- 
fices, were offered to Kali, a 
human sacrifice being said to 
please Kali for a thousand 
years. Cutting their flesh 
and burning portions of their 
bodies were among the ac- 
tions by which worshippers 
sought to please the goddess. 
The great number of Hindus 
who bear the name of Kali 
or Durga or Tara indicates 
her popularity down to the present day. 

Ganesa, the elder son of Siva and Parvati, the god of prudence and 

policy, having an elephant's head, indicating his sagacious nature, is the 

god of Bengal shopkeepers ; he has a trunk, one tusk, and four 

Ganesa. ^^^^^^ Kartikeya is the younger son of Siva and Parvati, and 

is called the god of war ; in southern India his name is Subramanya. Lastly, 

we must notice Granga, the Ganges, whose birth and doings are 

^^^^' the subject of elaborate legends, and whose waters are beheved to 

have power to cleanse from all sins, past, present and future. A specially 

sacred spot is that where the Ganges meets the ocean, at Sagar island, to 

which vast numbers of people flock each January, to bathe with joy in the 

flood, and to worship the long line of deities whose images are set up by 

priests who take toll of the pilgrims. 

But when we have exhausted the list of great gods, we have only 
touched as it were the more prominent of Hindu deities, which are popularly 



MODERN HINDUISM. 



229 



said to number three hundred and thirty millions. In fact, throughout 
India the old local deities and demons, so much noticed in Local deities 
China, hold extensive sway. Every village has its own special ^^^ demons, 
guardian mother, who has a husband associated with her as protector. 
But the mother is most worshipped, and is believed to be most accessible 
to prayer and offerings, and very liable to punish, and to inflict diseases if 
neglected. Many have a specialty, such as the prevention of a particular 
disease, or the giving of children. Many are deifications of notable women ; 
some are in effect devils, delighting in blood. All are believed to control 
secret operations of nature, and to have magic powers which may be imparted 
to worshippers. 

Some even go so far as to say that the predominant belief of the 
Hindus, especially in the villages, ^is a 
dread of evil spirits, who are believed to 
bring about all evils and diseases, and 
often have peculiar and special areas 
of destructiveness. They may have 
material bodies of a more ethereal struc- 
ture than those of men, have differences 
of sex, and possess the power of assum- 
ing any shape and moving through the 
air in any direction. Some of these are 
the Asuras, or demons created at the 
foundation of the world or by the gods 
(though originally the word meant 
simply beings of a godKke nature). We 
cannot go into their classes ; but it is 
to be noted that the majority of de- 
mons are beHeved to have been origin- 
ally human beings, whose evil nature 
lives after them as demons. All crimes, 
diseases, and calamities are due to 
special devils. They mostly require 
food, and especially the blood of living 
animals. Sometimes mounds of earth 





A 




^t 


J 


/l'''"'"'"'i^^3 1 




1 


^ S2>— S/ 



SASTHI. 

{From a native picture.) 



piles of bricks, etc., do duty as 
shrines for their " worship," the offering of food and recital of incantations 
being the chief rites. Every village has its own demon. A volume might 
be occupied in describing the devil-cults of India. In the south, where 
they are believed to delight in dancing, music, etc., "when pestilence is 
rife in any district, professional exercisers, or certain persons selected for 
the purpose, paint their faces, put on hideous masks, dress up in fantastic 
garments, arm themselves with strange weapons, and commence danc- 
ing. Their object is to personate particular devils, or rather perhaps to 
induce such devils to leave the persons of their victims and to occupy the 
persons of the dancers, who shriek, fling themselves about, and work them- 
selves up into a frenzy of excitement, amid beating of tom-toms, blowing of 



230 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

horns, and ringing of bells. When the dancers are thoroughly exhausted^ 
they sink down in a kind of trance, and are then believed to be gifted 
with clairvoyance and a power of delivering prophetic utterances. The spec- 
tators ask them questions about missing relatives or future events, and 
their deliverances are supposed to be oracular " (Monier- Williams). Many 
strange festivals are held in connection with this devil-worship in India, 
and the facts show how general must formerly have been the practices 
now found among the more savage races. The extensive animal 

animals and worship of COWS, serpents, monkeys, etc., and the worship of trees 

trees. ^^^ prevailing is another considerable survival of more primitive 

times. It depends largely in India on the view taken of the sacredness 

of life, and the transmigration of the souls of men into animals. Again, the 

f ''i^CJi'ship of great men seems even more deeply implanted in the 

heroes and Hindu than in the Chinese mind, and again and again great leaders, 
^ ^ ' preachers, teachers or saints are deified, and regarded as incarna- 
tions of Vishnu or Siva ; and even men of moderate fame are after death 
honoured and worshipped, and a shrine is set up to them in the place where 
they were best known. Surely we have said enough to show that in every 
way the Hindus are very remarkable for their worship of the superior 
powers in all conceivable forms. 

[See "Oriental Keligions : India," by S. Johnson, English and Foreign Philosophical Library. Sir 
W. W. Hunter's "India," vol. vi. of the "Imperial Gazetteer of India," and also separately pub- 
lished. Kev. W. Ward's " View of the History, Religion and Literature of the Hindus, 1818." Rev. 
W. J. Wilkin s' s " Hindu Mythology and Modern Hinduism." Sir Monier- Williams's "Eeligious 
Thought and Life in India," and " Indian Wisdom ;" " Sacred Books of the East."] 





A GHAUT AT BENAKES, WITH KECESSES FOK DEVOTEES. 



CHAPTER IV. 
iWoUein i^mtruism II. 

Inclusiveness of Hindu worship — Variations in modern times— Religiousness of the Hindus— House- 
hold worship— The guru— Initiation— Elements of worship— Brahman ritual— Ritual of the 
common people— Temple services — Temple priests— Frequent festivals— Images— Festival cere- 
monies— Miracle-plays— Festivals of Durga— Pilgrimages to holy places— Benares— Temple of 
Bisheshwar— Pilgrims' ohservances— Puri— The great temple— The images— Consecrated food— 
The Car festival— Reported immolation of victims— A touching incident— Vishnu temple at 
Trichinopoly— Vishnuite sects— Sivaite sects— The Saktas— The Sikhs— The Sikh bible— The 
Brahmo Somaj — Rammohun Roy— Devendra Nath Tagore— Keshub Chundra Sen— The Uni- 
versal Somaj — Fatalism — Maya, or illusion— Transmigration — Rewards and punishments — Death 
and cremation— Ceremonies for the dead— Moral state— Condition of wives— Position of women 
— Widows— Suttee— Disconnection of morals and religion— Hindu virtues. 



I 



IN describing modern Hindu religious practices and worship, we are met 
with a most varied assemblage of rites and customs, often mutually 
discordant, all of which have an equal claim to inclusion ^^^-derj^^^j^g^^gj^^gg 
the name Hinduism. Never has there been a religion so expan- of Hindu 
sive and all-inclusive. As a recent Bengal census report states, ^°^^ ^^' 
the term denotes neither a creed nor a race, neither a church nor a people, 
but is a general expression devoid of precision. It embraces alike the 
disciples of Vedantic philosophy, the high-class Brahman, the low-caste 
worshippers of all the gods of the Hin^u pantheon, and the semi-barbarous 
aborigines who are entirely ignorant of Hindu mythology, and worship a 
stone in time of sickness and danger. There is so great a difference in the 
prevalent forms of worship in different districts, there are so many personal 



232 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

and houseliold ceremonies, differing according to rank or locality, and also 
Variations in^liere have been so many changes in modern times, that it is quite 
modern times.^3^pQggj^]3]^Q ^q gj^y^ more than a partial view in a limited space. 
The common people believe their worship has lasted unchanged for long 
ages, and Europeans have largely adopted the same view ; but while the 
Hindu nature remains very largely the same, variations in worship have 
been multitudinous. The great car festival of Jagannath is a modification 
of a Buddhist festival ; and it would be easy to multiply proofs of the 
changes in modern Hinduism. 

I To a greater extent than any nation under the sun, the Hindus are a 
religious people. As Mr. "Wilkins says, " to treat of the ordinary life of the 
neiiffiousness-^^^^^ ^^ ^^ describe the Hindu religion. From before birth to 

of the the close of life periodical ceremonies are enjoined and, for the 
most part, practised." Mostly they are survivals from animism, 
sorcery, astrology, and the like primitive beliefs. Thus, before the birth of 
a child the mother must not wear clothes over which birds have flown, 
must always have a knot in her dress round the waist, must not walk or sit 
in the courtyard, in order to avoid evil spirits must w^ear an amulet round 
her neck containing flowers consecrated to the god Baba Thakur, and must 
drink every day a few drops of water touched by this amulet. The naming 
of a boy is a most important ceremony, including a thanksgiving service, 
with gifts for the benefit of ancestors. The names of gods or deified heroes 
are often chosen, with the addition of another chosen by the astrologer, who 
calculates the horoscope of the child. 

Every household at all raised above poverty has a family priest (unless 
the head is himself a Brahman), who performs service, usually twice a day, 
Household i^ ^ room in which the family idol is kept. There is also a plat- 
worship, form opposite the entrance gate of the house, to receive the 
images made for the periodic festivals. The priest bathes and anoints the 
idol, recites a ritual, and presents offerings of fruits and flowers given by 
the family. The family, however, are not usually present, the priest being 
the only person whose presence is needed. The offerings are his perquisite, 
and he is supported entirely by one or two families. Of course he is present 
at all the important family ceremonies. 

The guru, or religious teacher, is a distinct functionary ; he is the 
initiator into the Hindu sects, and the teacher of their doctrines ; but he 

does not live in the house of a disciple. The Hindus are tauffht 
The guru. . . 

that it is better to offend the gods than their guru, for the latter 

can intercede if the former are angry ; but if the guru is offended, no one 

can intercede, and the curse of the guru brings untold miseries. He usually 

visits his disciples only once a year, unless he wants more money. His 

treatment of them is very lofty ; and educated Hindus themselves describe 

the gurus as covetous, unprincipled, and familiar with vice. The best 

entertainment, new carpets and large presents are demanded by 

them, and few teach anything of value. Every Hindu boy of eight 

years old (sometimes older) receives from his chosen guru, who need not 



MODERN HINDUISM. 



233 



be a Brahman, a sacred text or mantra, called the seed text, which is taught 




to him in private, with the name of the god selected by the guru for his 
especial worship. This text must never be repeated to others, and must be 



234 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

said over mentally or in whispers one hundred and eight times a day (the 
number is often counted by a rosary). The youth, before receiving it, fasts, 
bathes, and appears in spotless robes ; and if he be of the twice-born 
(Brahman, Kshatrya, or Yaisya) castes, he for the first time puts the sacred 
thread round his neck. The relationship between the disciple and his guru 
continues throughout hfe. The present race of gurus are as a rule self- 
indulgent and ignorant men. The astrologer is an equally necessary 
personage to the household ; no journeys can be undertaken, no new busi- 
ness begun without his aid ; he fixes the hour for weddings and religious 
festivals, and numerous other matters depend absolutely on his pronouncing 
the time opportune. 

The great elements of Hindu worship may be defined as (1) mediation, 
(2) works of merit, (3) purchasing the favour or arresting the disfavour of the 
Elements gods by presents and sacrifices. The educated Hindu certainly 
of worsMp. j^^g^g ^ high object, namely, to gain a realisation of his identity 
with the supreme Being, and to become reunited to Him. This state can 
only be approached by the Brahman ascetic ; all others not Brahmans must 
by religious works seek to be reborn in some future life in a higher caste, 
until they reach the bliss of Brahmanism. 

We have already indicated to some extent the ritual observances laid 
down for Brahmans in the sacred books. These are still kept up in essence ; 
Brahman ^^^d SO numerous and laborious are they, that two hours both 
ritual, morning and evening, and an hour in the middle of the day, are 
occupied in fulfilling them all. The ascetics have plenty of time for this ; 
but Brahmans engaged in business find them very trying, and a few perform 
them by deputy, through a family priest. Previous to any act of worship 
a complex ablution must be performed, with many details and prayers ; 
then the sun is worshipped, with meditation on Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva ; 
the text known as G-ayatri is next repeated three times while holding the 
breath. It runs thus : " Om " (see p. 192), " earth, sky, heaven ! We medi- 
tate on the adorable light of the resplendent generator (the sun) which 
governs our intellects, which is water, lustre, savour, immortal faculty of 
thought, Brahma, earth, sky, heaven." Thus, the light of the sun is taken as 
the type of all effulgent power ; and, as a native commentator says, " it must 
be worshipped by them who dread successive births and deaths, and who 
eagerly desire beatitude. . . ." But this prayer must be preceded by 
the repetition of the names of the seven worlds: 1. This earth. 2. The 
world of the unconscious dead awaiting the end of the present age. 3. The 
heaven of the good. 4. The middle world. 5. The world of births, for 
animals destroyed at the end of each age. 6. The abode of the sons of 
Brahma. 7. The abode of Brahma the supreme. The word Om is to be 
repeated before and after this list. Many other ceremonies follow. The 
heart is supposed to be cleansed from sin by drawing up a little water by one 
nostril and expelling it by the other. One of the prayers is, " May whatever 
sin I have committed by night, in thought, word, or deed, be cancelled by 
day. Whatever sin is in me, may it be far removed." 



MODERN HINDUISM, 235 

Before the reading of the Vedas, which follows, offerings of grain, etc., 
must be made to the gods, with invitations to them to be present and 
cheerful during the reading of the Veda ; then similar offerings must be 
made to Yapaa and the great progenitors of mankind, then for the Brahman's 
ancestors, and for all men, with the object of relieving the wants of 
sufferers in hells, or increasing the blessedness of those in heaven. After 
this exhausting series of ceremonies, the Brahman, before taking his meal, 
offers a portion to deities, ancestors, and to all other beings, and must then 
feed his guests before partaking himself. Finall^^ he must wash his hands 
and feet, afterwards tasting the water. As his food is given him, he says, 
" May heaven give thee ! " and when he takes it he says, " May earth 
receive thee ! " He may not yet eat until he has passed his hand round the 
plate to separate it from the rest of the company, has offered five pieces to 
Yama, has made five oblations to breath, and has wetted his eyes. In addi- 
tion to these rites (which are here only partially given) there may be others 
significant of the particular sect to which the man belongs. Some will also 
wait for possible guests before taking food, for Brahma himself is represented 
as present in every guest. 

But it must be owned that the mass of the Hindus have no such 
elaborate daily ritual. The Sakta sect, it is true, and the more religious 
members of other sects, have a considerable daily ceremony, all j^^^^ai of the 
including much the same ideas of purification of body, avert- common 
ing the anger of ghosts or ancestors, the offering of sacrifices to 
the great gods and goddesses, the recitation of their deeds as told in 
the Puranas, etc. But the majority of Hindus only bathe daily, and raise 
their hands and bow to the rising sun. Shopkeepers have an image or a 
picture of Ganesa in their shops, and burn a little incense before it in the 
morning ; Vishnuites have one or more of the god's emblems, especially the 
Salgrama (a fossil Ammonite), which they guard as if it were a living being, 
bathing it in the hot season, etc., and before these daily prayers are offered. 
The names of the gods are repeated a great number of times a day. How- 
ever, on days when it is not very convenient to go through a long form, the 
Hindu will be content with repeating the text he was taught by his guru, 
which is often an unmeaning jingle. 

The public temples contain the principal religious apparatus of the 
mass of the Hindus. But it must not be imagined from this that their 
temples are as a rule large. They are not, in general, places for Temple 
the assemblage of numbers of people, and in fact they are mostly services, 
not more than ten or a dozen feet square. They are simply small buildings 
in charge of a priest, who takes care of an idol or image, which is supposed 
to be a special abode of the deity, and who receives offerings from worshippers 
coming one by one, and prostrating themselves before the image. Many of 
them have been built by public contributions, others by rulers, and many 
by well-to-do private persons anxious to secure merits to balance their sins. 
If they desire to make a large offering, they do not build a larger temple, 
but a number of smaller ones, seven, fourteen, twenty-one, or even more, 



^Z^ THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

some of which may never be used. Old temples of this kind are not re- 
paired ; the new man does not wish to do what will but add to the merit 
of another. Usually the temple has an outer court, often with verandahs 
round, in which pilgrims may lodge when they come from a distance. The 
temple itself has two main portions — the vestibule, and the shrine contain- 
ing the image, only large enough to admit the priest. One of the singular 
forms observed is the ringing of a bell to attract the notice of the god to his 
worshipper, who merely walks round, hands his gift to the priest, and bows 
to the image. 

The priests of these temples are all Brahmans, who alone perform the 
proper worship, usually without any spectators. The sacred texts are 
Temple merely muttered, and being in Sanskrit, are u.nintelligible to the 
pnests. masses ; the texts, of course, differ according to the god or incar- 
nation that is being worshipped. The essential character of this worship 
lies in the treatment of the image as if it were a living being, and the priest 
his servant ; washing, dressing, feeding, decorating, putting to bed, etc., are 
all gone through most carefully. With all this the people have nothing to 
do but to bring the offerings, which become the priests' property. Of course, 
in the case of deities whose rites require animal sacrifices, there is a great 
business of slaughtering victims, and afterwards disposing of the meat not 
required by the priests ; it finds a ready sale, being especially valuable 
owing to its sacred character. 

The regular daily worship of the temples forms but a small part of the 
religious life of the Hindu. His attention is mainly given to the festivals 
Frequent which occur SO frequently, though somewhat irregularly, as to 
festivals, occupy the place of the Christian Sunday. Most of the gods have 
special festival days, and others are only worshipped publicly on such days. 
Not only are special images of the gods made for the temples, but also for 
many private persons, whose houses become public temples for the day or 
days of the festival, and are visited by crowds of people. Usually, after the 
proper ceremonial has been gone through, various amusements — nautch 
dances, plays, musical entertainments — are provided. Sometimes two or 
more adjoining villages will join in these celebrations, each householder 
paying his share. 

Images are provided for these festivals by regular tradesmen. They are 
largely based upon bamboos tied together, and covered with hay and mud 
from a sacred stream. They are then dried in the sun, and after- 
wards painted, dressed, and otherwise decorated according to some 
mode presented by the sacred law-books. When they are taken to the place 
of worship, the priest engaged for the occasion performs a ceremony called 
the giving of life, in which the god is invited to reside in the image for one, 
two, or three days. It then becomes sacred, and must be touched by none 
Festival ^^^ ^ Brahman, — must be approached by none but a Hindu. A 
ceremonies, f^n morning and evening worship is celebrated before the image, 
that in the evening being followed by amusements. The concluding day 
witnesses the farewell of the deity, who is thanked for favouring the 



MODERN HINDUISM. 



237 



worshippers with his or her presence, and is supplicated to return next 
year. When the god is supposed to have departed, the sacred image 




CAR OF JAGANNATH AT PUIU, OIUSSA. 



becomes once more common clay, and may be touched by any one. About 
sunset it is taken to a river bank, or to a tank, with a musical procession, 
dancing women and lighted torches. The image is rowed out to the middle 



238 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

of the stream and dropped into the water, there to dissolve and decay. The 
amount of worship performed by Hindus is increased by the necessity of 
averting the evil which other gods besides their own special deity may 
cause, and by their desire to gain any possible additional benefit. We 
cannot give space to a recital of the important public festivals which 
occur throughout the months of the year. These vary in different localities, 
and the total number is enormous. For instance, there are festivals all over 
Bengal to Jagannath, in imitation of the great ones at Puri, cars and great 
images being similarly provided. There are numerous special festivals to 
Sasthi, who watches over women in child-bearing, and protects children. 
At the festivals of Krishna miracle-plays form an important 
Mirac e p ays. s^^^^^^^^ ^^^ represent the most important events in the lives of 
the gods, the actors being got up to represent them, and not omitting their 
many indecent words and actions. By such representations, among other 
things, the illiterate Hindu masses come to have a more vivid idea of the 
history of their gods than any people. 

The festival of Durga in Bengal is especially elaborate, the sons of 
Durga, Sarasvati, the wife of Brahma, and Lakshmi, the wife of Vishnu, 
Festivals of being attendant figures. Durga herself has ten hands, holding 
Durga. weapons emblematic of her victories. The forms of worship 
previous to the coming to life of the goddess are very long, and one or more 
animals may be sacrificed, sometimes a buffalo. So generally is this festival 
observed, — husbands and sons returning home for it, and business being 
suspended, — that it has been termed the Christmas of Bengal. It is cele- 
brated in the sixth month (parts of September and October). The festival 
of Lakshmi, which follows, is the occasion for sitting up at night playing 
cards or amusing themselves, for the goddess is believed during the night 
to pass over all who are awake. In the seventh month there is a very 
repulsive celebration of Durga in her bloodthirsty aspect. " In the images 
which represent her at this festival," says Mr. Wilkins, " she is black, as her 
name Kali implies, and her husband is lying down under her feet. Her. 
tongue protrudes from her mouth, her four arms are extended, one hand 
grasping a sword, another the head of a giant, and the other two signalling 
to her hosts. As ear-rings she has two dead bodies of her foes ; her neck is 
adorned with a necklace of skulls, and her only garment, a zone, is made 
of the hands of her vanquished foes, whilst her hair falls down in long 
tresses to her waist. Intoxicated with the blood of her foes, her eyes fiash 
with rage, her eyebrows are dyed with crimson, and blood flows down her 
breast." This worship is attended with midnight sacrifices of animals, 
shrieking invocations, and drunken orgies. Many of the festivals assume 
the aspect of carnivals. At some of the festivals of Siva hooks used to be 
inserted in the backs of men, which were then swung in the air at a great 
height ; but this is now discontinued, either a dummy being used, or the 
hook fixed to a rope round the man's body. 

The next great department of Hindu worship is that concerned with 
pilgrimages to particular places of great sanctity or to special temples. 



MODERN HINDUISM, 239 

Large numbers of Hindus have given themselves up to nothing but travel- 
ling from one sacred placB to another ; but a great proportion pugrimag-es 
of the people strain every nerve to visit a shrine at least once*°^oiy Places, 
in their Hfetime, and will exercise self-denial for many years to pay the 
expenses of their journey and provide offerings for the gods, believing that 
their pilgrimage will secure them great blessings both in this world and 
the next. They cheerfully endure the greatest privations or sufferings on 
the way, and show the most intense joy when they come in sight of their 
destination, or see the sacred image exhibited. ^' I have seen the people 
throw themselves on the ground," says Mr. Wilkins, '' and kiss the very 
dust as soon as they have caught sight of the holy city of Benares ; I have 
seen them take the dust from the wheels of Jagannath's car, and place it 
on their head with signs of the intensest pleasure ; I have heard them shout 
with jo}^ as they have come in sight of the meeting of the waters of the 
Ganges with the sea at Saugor Island." Many now travel by rail to the 
famous shrines, and thus the crowds that visit them are greater than ever ; 
but many still go by road or boat, often being drowned, or dying by the 
wayside. Some take vows to perform long distances by measuring their 
length upon the ground. The sacrifice of life is increased by the demands 
of the priests, which too often do not leave the pilgrims enough money 
to provide for the return journey. It cannot be said that the amount or 
character of the worship paid is an adequate justification for the weary 
toil and expense of the journey. Bathing, presenting offerings, walking 
round the temples and seeing the place are the chief religious acts, and too 
often the rest of the time is occupied with immoral or degrading practices 
which the priests facilitate. The reputation of many shrines is kept up by 
the preaching or talking of travelling adherents, always engaged for the 
purpose of vaunting the benefits obtained by a pilgrimage. Visits are also 
paid in the hope of obtaining the much- valued blessing of a son, or in 
fulfilment of a vow in time of distress or sickness. 

We can only notice in any detail the two greatest places of pilgrimage 
in India, Benares and Puri : the former being the special abode of Siva, the 
latter of Vishnu. In no Indian city has gross idolatry a stronger 
hold than in Benares ; ugly idols, monstrosities, and reproductive 
emblems are met with on all sides. More temples have been built and more 
money has been spent on worship under British rule than during an equal 
period of Mussulman domination ; but this is accounted for by the greater 
wealth and freedom of the people. Some years ago more than a thousand 
temples were counted in Benares proper, exclusive of suburbs, and of images 
in house walls. These are devoted to a great variety of deities, sometimes 
Siva under different names, or relatives of other deities connected with Siva ; 
and not content with an image of the god worshipped in a particular 
temple, in many cases the priests have added images of others in niches or 
in rows ; sometimes even a hundred are to be seen in rows. The exceeding 
sanctity of Benares is accounted for by a legend which we have already 
given (p. 227), and this holy character extends to ten miles from the Ganges, 



240 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

tlie tract being bounded by a winding road fifty miles long, containing 
hundreds of temples. To walk along this road is itself a most meritorious 
act ; residents are taught that they should walk along it at least once a 
year ; and whosoever dies within this area, even a heretic or a criminal, 
gains heaven. 

The most important temple in the city is that of Bisheshwar (god of 
the world), a name given to Siva as king of all the gods in the Benares 
Temple of territory, the gods of the sacred road being his pohce force. He 
Bisheshwar. j[g supposed to reside in a stone linga emblem, and before this 
crowds of people pass daily with offerings of rice, flowers, grain, ghee, and 
money. Many of the worshippers in approaching the god show signs of 
great fear, dreading to call down his anger. Another of the great places 
of attraction is the Mankarnika well, a foul tank of water which is believed 
to wash out the greatest crimes. 

Pilgrims taking the fifty miles journey round Benares have to go 
through a severe ritual ; they must, if possible, bathe before starting, and 
Pilgrims' at the end of each day, and must walk barefoot, must provide 
ohservances. ^^y. tlieir own wants without receiving from or giving to others, 
must not quarrel or use bad language on the road, and must give gifts to 
the priests of the Mankarnika well at the end of the journey. 

In a somewhat different way from Benares, Puri (the city) on the 
coast of Orissa is as famous and holy in the eyes of Hindus. Here Vishnu 
is worshipped as Jagannath (the Lord of the World) ; and a series 
of notable festivals throughout the year keep up a continual 
round of religious excitement, culminating in the famous Car Festival, 
attended by something like 100,000 pilgrims. There seems little doubt 
that Puri was a Buddhist sanctuary, to the reputation of which Jagan- 
nath has succeeded. The present temple dates from the end of the twelfth 
century, and is a pyramidal building on a site about twenty feet above the 
The great surrounding country. Vishnu worship was greatly modified by 
temple. Chaitanya, who taught that faith and love were more acceptable 
to the deity than penance and rites. The temple already had a large double 
enclosure with lofty walls ; and Chaitanya taught that within it men of all 
castes were equal, and might eat together of the sacred food. Altogether 
the worship of Jagannath became that of a gentle, genial deity with human 
feelings and sympathies, and having no trace of those bloodthirsty qualities 
generally associated in this country with the ' car of Juggernaut.' No doubt 
the genial has become the jovial and the voluptuous with many of the 
worshippers, and the worship itself is accused of licentiousness, but as 
warmly defended from the charge by some who have had good opportunities 
of knowing. 

The inner enclosure of the great temple, nearly four hundred by three 
hundred feet, includes a number of small temples and sacred places and 
trees as well as the large temple. The latter contains four principal halls, 
the Hall of Offerings, the Dancing Hall for amusements, the audience 
chamber, and the shrine proper, both the latter being eighty feet square. 



MODERN HINDUISM. 



241 



In niches in the shrine are three large images of three of Vishnu's incarna- 
tions — the Boar, the Man-lion and the Dwarf. The principal images are 
those of Jagannath, painted black ; of Balarama, his brother, white, and 




Subhadra, their sister, golden yellow. They are made of one 
block of iron-wood, and are most uncouth representations of 
human bodies without hands or legs, the arms being stumps to which 

R 



242 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

golden liands are fixed. The male images are about six feet liigh., the 
female four and a half feet. The clothing and ornaments of these images 
are changed several times a day, so that they appear very different at 
different hours, sometimes being dressed as Buddha, sometimes as Krishna, 
sometimes as Ganesa. Various stories are told to account for these ugly 
images, one being that Grod is so great that no figure can properly represent 
Him, consequently these ugly ones are made to inspire people with fear, that 
they may propitiate Him by gifts. Most probably they are modified forms 
of Buddhist images ; there is an additional shapeless stump about six feet 
high, which is said to have the mark of a wheel on the top, representing 
the Buddhist wheel of the law. A certain relic is imbedded in the image 
of Jagannath, and is carefully transferred when new images are made ; 
what it is, none but the priests know, and it is probably a Buddhist relic. 

Numerous other gods or forms of the principal gods have images in or 

near the shrine. The chief images are only moved at the great festivals ; 

Consecrated ^^^ daily services of a complete character, as if they were human 

food. beings, are performed. At the four chief meals of the day large 

quantities of cooked food are brought into the temple and consecrated by 

being set in front of the idol. It is cooked by men of low caste, and eagerly 

eaten by pilgrims of all castes after consecration, or even taken home as a 

sacred treasure. On some days this food is supplied to 100,000 people, for 

payment, of course, so that the profits of the priests in charge are enormous. 

The great festivals at Puri are the Dol Jatra festival, a sort of spring 

carnival ; the Snan Jatra, when the images are bathed with sacred water 

and beautifully dressed, after which they are supposed to have taken a fever 

from exposure and are put in a sick chamber for a fortnight, during which 

The Car time they are repainted ; and then follows the Hath Jatra, or Car 

Festival. Festival, when the gods are taken for a ride on their cars. These 

chariots have often been described ; they are of immense weight and cuni- 

brousness, that of Jagannath being forty-five feet high, and having sixteen 

wheels. Amid an enormous concourse the images are placed on the cars, 

and dressed, and have golden hands and arms attached to them. When 

this is complete, the chief guardian of the temple, the Kurda Raja, termed 

^' the sweeper of the temple," sweeps the road for one hundred yards in 

front of the cars, worships the images, and touches the ropes of the car as if 

he were dragging them ; then hundreds of Hindus specially set apart for the 

office, aided by the attendant pilgrims, drag the car slowly to a set of temples 

about two miles distant. This great effort, however, occupies four days, 

and on arrival at the destination the image of Lakshmi is taken to see 

Jagannath. After four or five days the return journey takes place. It is 

at this ^festival that immolations of pilgrims have been supposed to take 

place as part of the routine, so that the car of Juggernaut has become with 

Reported ^^^J almost synonj^mous with a system of ruthless crushing of 

immolation human victims ; but this is really contrary to the spirit of the 

"^ ■ worship of Vishnu. No doubt self-immolation has not ' un- 

frequently taken place, because the worshippers felt their sins were all 



MODERN HINDUISM. 



243 



atoned for, and they did not wish to return to the world to commit fresh 
sins ; and in the crowds many have no doubt been accidentally crushed to 
death ; but human sacrifice is not inculcated by the priests nor in any way 
encouraged by them, for a drop of blood spilt in the presence of Jagannath 
pollutes priests, people, and consecrated food. If a death takes place within 
the precincts of the temple, the worship is suddenly stopped, and the 
offerings are taken away from the sight of the offended deity. There is 
an almost continual round of festivals at Puri, which indeed lives on its 
religious character, having no other attraction. 

Other notable localities for pilgrimages are the great temples of Tan- 
jore, Madura, and Ramesvara (an island between India and Ceylon), these 
being seats of Siva worship. It is a great pilgrims' feat to visit Benares 
and bring from thence a pot of Granges water to Ramesvara, to pour it on 
the symbol of Siva and then bathe in the sea, of course with payment of 
fees. Sir Monier- Williams relates a touching incident in con- a touching 
nection with this. '' Shortly before my arrival at the temple a incident, 
father and son had just completed their self-imposed task, and after months 
of hard walking succeeded in transporting their precious burden of Granges 
water to the other side of the channel. The longed-for goal was nearly 
reached and the temple of E-amesvara already in sight, when the father 
died suddenly on the road, leaving his son, a mere child, utterly destitute 
and unprotected. The boy, however, had one treasure left — his jar of 
Ganges water. This, if only it could be poured upon the sacred symbol, 
would prove a complete panacea for all his earthly troubles. Eagerly he 
grasped his burden once more and hurried on to the shrine. Imagine the 
child's outburst of passionate grief when the door was closed against him. 
He had no fee for the presiding priest," 

The most remarkable Vishnu temple in southern India is that of 
Sri-rangam, at Trichinopoly. It has a vast series of seven enclosures one 
within another, in which hundreds of Brahmans live. The yisimu 
corners of the four gateways of each square have splendid temple at 
pyramidal towers. The whole is supposed to represent Vishnu's 
heaven. The principal image is lying down, and believed to be immovable 
— of course with a legend to account for the position, and there is a shrine 
over it in the shape of the syllable Om. A second image of Vishnu is kept 
for carrying in processions at the Car Festival, etc. The crown of the idol 
is covered with diamonds, pearls, and rubies, and the other ornaments are 
equally rich. Temples like this maintain large bands of musicians and 
troops of dancing girls, to take part in the festivals. 

We must now give some brief account of the sects into which the 
Hindus are divided. To some extent these follow lines already indicated, 
as worshipping Vishnu or other gods under different manifesta- vishnuite 
tions, or following the teaching of particular reformers. Thus, to 
begin with the Vishnuite sects, there are the Ramanujas, or followers of 
Ramanuja, the Ramanandis, the Kabir Panthis, and numerous other sects 
founded by individuals. All these have special marks which must be 



244 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

painted on their foreheads, after bathing at the great festivals, with a 
special white earth. The Eamannjas, for instance, are distinguished by 
two perpendicular lines passing from the roots of the hair to the eyebrows^ 
and a transverse line across the top of the nose connecting the other two. 
In the centre is a transverse streak of red. They are also marked with 
patches of red and white on the breast and arms^ supposed to represent 
certain signs of Vishnu. Their chief special belief is that Yishnu is 
Brahman, the supreme Being. The Ramanandis specially worship Yishnu 
as Ramachandra, with Sita his v/ife. This sect has many monasteries, and 
many travelling members, who collect offerings and visit shrines, all these 
being celibates. They practically disregard caste. The Kabir Panthis, 
following Kabir, believe in one god, and need not join in the outward 
worship of the Hindu deities ; but they sing hymns to Kabir, their 
founder. Their moral code is excellent, including truth, humanity, and 
hatred of violence. 

There are very many worshippers of Yishnu under the form of the 
infant Gropal, child of the cowherd. This sect, founded by Yishnu Swami 
and extended by Yallabha, is notable for its belief in costly apparel and 
liberal feeding as meritorious, in opposition to asceticism. The chief temple 
of Gopal is in Ajmir. 

The Madvas of Southern India are followers of Madhava, said to have 
been an incarnation of the god Yayu in the 12th century. They wear a 
single cloth of a dirty yellow colour, go bareheaded, and have the symbols of 
Yishnu stamped with a red-hot iron on their shoulders or breast. They 
worship a plurality of gods, but teach that the human spirit is distinct from 
the Divine Spirit, though united to it, and that absorption in the godhead 
is impossible, thus differing markedly from the ordinary Hindu belief. 

The majority of the Yishnu worshippers of Bengal belong to the sect 
founded by Chaitanya, whose influence raised the festivals of Puri to such 
popularity. His followers believe that Yishnu is the supreme soul and the 
one substance in the universe, and that Chaitanya was an incarnation of 
him. They also lay great stress upon Ixxktl.^ or faith, of which there are five 
degrees : (1) peace, calm contemplation ; (2) servitude ; (3) friendship ; (4) 
filial affection ; (5) sweetness. Their cult is a joyous one, qualified by the 
necessity of implicit obedience to the guru. Caste is laid aside at their 
feasts. 

The distinguishing marks of the Sivaitic sects are horizontal lines 
instead of perpendicular ; and differences of width and colour indicate the 
Sivaitic particular sect. The Sivaites are very largely Brahmans, and the 
sects. sects are not so extensive and popular as those of the Yishnuites. 
Among them are the Dandis, or staff bearers, mendicants who spend most 
of their time in meditation. Often they become almost idiotic from their 
perpetual suppression of thought and speech. The Yogis are another 
sect of meditationists with very special regulations, which are believed 
to give them the power of levitation, of travelling immense distances 
instantly, of rendering themselves invisible, etc. Many of them are 



MODERN HINDUISM. 



245 



practically jugglers and fortune-tellers, travelling about and practising on 
popular credulity. 

The Saktas include those sects specially devoted to the worship of 




female forms of the deity, such as Sarasvati, Lakshmi, Sita, Parvati, Uurga, 
Kali, etc. The Saktas look upon their female deity as the active ^^ saktas. 
energy of all things, and the source of all beings, for without the 



246 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

female element they could not be born. It is chiefly in modern books 
termed Tantras that these views are taught. They have been called the 
Bible of the Saktas, and are akin to the Puranas in parts, but in others deal 
largely with the peculiar rites of the Saktas, and charms and spells, mostly 
being in the form of dialogues between Siva and his wife. No doubt in 
this cultus the lowest grade of Hinduism was reached. It upholds and pro- 
pagates the most unbridled ideas of sensuality, in the belief that to indulge 
the grossest appetites with the mind fixed on the supreme Being was the 
most pious act possible. The drinking of alcoholic liquors forms a great 
element, in Sakti worship, as well as the eating of meat. The powers sup- 
posed to be acquired by meditating on the texts and spells of the Tantras 
outdo anything imaginable. By them it is possible to predict the future, 
work more wonders than the gods, inspire any one with love, turn plants 
into meal, etc. Credulity cannot go farther than in the case of the 
believers in Saktism. It is believed, however, that the spread of education 
by the English has done much to diminish the sway of these baleful 
notions. 

Here we may call attention to an opposite phenomenon in modern 
Hinduism — the spread of theistic sects of an increasingly pure tendency. 
The Sikhs of the Puniaub owe their rise to Nanak, a follower of 
Kabir in the 15th century, born not far from Lahore in 1469. 
He became a guru or teacher, and his followers were termed Sikhs or 
disciples. He taught a religion free from caste and idolatry, having been 
largely influenced by the growing Mohammedanism around him ; but he 
still remained more of a pantheist than a monotheist, and he taught that 
God should be especially worshipped under the name of Hari, one of the 
titles of Yishnu. After his death there succeeded him a line of chief gurus, 
who, at first friendly, developed great hostility to the Mohammedans, and 
became largely military leaders. Their political history must be read else- 
where. The fourth guru, Eam-das, set up a lake temple in the sacred tank 
at Umritsur, which became the head-quarters of the Sikhs. The fifth guru, 
Arjun, compiled the first Sikh bible largely from the precepts of his prede- 
cessors. Grovind, the tenth guru, compiled a second book or supplement, 
devised a form of baptism, imposed a vow not to worship idols, to bow to no 
one but a Sikh Guru, and in many ways cemented the bonds of the party. War 
was made a religious duty ; and while Govind refused to name a successor as 
guru, he created the Sikh bible (or Granth), a permanent object of worship 
with the title Sahib. Henceforth it was to be their infallible guide ; what- 
The Sikh ^^^"^ they asked it would show them. The Sikh bible is written 
bible. i]2 the old Hindi dialect, with a peculiar mode of writing. It 
declares the unity of God, but is based on pantheistic ideas. Many of the 
names of Vishnu are accepted as names of the supreme Deity. It forbids 
image worship, but the way in which the Granth itself is worshipped, 
dressed, and decorated, goes far to elevate it into an idol. Many ordinary 
Hindu superstitions are included in it, such as the belief in the sanctity of 
the cow, the vast number of transmigrations of souls, and complete submis- 



MODERN HINDUISM. 247 

sion to the guru. In recent years the Sikh faith has very considerably 
retrograded towards Yishnuism. Many Sikhs now adopt caste, wear the 
Brahmanical thread, and observe Hindu festivals and ceremonies. There 
is a notable temple to Govind at Patna containing many remains of him. 
The temple at TJmritsur is one of the most striking sights in India ; it is 
dedicated to the one god under his name Hari ; but he is believed to be 
visibly represented by the Sacred Book. 

A very significant development of modern Hinduism is that represented 
b}^ the Brahmo Somaj, which represents a revival of the theism to be found in 
the Yedas, influenced not a little by the teaching of Christianity. The Brahmo 
Eammohun Eoy (born 1774), founder of the Brahmo Somaj, was a somaj. 
high-caste Brahman, son of a Vishnu worshipper, and highly educated in 
Persian, Arabic, and Sanskrit. At the age of sixteen he wrote a tract against 
idolatry, and excited such opposition that he left home for some Rammohun 
years, studying Buddhism in Tibet. He afterwards studied ^^y- 
English, obtained government employment, and mixed with Europeans. 
After his father's death he was more free in his opposition to what he con- 
sidered perversions of the true Vedic religion ; and he particularly drew 
attention to the fact that suttee, the self-immolation of widows, was not 
sanctioned by the Vedas. In 1819, after studying Christianity, he pub- 
blished a book, " The Precepts of Jesus, the Guide to Peace and Happiness," 
in which he stated that he found the doctrines of Christ more conducive 
to moral principles, and better adapted for the use of rational beings, than 
any other that had come to his knowledge. Nevertheless he strongly 
objected to accept the Christian doctrine of the Trinity, for he considered it 
to be of the same nature as that of a plurality of gods. Thus he is properly 
described as a Unitarian. He preferred to choose the best from all religions, 
believing that inspiration was not confined to any age or nation ; thus he 
accepted whatever was good in the sacred books of all nations. 

The Brahmo Somaj .was finally established in 1830, " for the worship 
of the eternal, unsearchable, and immutable Being, who is the Author and 
Preserver of the universe." No image or portrait was to be admitted, no 
sacrifice was to be made, and nothing worshipped by other men was to be 
spoken of with contempt in the building. Although he has spoken and 
written against the caste system, Eammohun Eoy did not give it up, nor 
abandon the Brahmanical thread. The Vedas were still read at his meet- 
ings, while the Bible was not introduced. In 1831 he visited England 
with several objects, but fell a victim to the climate and died in 1833 at 
Bristol. To him must be given the credit of the first striking new de- 
parture in the elevation and purification of modern Hinduism. 

His practical successor was Devendra Nath Tagore, born in 1818, who 
in 1839 formxcd a society for the knowledge of truth, and in 1811 joined the 
Brahmo Somaj. He prepared a scheme for organising that devendra 
society as a church in 1843, including seven solemn vows to be ^^^^^ 
taken by members. The members were to abstain from idolatry, 
to worship the great God, Creator, Preserver, and Destroyer, through the 



248 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS, 

love of God and doing works dear to God, — to lead lioly lives and to seek 
forgiveness through, abandonment of sin. A minister was appointed, and 
by 1847, 767 persons had taken the vows, while many others adhered to 
them. About 1850 it was decided that the Vedas were not infallible, and 
that only such views as were in harmony with Theistic truth were to be 
accepted from them. Approved extracts were made from the Vedas, 
Manu, the Satapatha Brahmana, etc. The views of the church include the 
Fatherhood of God, who has never become incarnate, but whose providence 
is over his creatu.res, and who hears their pra^^ers. Repentance is the one 
path of atonement, forgiveness, and salvation. The only necessary religious 
deeds are good works, charity, contemplation and devotion, and the attain- 
ment of knowledge, all penances and pilgrimages being useless. The only 
sacrifice is self-sacrifice, the only temple is the pure heart. Caste is not 
acknowledged. 

With all these advanced views, much tacit recognition of Hinduism, and 

even conformity with it was still maintained ; and in 1865 a new reformer 

Keshub proclaimed his mission, the well-known Keshub Chunder Sen, im- 

cimnder bned with more advanced views as well as a more emotional and 
Sen. 

spiritual nature. He wished to abolish all caste observances, and 

this led to a rupture. A new form of initiation, the admission of women 
and the reform of marriage observances followed ; but after vigorous work 
for a number of years, Keshub agreed to the marriage of his daughter 
while a child to the Maharajah of Kuch Behar, at which some Hindu 
ceremonies were observed, and this caused much scandal. Nevertheless his 
church, the Progressive Brahmo Somaj of India, showed much vitality 
under his almost autocratic rule up to his death on January 8th, 1884. 
The original society, now known as the Adi Somaj, continues under the 
guidance of Devendra Nath Tagore, but has somewhat gone back towards 
Hinduism. Keshub had the skill to introduce new festivals to replace the 
older Hindu celebrations, including religious meetings with public pro- 
cessions, music, and singing. He also professed himself inspired to put 
down sectarianism and discord between sects. His influence still lives ; the 
apostolic Durbar of his church refused to allow the platform from which 
he taught to be used, and declared that Keshub was still the leader of the 
church. It would be curious to note if this is followed by any further step 
towards his deification. 

The party who left Keshub after the marriage of his daughter have 
formed a stronger church than the one they left, under the title of the 

^^^ Universal Somaj. They have adopted a sort of presbyterian 
Universal government, to prevent the autocratic rule of one man, and 

°^^''' only those who have given up idolatry and caste in private as 
well as in public can be office-bearers. Altogether there are about 1,500 
strict members and 8,000 adherents of these various Theistic bodies in India, 
distributed over 178 churches. 

"We have said little hitherto of certain common notions of the Hindus, 
which however influence them very greatly and hinder improvement. For 



MODERN HINDUISM. 



249 



instance, fatalism is one of their strongest beliefs. All a man's life is con- 
trolled by tlie Deit}^, and it is fruitless for man to oppose the decrees 
of God. It is this resignation to fate which so largely paralyses 



I 




the efforts of the people, especially in regard to sickness. The belief in 
Maya, or illusion, is another of their beliefs. It is said that all Maya, or 
mankind are the victims of illusion, especially in imagining musion. 



250 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



themselves to be something different from God. It is commonly said that 
the su])reme Being was tired of being alone, and formed the world as a 
sport or amusement, and that all the miseries of life came from Maya, the 
creatures being ignorant that they are really one with God. 

Again, behef in the transmigration of souls pervades all India. It will 
be found to constitute a prominent feature in Buddhism. We may here 
Transmigra- ^^i®% state the essential details of the creed. Existence after 
tion. death is a matter of course. A predominantly good life is 
rewarded with heaven, an evil life with hell. After a longer or shorter 
time the soul returns to earth to be re-born in a higher or lower station. 
Rewards according to its good or evil deeds. Ee-births may be indefinitely 

and numerous, and may be alternately higher and lower, or higher 
' only if the conduct has been sufficiently good. Many of the 
gods are believed to have a heaven of their own, into which they take 
their worshippers for a longer or shorter time, and admit them to various 
degrees of nearness to themselves. Many are the acts which confer these 
privileges, but especially pilgrimages, acts of worship, sacrifices, building 
temples, giving gifts to Brahmans, and honouring gurus. The higher states 
of blessedness are exclusively for Brahmans ; but those of lower caste may 
by good works earn re-birth in higher castes till they at last become 
Brahmans. 

The various hells and heavens are elaborately described in the Puranas. 
There are said to be a hundred thousand hells, one for each class of offence. 
For instance, a glutton is to be cast into boiling oil ; he who injures a man 
of superior caste is punished by being torn by swine ; one who contemptu- 
ously treats a religious mendicant is made to stick fast in the mud with his 
head downwards. But fortunately for both sinners and priests, these 
punishments may be remitted if appropriate atonements, good deeds, 
and offerings are made. For corporeal sins, says Manu, a man will be re- 
born as a plant or a mineral ; for verbal sins, as a bird or a beast ; for 
mental sins, in the lowest human state. The slayer of a Brahman will be 
re-born as a dog, boar, ass, bull, etc. ; he who steals gold from a priest will 
be born a thousand times in the bodies of spiders, snakes, etc. But the 
earlier books are far surpassed by the later ones in their teaching on this 
point. Thus, in the Agni Purana it is taught that " a person who loses 
human birth passes through 8,000,000 births amongst inferior creatures 
before he can appear again on earth as a human being. Of these he 
remains 2,100,000 among the immovable parts of creation, as stones, trees, 
etc. ; 900,000 amongst the watery tribes ; 1,000,000 amongst insects, worms, 
etc. ; 1,000,000 amongst birds, and 3,000,000 amongst the beasts. In the 
ascending scale, if his works be suitable, he hves 400,000 lives amongst the 
lower castes of men, and 100 amongst Brahmans. After this he may obtain 
absorption into Brahma." To such an extent can the policy of frightening 
people into goodness, or rather into compliance with priestly demands, be 
developed. Happily the Hindus, as a rule, do not remember the sufferings 
of their imaginary previous lives or conditions ; and it is a ready way of 



MODERN HINDUISM. 251 

accounting for any misfortune to say that it is a punishment for sins com- 
mitted in a former life. 

With such views it is not surprising that death and its approach 
should be made the occasion for endeavouring to obtain future benefits, or 
relief from penalties. The Hindu is taught that after death his 
spirit will wander in wretchedness, unless he dies near the Ganges 
or some holy stream, or unless his body is burned on its banks, or at any rate 
near some water, and some portion of his ashes must be thrown into it. This 
leads to a custom of exposing the dying on the banks of rivers. Long rows 
of steps line the banks and rude buildings, used for the dying to lie in, called 
ghats. The benefits of so dying are represented as so great, that relatives 
often beheve it to be the greatest kindness to expose them, often carrying 
them through terrible heat, and exposing them at imminent risk. Great 
numbers of lives have been sacrificed in this way when the disease was by no 
means mortal ; the word of the native doctors is taken as sufficient, and great 
haste is made lest the patient should die at home. The whole scene is 
repulsive and injurious in the highest degree. A few minutes before death 
is expected the victim is brought down to the brink of the river, where he 
dies more or less immersed in the stream. No doubt in some cases advan- 
tage is taken of these circumstances to administer poison. A native writer 
says : " Persons entrusted with the care and nursing of a dying man at 
the burning ghat soon get tired of their charge (no women being allowed 
to be there) ; and rather than minister to his comforts, are known to resort 
to artificial means. The process of immersion is another name for suffoca- 
tion." So tenacious are some people of life, that they will sometimes 
survive nine or ten immersions, and be brought home again ; but their 
continued life is considered disgraceful. 

The burning of the corpse follows quickly on death. "The corpse is 
removed from its resting-place to the burning ghat, a distance of a few 
hundred yards, and preparations for a funeral pile are speedily 
made. The body is then covered with a piece of new cloth and 
laid upon the pyre, the upper and lower parts of which are composed of 
firewood, faggots, and a little sandalwood and glue to neutralise the smell. 
The Manipora Brahman, an outcaste, reads the formula, and the son, or 
nearest of kin, changing his old garments for new white clothes, at one end 
of which is fastened an iron key to keep off evil spirits, sets fire to the 
pile. The body is consumed to ashes, the portion remaining unburnt is 
thrown into the river. The son, after pouring a few jars of holy water on 
the pile, bathes in the stream and returns home with his friends." Then 
follow wild expressions of grief on the part of the women. Often the 
family cannot afford to buy enough wood to consume the corpse, and part 
is left for jackals and vultures. The Brahmans of course go through much 
more elaborate funeral ceremonies than are here indicated. 

After the cremation come the Shradda, or ceremonies for the benefit 
of the dead ; these may be comparatively inexpensive, or may be made 
the occasion of lavish expenditure. On the thirtieth day after death, offer- 



252 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

ings of food, sweetmeats, etc., are made to the spirit of the deceased and his 

or her ancestors, and at the same time a number of Brahmans 
Ceremonies ' 

for the and persons of other castes are entertained. These ceremonies 
are evidently much akin to the ancestor- worship of the Chinese, 
as already detailed, showing how powerful a factor this reverence for 
ancestral spirits has been in races very dissimilar. One of the prayers is 
^^ May those in my family who have been burnt with fire, or who are alive 
who are yet unburnt, be satisfied with the food presented on the ground, 
and proceed contented towards the supreme path ! May those who have 
no father nor mother, nor kinsman, nor food, nor supply of nourishment, be 
contented with this food offered on the ground, and attain, like it, a happy 
abode ! " Some of the food is cast into the fire, by which means it is supposed 
to reach those for whom it is intended. Brahmans repeat these ceremonies 
frequently in the first year after death, and afterwards annually. The title 
to property is most intimately bound up with the funeral rites. Only a son 
or near male relative is properly qualified to perform them ; but if males 
fail, females or other heirs may undertake the duty. Large promises are 
made in the Puranas and other sacred books to those who properly per- 
form the Shradda rites, including the forgiveness of all their own sins. The 
details, like those of all religious matters in so religious a people, are far too 
lengthy to be given. 

What about the influence of Hindu religious ideas upon their moral 

condition ? Many writers agree that this is bound up with the position of 

women, and that tmtil they are freed and elevated no permanent 

' improvement can be made. Here is an extract from a Hindu 

lady's book on the duties of wives. " The husband is the wife's religion, 

the wife's sole business, the wife's all-in-all. The wife should meditate on 

her husband as Brahma. For her, all pilgrimages should be concentrated 

Condition of o^ 1^61" husband's foot. The command of a husband is as obliga- 

wives. ^Qj.y g^y ^ precept of the Vedas. To a chaste wife her husband is 

her god. When the husband is pleased, Brahma is pleased. The husband 

is the wife's guru, her honour, the giver of her happiness, the bestower of 

fortune, righteousness, and heaven, her deliverer from sorrow and from sin." 

Of course the seclusion of women is not generally possible among the 

lower classes, but it is often aimed at by them ; and the full consequences 

Position of of the belief that the birth of a girl is a misfortune follow most 

•women, liK^ian women through life. On the contrary, Hindu women 

pray, make pilgrimages, fast, and make costly offerings, that they may have 

sons who can by performing the Shradda rites deliver their ancestors from 

sufferings after death. All a girl's worship is directed towards obtaining 

good husbands and sons, by a series of rites which we cannot particularise ; 

nor can we enlarge upon the evils of girl marriages (at the age of from 

seven to ten), and of plural marriages in the higher castes, or the details of 

wedding ceremonies, which however are full of religious significance. 

The wives of the poorer people have considerable freedom ; but among 
the richer classes a wife is the servant not only of her husband but of all 



MODERN HINDUISM. 



255 



the older women of his family. She must always be visited in the presence 
of her brothers-in-law, and must not speak to her husband in the daytime^ 
nor even take her meals with him. Too frequently she is the subject of 
painful tyranny and abuse on the part of the older women of the zenana. 

Yet the life of a Hindu wife is heaven compared with that of a childless 
widow. The faithful wife was long expected to sacrifice herself on his 
funeral pile (suttee), and, according as she did it or not, was 
lauded or cursed. Many widows in the past, from lack of courage 
to perform what they vowed, had themselves drugged and forcibly immo- 



Widows. 




Suttee. 



SHRINE OF THE GODDESS PARVATI, WIFE OF SIVA (EARLIER FORM OF KALI, DURGA, ETC.), 
IN A TEMPLE AT POONAH. 

lated. Frequently widows would most calmly and impassionately devote 

themselves to the fire, never giving a cry or a sigh of pain. So powerfully 

can the belief that they are doing what is pleasing to the gods 

and their deceased husbands work upon the Hindu women. In 

1830 suttee was proliibited in States under British rule ; but it was still 

practised in some of the native States. Mr. Wilkins states that the last case 

he heard of was about 1880. 

The extreme difficulty experienced in abolishing suttee is exj^lained by 
the treatment to which surviving widows are subjected, especially child- 
less widows, who are forbidden to marry again, and become the household 



2 54 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

drudges and objects of scorn of the zenana. One meal a day, with a fast for 
two days a month, is their hard lot ; with the deprivation of ornaments and 
of every pleasure. In many cases the sufferings of a widow are such that 
she would gladly die. No doubt the older widows are able to assert them- 
selves, and in time gain influence. But enough has been said to show that 
the key to much of the religious and social question in India is bound up 
with the condition and education of women. Some improvement has 
already come with the improved education of the better classes, and the 
partial opening of the zenanas to European ladies and to lady doctors ; and 
herein lies great hope for the future. 

The Hindu system is such that merit and pardon can be obtained for 
gross offences without any reform of heart and life. Thus it is not sur- 
Disconnection P^i^ing that theft, dishonesty, lying, ingratitude, forgery, perjury, 
of morals and revenge, cruelty, and personal immorality are very rife among 
religion, ^j^^j^^^ ^y. ^il^ins says : '' It does not surprise me at all to find 
the Hindus morally what they are, as I remember that whilst their books 
contain some of the highest and noblest moral precepts, their deities, when 
incarnate, are described as ignoring these beautiful moral lessons ; and still 
further, when I see that religion and morality are quite separate in their 
view. . . . When a Hindu's anger is excited, truth, honour, trust — all 
are forgotten, and no means are left unemployed that can injure an enemy. 
The term ' mild Hindu,' certainly is the purest sarcasm ; they submit to 
oppression and cruelty because they are physically incapable of resistance. 
Only give them the opportunity to avenge themselves and to oppose others, 
and certainly they are as vindictive in their way as any race of men on 
earth. They do not use the knife or the dagger, it is true, but they resort 
to poison, and, what is sometimes even worse, the poison of their own 
untruthful tongues." On the other hand, we must credit the Hindus with 
Hindu niuch fraternal affection and filial regard, much charity in the 
Virtues, form of gifts, great patience, industry, and ingenuity. Out of 
these elements and their great intellectual powers we may hope that there 
may yet arise a nation mighty in goodness and noble in character. 

[In addition to works referred to in the previous chapter, the following are valuable : Bose's 
"The Hindus as They Are"; H. H. Wilson's '• Hindu Sects"; "Medical Jurisprudence," by Dr. 
Norman Chevers ; Dr. Lall Mittra on "Orissa"; Eev. T. E. Slater's "Life of Keshub Chundra 
Sen"; many articles in Tlxe Calcutta Revieio.] 




>^>3o/* 




BUIDHA. AND THE LOTUS. 



BUDDHISM. 



CHAPTER V. 

iLift of joulitiba. 

The soil prepared — The founder's period — Real existence of Buddha — Buddhist sacred hooks— The 
native land of Buddha — His youth and early life— The great renunciation— His long- retirement 
—His enlightenment — His temptation— Opening of his mission — The eightfold path— The origin 
of suffering- The freedom of Buddhism — Early converts — General features of Buddha's life— alter- 
nation of itinerancy with rest — The Buddhist gardens— Buddha and the courtesan Ambapali— 
Anxious inquirers — The new order of monks — Buddha not a socialist — Buddha's principal 
adherents — Lay believers — Women and Buddhism — Reception of sisters or nuns— Opposition— 
Brahmans confuted — The best sacrifice — Method of teaching— Long-drawnd issertations— A noble 
youth's conversion— Socratic method— Parables — The book of the Great Decease— Buddha pre- 
pares for his final discourse — His last temptation — His death. 

THAT Buddhism arose in a country and among people saturated with 
Brahmanism/ as we have described it, must never be forgotten in 
contemplating its rise and development. Without pre-existing Brahman- 
ism it would have lacked its most essential elements, its rcmon The sou 
d'etre. The higher Brahman philosophy had already merged the Prepared. 
multitude of early Vedic gods into the Universal Spirit, and had developed 
very considerably their Pantheistic system ; but at the same time the fetters 
of Brahman control, the observance of expensive and frequent rites, the 
obligation to obey the Vedic teaching and the authorised comments upon it 
were made more and more strict and onerous ; and a spirit of reaction 
naturally arose. That the reform associated with the great Buddha's name 
was only one evidence of this spirit, may be seen by the account we have 
already given of other rationalist philosophies (p. 192, etc). But while these 
gave a more or less nominal assent to the Vedas, Buddhism declared the good 
man's independence of Brahmans and Vedas, and his power of working 

^ [Rhys Davids' "Hiblert Lectures." Oldenbeiii's "Buddha" (0). Sacred Books of the 
East (S.E.).] 



256 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

out his own salvation. It put forward at once a higlier ideal of a religious 
life and claimed a release from tlie bonds of Pharisaism. 

When we come to examine into the life of the supposed founder of 
Buddhism, we find great uncertainty even as to the period at which he 
The founder's lived. Many good authorities formerly placed him in the sixth 
period. ^-^^ seventh centuries B.C.; but the latest and apparently the 
pfiost reasonable view assigns him to the fifth century B.C. and places his 
death about 420-400 b.c. 

How far Brahmanism was directly connected with the origin of 
Buddhism can probably never be known ; but the deity " Brahman " of the 
earlier religion is adopted, amplified, and subdivided in early Buddhism \ 
and no doubt the encouragement of the hermit and ascetic lives had led 
to the formation of communities of hermits and ascetics who may be taken 
as the prototypes of Buddhist monastic orders. Probably there were several 
sects of new religionists, who did not stick closely to the _ Veda and professed 
to have found a more excellent way, of whom the Buddhists and Jains have 
alone remained. 

We need not doubt that Buddhism had a founder, though less may be 
attributable to him than is commonly imagined. Those who have believed 
that the story of Buddha was altogether a myth representing a 
existence of sun-hero have had to construct more imaginary tales than those 
they seek to destroy. The study of the Buddhist accounts, as 
preserved in Ceylon, written in the Pali, or sacred language of Buddhism 
(an early modification from Sanskrit), shows that from a very early time 
(supposed to be considerably before the Christian era) their religion has 
been believed to have been founded by the Knowing or Enlightened One 
(Buddha), also designated the Exalted One (Bhagava). But it must be 
confessed that we have no genuine ancient biography of Buddha dating 
from the same age as the early Pali texts. Such information as they do 
contain is rather in an incidental and unconnected form ; but this does not 
cause us to doubt his having existed and been a religious leader, for at that 
early period and among that people the idea of composing a biography of a 
man had not arisen ; and all the ancient Hindu books are destitute of any 
specimen of an attempt at even a brief biography of a man. But the 
Buddhist existence of numerous Buddhist sacred books, the composition of 
sacred books, -^jiich almost certainly took place before the council of the seven 
hundred fathers met at Vesali in the fourth century B.C., together with the 
nature of their contents, suffices to assure us that they represent the 
teaching of a great teacher, the Buddha, who preached salvation and deliver- 
ance to the people, and was in rivalry or opposition to six other heads of 
sects, of whom one, Nataputta, founded the Jain system, often represented 
as an offshoot of Buddhism, though it is rather a representative of similar 
tendencies acting at the same time. •' It is evident," says Prof. Oldenberg 
" that Buddha was a head of a monastic order of the very same type as that 
to which Nataputta belonged ; that he journeyed from town to town in the 
garb and with all the external circumstances of an ascetic, taught and 



LIFE OF BUDDHA. 



257 



gathered round liimself a band of disciples, to whom he gave simple 
ordinances." The form in which details concerning him have been pre- 
ser^T-ed is chiefly his discourses and teaching, sometimes doubtfully asso- 
ciated with the name of the place where they were uttered ; and in addition 
to this the main events of his life are frequently referred to. 

The native land of Buddha was situated between the lower Himalayas 
of Nepal and the middle course of the river E-apti, in the north-east of 
Oudh. The little river Rohim, which joins the Rapti near 
Goruckpore, about 100 miles north of Benares, is its eastern land of 
boundar^^ Both the Rohim and the Rapti appear by the same 
names in early Buddhist literature. In this fertile region, liable to heavy 
rains and long-lying inundations, the Aryan tribe or people of the Sakyas 
(the Powerful), grew rice and main- 
tained a close connection with the more 
powerful kingdom of Kosala (Oudh) to 
the south-west, which ultimately ab- 
sorbed them. Although it has been 
widely represented that the Buddha 
was a king's son, the oldest records only 
mention the father as Suddhodana, a 
wealthy landowner, one of whose wives, 
Maya, of the same tribe, died ms youth and 
soon after the birth of her early life, 
son, who was named Siddhattha, and 
was often called Sakya, or Sakya-muni, 
the Sakya sage ; this event took place 
probably somewhere about 500 B.C. He 
passed his youth in Kapila, the capital 
of the Sakyas, and there is no early 
tradition of his having become a Vedic 
student ; rather the events of his after- 
life tend the other way, exhibiting him 
as a reformer and an opponent of Brah- 
manic pretensions. He appears to have 




SEATED FIGURE OF BUDDHA. 



been married, and to have had one son, Rahula, who became one of his 
disciples ; but there is no absolutely certain detail about the reasons and 
circumstances which led him at the age of twenty-nine to The Great 
abandon his home, and become a wandering ascetic, thenceforward Reii^iiciation. 
known as the ascetic Gautama (pronounced Gowtama). One of the earliest 
records represents him as having felt deeply and often meditated on the 
weakness and decay of old age, and the horror of sickness and death, and 
having thus lost the buoyancy of youth and the enjoyment of life. Other 
early records tell that " the ascetic Gautama has gone from home into home- 
lessness, while still young, young in years, in the bloom of youthful strength , 
in the first freshness of life. The ascetic Gautama, although his parents 
did not wish it, although they shed tears and wept, has had his hair and 



258 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

beard shaved, has put on yellow garments, and has gone from his home 
into homelessness." Elsewhere we read, '' distressing is life at home, a 
state of impurity ; freedom is in leaving home ; while he reflected thus, he 
left his home." (0.) 

Thus seeking spiritual enlightenment, freedom, deliverance, Gautama 

travelled during a period of seven years, placing himself in succession under 

His long re- two notable teachers. Leaving them without being satisfied, he 

tirement. travelled through the kingdom of Magadha, and arrived at the 
town of Uruvela. There, in a beautiful forest land, he spent many years in 
self- discipline, repressing and curbing his desires and aspirations, and 
waiting for supreme enhghtenment. Fasting, suppression of the breath, 
and other forms of self-mortification were tried with the greatest persistence, 
but in vain. Five other ascetics, who had been his companions for a time, 
abandoned him. Finally came the great crisis, when, sitting under a tree 
His eniight- (the Bo-tree, or Tree of Knowledge), he passed through successive 

enment. gtages of abstraction until he became enlightened about the 
transmigrations of souls, and the Four Sacred Truths, (1) that suffering is 
universal in the world ; (2) that its cause is desire or attachment ; (3) that 
it can be ended by Nirvana ; (4) the way to attain Nirvana. " When I 
apprehended this," say the early records, " and when I beheld this, my 
soul was released from the evil of desire, released from the evil of earthly 
existence, released from the evil of error, released from the evil of ignorance. 
In the released awoke the knowledge of release ; extinct is re-birth, finished 
the'sacred course, duty done, no more shall I return to this world ; this I 
knew." (0.) He had become the Buddha, the awakened, the enlightened. 

For'some time Buddha remained near the tree of knowledge, fasting 
and enjoying the happiness of deliverance ; the oldest narrative states that 
His tempta- this period lasted four times seven days. After this time, he is 
tion. believed to have undergone severe temptation to enter at once 
into the desired condition of Nirvana instead of preaching his doctrine to the 
world. Meeting a Brahman, who questions his right to assume the title of 
Brahman, Buddha tells him that he is a true Brahman who has put away 
all evil from himself, who knows nothing of contempt or impurity, and has 
conquered himself. Finally at the request of the supreme Being Himself, 
Brahma Sahampati, Buddha resolved to proclaim to the world the truth he 
had attained. 

Buddha's formal mission, by general consent, opened at Benares. He is 
supposed to have started with preaching to the ascetics who had been his 

Opening of former companions, expounding to them the perfect way, a mean 

Ms mission, "between mortification and self-indulgence, and leading to rest, to 
knowledge, to enlightenment, to Nirvana, by the eightfold path : " Right 
The eightfold faith, right resolve, right speech, right action, right living, right 
path. effort, right thought, right self-concentration." This, his first 
sermon, is recorded in a form which, if it can scarcely be regarded as giving 
the actual words Buddha uttered, embody a very early form of what the 
Buddhist monks regarded a the essence of their master's teaching. As we 



LIFE OF BUDDHA, 259 



read it, we realise more vividly liow suffering was regarded by Hindus 
generally as the bane of existence, a feeling which might well The origin of 
arise in the ceaseless turmoil of strife and oppression among which suffering, 
they Hved. '' Birth is suffering, old age is suffering, sickness is suffering, 
death is suffering, to be united with the unloved is suffering, to be separated 
from the loved is suffering, not to obtain what one desires is suffering ; in 
short, the fivefold clinging to the earthly is suffering." 

" This, monks, is the sacred truth of the origin of suffering : it is the 
thirst for being, which leads from birth to birth, together with lust and 
desii'e, which finds gratification here and there ; the thirst for pleasures, the 
thirst for being, the thirst for power." 

^' This, monks, is the sacred truth of the extinction of suffering, the 
extinction of this thirst by complete annihilation of desire, letting it go, 
expelling it, separating oneself from it, giving it no room." He then 
expounded to them the eightfold path, by which he had attained the 
supreme Buddhahood in this world and the worlds of gods. Henceforth 
there was for him no new birth. The new doctrine is summed up thus : — 
" Walk in purity, to make an end of all suffering." 

The five ascetics being the first converts, others soon began to flock 
round them, and Buddha sent them forth to preach in the surrounding 
country. A conspicuous feature in their teaching, contrasting The freedom 
markedly with that of the Brahmans, was their freedom from °^ ^^*^*^^^^^- 
constraint, from forms, from ceremonies, from Pharisaism. " I am loosed 
from all bands, divine and human," says Buddha. " Ye also, disciples, 
are loosed from all bands, divine and human. Go ye out, disciples, and 
travel from place to place for the welfare of many people, for the joy of 
many people, in pity for the world, for the blessing, welfare, and joy of gods 
and men. Go not in twos to one place." 

Returning then to Uruvela, where he had entered into the knowledge 
of deliverance, he preaches to a band of ascetics, whose leader, Kassapa, he 
converts after performing numerous miracles, according to the re- Early 
cords. The whole body then proceeded to Rajagaha, the capital of converts. 
Magadha (Behar), whose king, Bimbisara, he converted ; this was followed 
by the conversion of many of the noble youths of Magadha, so much so as 
to lead to much murmuring, the people fearing that the ascetic was come 
to bring childlessness and widowhood and the subversion of families. 

From this time forward we can frame no proper history of Buddha's 
life ; but from the early records about him it is easy to realise the general 
nature of liis career, although without those touches of individu- General 
ality which Hebrews and Europeans so well knew how to hand features of 
down, but which have scarcely been noted by the Hindus and 
Chinese. »This is partly because individuality, as we understand, it was 
largely undeveloped among them. Their civilisation created types rather 
than individuals, accustomed continually to do the same thing, feel simi- 
larly, and think alike. But one thing is certain ; in early Buddhism there 
is little trace of a contradictory spirit within the order, no trace of a disciple 



26o THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS, 

developing the master's teaching in new and unexpected directions, or mak- 
ing himself a second founder. Whether Buddha himself was all that he is 
described in the earliest records or not, he has no rival, and his disciples 
closely imitated what they believed him to have said or done. Thus the pic- 
ture of Buddha's life will describe much of that of his immediate disciples. 
The contrast of the principal Indian seasons marks the two chief 
alternations in Buddha's life. The three rainy months necessitated a season 

,of rest and retirement in or near towns and villasies ; and this 
Alternation of . o 7 

itinerancy period was devoted partly to teaching the disciples who flocked 
round him. The rest of the year was spent by Buddha in travel- 
ling from place to place, attended by disciples, throughout the kingdoms of 
Kosala and Magadha and their neighbourhood, chiefly comprised within 
Oudh and Behar. They do not appear to have entered Western Hindustan 
where Brahmanism had its stronghold. Near the chief cities of these king- 
doms, Savatthi (now Sahet Mahet on the Rapti), and Rajagaha (now 
Rajgir), pleasant gardens were given to Buddha and his followers, well 
provided with places for lodging, eating, and assembling. We may gather 
some idea of what these places were like from a description in one of the 
The Buddhist early Buddhist books. " Not too far from, nor yet too near the 
gardens, -^own, well provided with entrances and exits, easily accessible to 
all people who inquire after it, with not too much of the bustle of life by 
day, quiet by night, far from commotion and the crowds of men, a place of 
retirement, a good spot for solitary meditation." Here were beautiful groves 
of trees, pools in which the symbolic lotus grew, and every convenience for 
meetings ; and such on a smaller scale were provided in many other places. 
Among the visitors were strangers from distant countries, and those who 
had accepted the teaching of his disciples and longed to see him ; even kings 
and chiefs thronged to see him and to hear his teaching. In some cases the 
rulers of a town commanded every inhabitant to go forth and meet the 
Exalted One when arriving, under a heavy penalty. 

One of the most remarkable records in the Buddhist books is that re- 
lating the conversion of a courtesan, and his preference of her invitation 
Buddh d ^^ ^"^^ of the noblest people. This has been compared to a well- 
the courtesanknown incident in the life 'of Christ; but it must be confessed 
m apa 1. ^^^ ^^ resemblance is but superficial. The following is abridged 
from the " Book of the Great Decease." 

" Now the courtesan Ambapali heard that the Blessed One had arrived 
at Vesali and was staying at her mango grove. And ordering a number of 
magnificent vehicles to be made ready, she mounted one of them, and pro- 
ceeded with her train towards her garden. She went in the carriage as far 
as the ground was passable for carriages ; there she alighted, and she pro- 
ceeded on foot to the place where the Blessed One was, and took her seat 
respectfully on one side, and when she was thus seated, the Blessed One 
instructed, aroused, incited, and gladdened her with rehgious discourse. 

" Then she, instructed, aroused, incited, and gladdened with his words — 
addressed the Blessed One and said : — 



LIFE OF BUDDHA. 261 



" ' May the Blessed One do me the honour of taking his meal, together 
with the brethren, at my house to-morrow.' 

"And the Blessed One gave by silence his consent. Then when 
Ambapali, the courtesan, saw that the Blessed One had consented, she rose 
from her seat and bowed down before him, and keeping him on her right 
hand as she passed him, she departed thence. 

" Now the Likhavis of Vesali (rich noble youths) heard that the Blessed 
One had arrived at Vesali, and was staying at Ambapali's grove, and pro- 
ceeded to invite Buddha to dinner the next day ; but he refused, saying 
he was already engaged to dine with Ambapali. 

" And the Blessed One robed himself early in the morning and took 
his bowl, and went with the brethren to the place where Ambapali's 
dwelling-house was ; and when he had come there he seated himself on the 
seat prepared for him, and Ambapali, the courtesan, set the sweet rice and 
cakes before the Order, with the Buddha at their head, and waited upon 
them till they refused any more. 

" And when the Blessed One had quite finished his meal, the courtesan 
had a low stool brought, and sat down at his side, and addressed the Blessed 
One, and said : ' Lord, I present this mansion to the order of mendicants, of 
which Buddha is the chief.' And the Blessed One accepted the gift ; and after 
instructing, and rousing, and inciting, and gladdening her with religious 
discourse, he rose from his seat and departed thence." 

Here it will be noted that there is absolutely no teaching special to 
the case. The regular formulas are supposed to have been uttered, and to 
have proved invincible, so that the hearer yielded absolutely. The great 
points are the condescending to take a meal with the courtesan (a woman 
of considerable property, nevertheless), and preferring her invitation to that 
of rich young nobles, whose forms were compared with those of the Vedic 
gods. 

Among those who visited Buddha are distinguished Brahmans, who seek 
enlightenment on their differences from him, and are brought to see the un- 
reality of their own religious views and the truth of the Buddhist Anxious 
belief, — as well as logical casuists, who lay traps for him, and seek inquirers, 
to make him contradict himself. In fact all sorts and conditions of men, 
except apparently the poor, resort to Buddha to obtain the knowledge he 
had to impart ; and they usually signalise their adhesion to his order by 
giving him and his companions a dinner, followed again by spiritual in- 
struction. When he had no invitation, Buddha and his companions would 
traverse the town carrying bowls and seeking alms. As Dr. Oldenberg 
says : " In the days when his reputation stood at its highest point, and his 
name was named throughout India among the foremost names, one might 
day by day see that man before whom kings bowed themselves, walking 
about, alms-bowl in hand, through streets and alleys, from liouse to house, 
and without uttering any request, with downcast look, stand silently waiting 
until a morsel of food was thrown into his bowl." 

But the great achievement of Buddha, apart from his doctrine, was his 



262 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

formation of a new society, composed of the Bhikkliu or Bhiggu, which cannot 
Theneworderl^e accurately rendered in its Buddhist sense. It has often been 
of monks, rendered "monks," but literally it signifies " beggar," " mendi- 
cant." Yet they did not, strictly speaking, beg at all ; they had given up 
all worldly things, but were not secluded from society, and hence were not 
strictly monks ; they took no vow of obedience, and could leave the order 
when they chose. They were not priests, as they had no rites to administer, 
and were not in any sense the vehicle of the worship of others. Perhaps 
the terms " brethren " or " members of the Order " would be least mislead- 
ing ; but the name of monk is most used. Their outward signs of member- 
ship were the tonsure and a yellow garment. 

That Buddha should so readily have established a separated Order, 
shows that the idea of separation from the world to lead a rehgious life 
had already a wide influence in his time. It appears to have soon become 
a regular thing for convinced inquirers to profess their belief in the Blessed 
One, and to ask him to accept them as disciples and true believers ; and he 
would receive them in some such form as this : " Come hither, monk ; 
well preached is the doctrine, walk in purity, to make an end of all suffer- 
ing." Having given all his property to the Order, or at any rate having 
renounced it, having quitted family ties, and vowed to live a life of chastity, 
they in many cases set out on their travels to spread the principles taught 
by the Buddha. Personal ambition, personal exaltation, vanity, self-seek- 
ing, henceforth had no place among them. Caste was abolished, or rather 
ignored, by these men who had renounced the world. Buddha is said 
to have answered a king thus : " If a slave or servant of the king puts 
on the yellow garment, and lives as a monk without reproach in thought, 
word, and deed, wouldest thou then say. Well then, let this man still be my 
slave and servant, to stand in my presence, bow before me, take upon 
himself to perform my behests, live to minister to my enjoyments, speak 
deferentially, hang upon my word?" And the king answers, "No, sire; 
I should bow before him, stand before him, invite him to sit down, give 
him what he needed in the way of clothing, food, shelter, and of medicine 
when he is ill, and I should assure him of protection, watch and ward, 
as is becoming." And this treatment, it is inferred, is what Buddha ap- 
proved. 

Prof. Oldenberg strongly combats the idea that Buddha was specially 
a social reformer, who broke the chains of caste, and raised the poor and 
Buddha not a ^ii^-l^l® to his spiritual kingdom. There is no notion in his 
socialist, teaching of upsetting the established order of things and sup- 
planting it by a new one. " Buddha's spirit was a stranger to that 
enthusiasm, without which no one can pose as the champion of the oppressed 
against the oppressor. Let the state and society remain what they are \ 
the religious man who as a monk has renounced the world, has no part in 
its cares and occupations. Caste has no value for him, for everything 
earthly has ceased to affect his interests ; but it never occurs to him to 
exercise his influence for its abolition or for the mitigation of the severity 



LIFE OF BUDDHA, 263 



of its rules for those who have lagged behind in worldly surroundings." 
It is scarcel}^ even true that Buddha practically presented an equal front 
to all classes of people. Those who were among his early chosen adherents 
were almost exclusively drawn from the upper classes, nobles, Brahmans, 
merchants, educated persons. We find in early Buddhist works such 
phrases as these : " Truly not undesired by the Exalted One is such an 
interview with such noble youths." •' The good- will of such a respected 
and well-known person towards this doctrine and ordinance is of the 
highest importance." Scarcely can an isolated story be found of the 
reception of a person of very low grade, such as the sweeper-away of 
withered flowers from temples and palaces ; and in his case the moral which 
specially follows is directed against the exclusiveness of the Brahmans. 
'' By holy zeal and chaste living, by restraint and self-repression, thereby 
a man becomes a Brahman ; that is the highest Brahmanhood." The weak 
and children are scarcely mentioned. " To the wise belongeth this law," 
it was said, '' not to the foolish." 

We need only briefly mention Buddha's principal adherents, as all 
resemble one another in purity, in the attainment of perfect peace, and in 
devotion to Buddha : Sariputta and Moggallana, early converts Buddha's 
from Brahmanism, following him through life, but dying shortly principal 
before Buddha ; his own cousin Ananda, and his brother Deva- 
datta ; Upali the court barber of the Sakyas. Ananda seems to have 
served as personal attendant to Buddha in his old age, and to have often 
accompanied him alone ; to him many of his last discourses were specially 
addressed. Devadatta is the traditional traitor, who sought to supplant his 
brother in chief influence, and is said to have attempted to kill him, a project 
which was frustrated by many recorded miracles. Devadatta is related to 
have attempted to enforce a more ascetic discipline on the monks, and to 
have failed miserably. 

Besides the monks, Buddha recognised lay believers, those who honoured 
his teaching as the truth, but who remained in the world, and were per- 
mitted to give gifts and exercise charity to the brethren of the - . ,. 
Order. In fact this was but a recognition of the necessities of 
the case. If there were no adherents outside the mendicant members, and 
if all other persons were opponents, there would be little possibility of 
supporting the members ; of course their maintenance in such a country 
as India cost very little, but still it was needed and had to be provided. 
No special form of reception of lay adherents was provided, and they never 
had any share in the government of Buddhism. And as with regard 
to the brethren or monks, so with regard to the lay-adherents, much more 
prominence is given to the princes and nobles, Brahmans and merchants, 
who appear to have constituted by far the largest proportion of them, than 
to the poor. Thus Buddha and his monks gathered round them crowds of 
votaries who could receive and maintain them and convene assemblies to 
hear them speak, or who accompanied them in various vehicles or on foot. 

In relation to women Buddha was in some respects more liberal and 



264 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

in some less so than the Brahmans. Brahmanism expected the Vedic 
Women and student to become a householder, to marry, and to bring up a 
Buddhism, family to continue the sacrificial rites; yet women were kept 
strictly in a subordinate, practically in a servile position. Buddhist monks 
were to abjure marriage and intimate relations with women, as utterly 
inconsistent with their profession ; but women were admissible as sisters 
of the Order, analogous to nuns, under severe restraints as to intimacy 
with men. Women were recognised as lay adherents, and indeed the 
maintenance of the Order would have been very much more difficult without 
their ministrations. But the toleration and even welcome of women came 
rather late in the day. At an early period, when Buddha was asked by 
Ananda how the brethren should behave to women, he answers, " Don't 
look at them " ; and when further pressed, "If we should see them, what 
are we to do ?" he replies, "Don't speak to them " ; and again, " If they 
should speak to us, what are we to do ? " " Keep wide awake," is the 
master's advice, or as another translation has it, " Keep watch over your- 
selves," and that this view continued in considerable force may be gathered 
from the moral of one of the later Buddhist narratives, — " Unfathomably 
deep, like a fish's course in the water, is the character of women, robbers 
with many artifices, with whom truth is hard to find, to whom a lie is 
like the truth and the truth like a lie." 

But wider experience somewhat modified Buddha's attitude towards 
women, though not without much hesitation. His foster-mother and his 
Reception of ^^^"^^P^® Ananda at last persuaded him, on the ground that women 
sisters were capable of realising the four-fold path. He, however, 
imposed upon them eight rules, such as that a nun, of however 
long standing, was always to serve and to rise in the presence of a monk, 
even if only just initiated ; and in several respects nuns were placed in 
subordination to the monks ; they must be initiated by monks as well as 
nuns, and receive admonition from monks. But Buddha is very mournful, 
and is represented as saying that the good la-w will not now last more than 
five hundred years. As when mildew or blight visits a crop, it does not last 
long, so " u.nder whatever discipline women are allowed to go forth from the 
household life into the homeless state, that religion does not last long. And 
just as a man would in anticipation build an embankment to a great reser- 
voir, so have I laid down these eight chief rules for the sisters, not to be 
overpassed through their life." The female disciples were to adopt the same 
rules as the men, so far as applicable ; and the general rule was applied, that 
whatever doctrines conduced to peace and not to passion, to veneration and 
not to pride, to wishing for little and not to wishing for much, to seclusion 
and not to love of society, to the exercise of zeal and not to sloth, to content 
and not to querulousness, these doctrines were the teaching of the Master. 

^^ On the opposite page is represented one of the elaborate gateways of a solid stupa 
or tope, as old as Asoka's time; the sculptures on the gateways (about 35 feet high) re- 
present scenes from the life of Buddba, and other Buddhist legends. They date probably 
from the first century A.D. 



LIFE OF BUDDHA. 



265 




K.^Sr GAXx:. (Ji XilE OKEAT TOPK, SANCHI, XJiAU BHlLbA, BHOPAL. 

A great many disabilities and restrictions as to wearing apparel, decoration 
of the body and face, habits and occupations, etc., were imposed. Never- 



2 66 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

theless, Buddha and his followers frequently received large hospitality from 
women, who, however, were to regard themselves as benefited by being 
allowed to give anything to the saints. Yisakha, a rich and noble woman 
of Savatthi, voluntarily offered clothing, food, and medicine for both incom- 
ing and outgoing monks, asking this as a boon. Buddha's response was : 
''Whatsoever woman, upright in life, a disciple of the Happy One, gives, 
glad at heart and overcoming avarice, both food and drink — a gift heavenly, 
destructive of sorrow, productive of bliss — a heavenly life does she attain, 
entering upon the path that is free from corriiption and impurity ; aiming 
at good, happy does she become, and free from sickness, and long does she 
rejoice in a heavenly body." 

It is striking how little we hear of active opposition to Buddha in the 
Buddhist literature. This of course may proceed from concealment ; but 
seeing the undoubted great prosperity of Buddhism, serious 
opponents would have been mentioned, if only to show how they 
had been overthrown. But Buddhism arose in the eastern land where 
Brahmanism had not taken such strong root as in the north-west. Numerous 
bodies of ascetics and religious freethinkers had arisen ; and we must bear 
in mind the predominant religiousness of the Hindus, which would lead 
them naturally to revere a seeker after religious truth, especially one who 
renounced worldly possessions, and who did not in any way disturb the 
general peace and order. In fact the asceticism sanctioned or encouraged by 
the Brahman literature and practice ha.d numerous points of resemblance to 
that of Buddha. Yet it could only be in a country where high Brahman 
pretensions were already questioned, or denied, that Buddha could have so 
severely criticised their system. Sacrifices, Yedic teaching, caste, were to 
him as nothing. In a kind of Socratic method, when questioned by Brah- 
mans as to the right path, Buddha makes them acknowledge that the paths 
announced in the Yedas have not enabled any of the Brahmans to see 
Brahma face to face, or to know him, or where and whence he is ; and he 
declares that the boasted knowledge of the Brahmans is foolishness : "As 
when a string of blind men are clinging one to the other, neither can the 
Brahmans foremost see, nor can the middle one see, nor can the hindmost 
confuted, g^g ?? ^\{\^ is followed by an elaborate series of images demon- 
strating the same thing. The Brahmans, he says, are hindered from know- 
ing the truth by five obstacles, — lustful desire, malice, sloth and idleness, 
pride and self-righteousness, and doubt. All these things are absent from 
Brahma, and consequently the Brahmans could never become united with 
him. In answer to the appeal that he would show the Brahmans the way 
to a state of union with Brahma, Buddha says that from time to time an 
unsurpassed teacher is born into the world as a guide to erring mortals, a 
fully enlightened one, a blessed Buddha. He thoroughly understands the 
universe, gods and men, and makes his knowledge known to others. " The 
truth doth he proclaim both in its letter and in its spirit, lovely in its origin, 
lovely in its progress, lovely in its consummation ; the higher life doth he 
make known, in all its purity and in all its perfectness." A householder 



LIFE 01 BUDDHA, 267 



hears the truth and believes in the Buddha and then considers, " Full of 
hindrances is household life, a path defiled by passion ; free as the air is the 
life of him who has renounced all worldly things. How difficult is it for 
the man who dwells at home to live the higher life in all its fulness, in all 
its purity, in all its bright perfection ! Let me then cut off my hair and 
beard, let me clothe myself in the orange-coloured robes, and let me go forth 
from a household life into the homeless state ! " 

" Then, before long, forsaking his portion of wealth, be it great or be it 
small ; forsaking his circle of relatives, be they many or be they few, he 
cuts off his hair and beard, he clothes himself in the orange-coloured robes, 
and he goes forth from the household life into the homeless state. 

" When he has thus become a recluse, he passes a life self-restrained 
according to the rules of the Pattimokka ; uprightness is his delight, and he 
sees danger in the least of these things he should avoid; he adopts and 
trains himself in the precepts ; he encompasses himself with holiness in 
word and deed ; he sustains his life by means that are quite pure ; good is 
his conduct, guarded the door of his senses ; mindful and self-possessed, he 
is altogether happy." (S.E.) 

Buddha is equally prepared to expound to Brahmans the essentials of 
a proper sacrifice. A great king of former days, he says, after great ex-* 
ploits, and establishing peace and prosperity in his land, and remedying 
evils, made a great sacrifice at which no animals were slain and no trees 
were cut down ; simply libations of milk, oil, and honey were offered. But 
Buddha proclaims that a better and easier sacrifice than that, is to The best 
make gifts to pious monks, and build dwelling-places for him and sacrifice, 
his Order. A higher offering was to accept Buddha's doctrine ; higher still 
to become a monk ; while the highest offering was to obtain deliverance^ 
and the knowledge, " I shall not again return to this world." 

How far the rival ascetic bodies and their leaders openly disputed the 
progress of Buddha we cannot tell. Later we find some traces of inter- 
change of civilities between them, and also some attempts to deprive each 
other of the aid of influential people. Buddha's greatest distinction from 
the various brotherhoods was his disparagment of self-mortification. He 
had discovered that this last was gloomy, unworthy, unreal. The life of 
pleasure and sensual enjoyment was base and ignoble. The perfect hfe was 
the middle way, the eight-fold path. Thus he exemplified with remarkable 
force the strength which lies in a middle course ; it certainly powerfully 
helped to make his the religious community with the largest following in 
the world. 

The general method of Buddha's teaching was oral and conversational. 
Such a thing as icriting a book was not then dreamt of, although book- 
learning was highly developed. But learning by heart seemed Method 
then the only possible or stable form of it ; and no doubt it was of teaching, 
once thought a great innovation, and probably an unreasonable thing, for 
any one to attempt to write out a book in full, when it was so easy and so 
common to commit the contents to memory. We, with our comparatively 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



feeble recollections of the contents of any given book, do not realise a state 
of society when people who were learned knew their few books by heart 
more perfectly than most of us know anything. But personal teaching was 
then as influential as it ever has been, perhaps more so. The accounts 
given of Buddha's interviews with disciples, even if not precisely accurate, 
must represent a kind of interview which was the common type of such 
teaching, and which at that very early age was accepted as the type of his 
teaching. Unlike the Vedic books, which are in the pure high Sanskrit, the 
books of Buddhism are in the popular dialect ; and in the sayings attributed 
to Buddha there is no trace of Sanskrit being used. Indeed, he is reported 
to have given directions that every believer should learn the words of 
Buddha in his own tongue. 

Everything in the Buddhist narratives bears the stamp of an age which 
had become accustomed to solemn, long-drawn dissertations, and in which 
Long-drawn people of leisure, or who had abandoned the world, gave them- 
dissertations. gQJygg ^p ^q continual speculation on the causes of various 
phenomena, or of troubles and difficulties. There is no trace of a life like 
our hurried modern one, in which only the smallest possible time is given 
to any one thing. With these old Hindus there was always plenty of time 
if a discussion was on foot, and it must be conducted in. an orderly, sober 
fashion, with due ceremony and full elaboration. The great heat caused 
a tendency to indolent gravity and long-drawn-out expression. Compression 
and selection were scarcely attempted. The Upanishads, even if not com- 
posed before the Buddhist books, were in existence about the same time, and 
testify to the widespread spirit of abstraction and philosophising. So that 
the form of Buddhist teaching was due to the spirit of the more educated 
among the Hindus, as it had been developed by the Vedic and post- Vedic 
literature. Although there is considerable variety in the matter and often 
much beaut}^ in the illustrations used in the discourses attributed to 
Buddha, the following gives an idea of a method frequently followed by 
him. 

He is expressing the thought that all the senses and the outer things 
which they perceive are eaten away by the sorrows and the fleeting nature 
of mortal affairs. He thus addresses the thousand disciples or monks who 
were with him. '' Then said the Blessed One to the disciples : ' Everything, 
O disciples, is in flames. And what Everything, disciples, is in flames ? 
The eye, disciples, is in flames ; the visible is in flames; the knowledge of 
the visible is in flames ; the contact with the visible is in flames, the feeling 
which arises from contact with the visible, be it pleasure, be it pain, be it 
neither pleasure nor pain, this also is in flames. By what Are is it kindled ? 
By the fire of desire, by the fire of hate, by the fire of fascination, it is 
kindled ; by birth, old age, death, pain, lamentation, sorrow, grief, despair, 
it is kindled : thus I say. The ear is in flames,' " and' so on through a 
similar repetition of every detail ; and the same with the senses of smell, 
taste, touch, and with the mind, forming a long discourse, very monotonous 
to us, but probably delighting the hearers. It then goes on, '' Considering 



LIFE OF BUDDHA. 269 



tliis, disciples, a wise hearer, walking in tlie noble path, becomes weary 
of the eye, weary of visible things," and so on through the whole detail once 
more. Then, " becoming weary of all that, he becomes free from desire ; 
free from desire he becomes delivered ; in the delivered arises the know- 
ledge,! am delivered ; re-birth is at an end, perfected is holiness, duty done; 
there is no more returnhig to this world ; he knows this." When this 
discourse had been delivered, the minds of these thousand disciples became 
free from attachment to the world. (0.) 

The mode of converting a noble youth who was already mentally pre- 
pared is thus represented (Mahavagga I. 7, S.E.). " At that time there was 
in Benares a noble youth, Yasa by name, the son of a treasurer, 
and delicately nurtured. He had three palaces, one for winter, youth's 
one for summer, and one for the rainy season. In the palace for 
the rainy season he lived during the four months of that season, surrounded 
with female musicians among whom no man was, and he did not descend 
from that palace all that time. Now one day Yasa, the noble youth, who 
was endowed with and possessed of the five pleasures of sense, while he was 
attended by those female musicians, fell asleep sooner than usual : and after 
him his attendants also fell asleep. Now an oil lamp was burning through 
the whole night, 

" And Yasa, the noble youth, awoke sooner than usual ; and he saw his 
attendants sleeping ; one had her lute leaning against her armpit, one had 
her tabor leaning against her neck, one had her drum leaning against her 
armpit, and one had dishevelled hair, one had saliva flowing from her 
mouth, and they were muttering in their sleep. One would think it was a 
cemetery one had fallen into. When he saw that, the evils of the life he 
led manifested themselves to him ; his mind became weary of worldly 
pleasures. And Yasa, the noble youth, gave utterance to this solemn 
exclamation : ' Alas ! what distress ; alas ! what danger ! ' So he went on 
into the night and sought Buddha, who was walking up and down at dawn. 
To him he expressed his distress. Buddha replied to him, ' Here is no dis- 
tress, Yasa ; here is no danger. Come here, Yasa, sit down ; I will teach you 
the truth ' (Dhamma). And Yasa, the noble youth, when he heard that 
there was no distress, and that there was no danger, became glad and 
joyful ; and he put off his gilt slippers, and went to the place where the 
Blessed One was ; having approached him and having respectfully saluted 
the Blessed One, he sat down near him. Then the Blessed One preached to 
him in due course : that is to say, he talked about the merits obtained by 
almsgiving, about the duties of morality, about heaven, about the evils, the 
vanity, and the sinfulness of desires, and about the blessings of the abandon- 
ment of desire. 

" When the Blessed One saw that the mind of Yasa, the noble youth, 
was prepared, impressible, free from obstacles, elated, and believing, then he 
preached what is the principal doctrine of the Buddhas, namely, Suffering, 
the cause of suffering, the cessation of suffering, the Path." So Yasa became 
a convert and subsequently a monk ; and his father also received the truth. 



2 70 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

wliich fact is thus elaborately expressed : '' The treasurer, the householder, 
having seen the truth, having mastered the truth, having penetrated the 
truth, having overcome uncertainty, having dispelled all doubts, having gained 
full knowledge, dependent on nobody else for the knowledge of the doctrine 
of the Teacher, said to the Blessed One : ' Grlorious Lord! Grlorious Lord! just 
as if one should set up, Lord, what had been overturned, or should reveal 
what had been hidden, or should point out the way to one who had lost his 
way, or should bring a lamp into the darkness, thus has the Blessed One 
preached the doctrine in many ways. I take my refuge in the Blessed One, 
and in the Truth, and in the Order of the monks ; may the Blessed One 
receive me from this day forth while my life lasts, as a disciple who has 
taken his refuge in him." These are typical stories ; whether it is that there 
was not much necessity for adaptation to the individual cases, or that such 
individual touches have been lost by the narration, we find little but general 
teaching. There is one simple consistent teaching, one refuge for all who 
would attain full knowledge, — to join the Order of monks. 

Something like the Socratic method is not infrequently made use of 
when an argument is held with a learned person. Thus, in arguing with 
Socratic Brahmans, Buddha says: "Is Brahma in possession of wives and 
metiiod. wealth, or is he not ? " — " He is not." " Is his mind full of anger, 
or free from anger ? " — '' Free from anger." " Is his mind full of malice, or 
free from malice ? " — " Free from malice." '' Is his mind depraved, or 
pure? " — " It is pure." '^ Has he self-mastery, or has he not? " — " He has." 
" Now, what think you, are Brahmans versed in the Vedas in the possession 
of wives and wealth, or are they not ? " — " They are." And so on through 
all the questions ; leading to the triumphant reply : " Can there then be 
agreement and likeness between the Brahmans with their wives and 
property, and Brahma who has none of these things ? " 

It is noteworthy how frequently parables and similes are made use of 
in the higher Buddhist teaching. Here is an instance. 

" Just as when a hen has eight or ten or twelve eggs, and the hen has 
properly brooded over them, properly sat upon them, properly sat herself 
round them, however much such a wish mav arise in her heart as 
this, " Oh, would that my little chickens should break open the 
egg-shell with the points of their claws, or with their beaks, and come forth 
into the light in safety ! " yet all the while those little chickens are sure to 
break the egg-shell with the points of their claws, or with their beaks, and 
to come forth into the light in safety. Just even so, a brother thus endowed 
with fifteenfold determination is sure to come forth into the light, sure to 
reach up to the higher wisdom, sure to attain to the supreme security." 
The lesson is, that the result is quite certain, however much doubt the hen 
or the believer may have about it. (S.E. xi.) 

In one place Buddha says : "I shall show you a parable ; by a parable 
many a wise man perceives the meaning of what is being said." His own 
preaching is compared to the physician's work, drawing poisoned arrows 
from wounds, and overcoming the venom by remedies. Like the lotus fiower, 



LIFE OF BUDDHA. 271 



raising its head in the lake, unaffected by the water, so the Buddhas are 
unaffected by the world's impurity. One of the most elaborate parables is 
the following, part of which we quote. '' As when, disciples, in the 
forest, on a mountain slope, there lies a great tract of lowland and water, 
where a great herd of deer lives, and there comes a man who desires hurt, 
distress, and danger for the deer ; who covers over and shuts up the path 
which is safe, good, and pleasant to take, and opens up a fresh path, a swampy 
path, a marshy track : thenceforward the great herd of deer incurs hurt 
and danger, and diminishes. But now, disciples, if a man comes, who 
desires prosperity, welfare, and safety for this great herd of deer : who 
clears and opens up the path which is safe, good, and pleasant to take, and 
does away with the false path, and abolishes the swampy path, the marshy 
track, thenceforth will the great herd of deer thrive, grow, and increase. I 
have spoken to you, disciples, in a parable, to make known my meaning. 
But the meaning is this. The great lowland and the water, disciples, are 
pleasures. The great herds of deer are living men. The man who devises 
hurt, distress, and ruin, is Mara, the evil one. The false path is the eight- 
fold false path, false faith, false resolve, false speech, false action, false 
living, false effort, false thought, false self-concentration. The swampy 
way is pleasure and desire. The swampy track is ignorance. The man 
who devises prosperity, welfare, salvation, is the Perfect One, the holy 
supreme Buddha. The safe good way in which it is well to walk, is the 
eightfold path," etc. " Everything that a master who seeks the salvation 
of his disciples, who pities them, must do out of pity for them, that have 
I done for you." (0.) Fables, too, were not infrequently introduced into 
Buddha's discourses. 

THE BOOK OF THE GREAT DECEASE, 

"We now come to the record of Buddha's death and the events im- 
mediately preceding it, contained in the " Book of the Great Decease," 
which has been compared to a gospel. This book comes to us apparently 
from the latter end of the fourth or beginning of the third century B.C., about 
a hundred years after Buddha's death. The author is unknown. The date 
of Buddha's death cannot be determined from it, but he appears to have 
been about eighty years of age, and to have exercised his public mission for 
about forty-four years. He is represented as journeying from Eajagaha, 
the capital of Magadha, to Pataliputta (Patna), the new capital, whose future 
greatness he prophesies. The narrative throughout contains summaries of 
discourses and directions which Buddha had probably given on iDrevious 
dates. Journeying on, he was attacked by a severe illness, which Buddha 
he subdued temporarily by great resolution, having a strong ^^^^I'g^jfJ^^ 
desire to give a farewell address to the Order. He asserts to discourse. 
Ananda that he has kept back nothing, and he no longer wished to lead 
the brotherhood or thought that the Order was dependent upon him. "I 
too, Ananda, am now grown old and full of years, my journey is drawing 



272 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS, 



to its close, I have reached my sum of days, I am turning eighty years of 
age; and just as a worn-out cart, Ananda, can only with much additional 
care be made to move along, so, methinks, the body of the Enlightened One 
can only be kept going with much additional care." He advised his people- 
to be a refuge to themselves, and not look for any other, and above all, be 




COLOSSAL FIGUKE OF BUJDDH.\, CEYLON. 



anxious to learn. The tempter Mara came to him, suggesting that he 
His last should voluntarily die at once, as all his objects were accom- 
r temptation, pushed ; he however still elected to live three months. And the 
narrative goes on: "Thus the Blessed One deliberately and consciously 
rejected the rest of his allotted sum of life, and on his rejecting it there 
arose a mighty earthquake, awful and terrible, and the thunders of heaven 



LIFE OF BUDDHA. 273 



burst forth, and when the Blessed One beheld this, he broke out into this 
hymn of exultation : — 

' His sum of life the sage renounced, 
The course of life immeasurable or small ; 
With inward joy and calm, he broke, 
Like coat of mail, his life's own cause.' " 

He then gave a summary of his most essential teachings to the assembled 
disciples, and concluded thus :— 

■' My age is now full ripe, my life draws to its close : 
I leave you, I depart, relying on myself alone ! 
Be earnest then, brethren ! holy, full of thought ! 
Be steadfast in resolve ! Keep watch o'er your own hearts ! 
Who wearies not, but holds fast to this truth and law. 
Shall cross this sea of life, shall make an end of grief." 

After still a few days' journeying, Buddha was seized with dysentery 

attended with sharp pain, which he bore without complaint. At last he 

arrived at Kusinara where he died, even in his last hours convert- 

T • ^ TT- 1 1 //T^iTT Til His death, 

mg new disciples. His last words were, " Behold now, brethren, 

I exhort you, saying. Decay is inherent in all component things. Work 

out your salvation with diligence." His death was followed by earthquakes 

and thunders, and Brahma, the Supreme Deity or First Cause, is represented 

as uttering some of the most characteristic Buddhist doctrines, while his 

venerable disciple Anuruddha spoke thus : — 

" When he who from all craving want was free, 
Who to Nirvana's tranquil state had reached, 
When the great sage finished his span of life, 
No gasping struggle vexed that steadfast heart. 

All resolute, and with unshaken mind, 
He calmly triumphed o'er the pain of death. 
E'en as a bright flame dies away, so was 
His last deliverance from the bonds of life ! " 

His funeral was celebrated by the nobles of Kusinara with the honours 
due to a king of kings, wrapping his body in five hundred alternate layers 
of cotton wool and new cloth, enclosing it in two iron vessels, and finally 
cremating it on a funeral pile made of perfumes. Finally, the legend says 
that neither soot nor ash was left, but only the bones. Then the relics were 
divided into eight portions, over each of which a mound was erected by the 
respective groups who had claimed and obtained them. 




THE ROYAL MONASTERY AT MANDALAY. 



CHAPTER VI. 
Cftc 3Bal)tibi3t IBoctrmeg, tbe (BxXKt nixb ^ariftr 33oofts!. 

Reaction from Brahmanism — SufiFering and ignorance — The Eternal Immutable— Vanity of earthly 
things— The causal nexus— Human responsibility — Punishment of evil— Being and causality — 
The soul — Nirvana— Moral precepts— Negative morality — Benevolence— Beneficence— Self-dis- 
cipline— Temptation— Mara — The struggle and victory of the soul — States of abstraction — 
The four grades of attainment— The person of Buddha— The Buddhist Scriptures— The Dham- 
mapada— The Buddhist order— The Mahavagga— Fortnightly meetings— Confession and 
penance— Strict regiQations— Profession of faith— Not a body corporate— No head after 
Buddha — ^Assemblies or Councils — Limitations on admission — Form of reception— The four 
resources— The four prohibitions— Quitting the order— Its advantages— No silver or gold- 
Seemly outward appearance— Companionship — Tutelage — Recitations and discussions— Retire- 
ment and love of nature— Few ceremonies — Reverence and Buddha— Regard for holy places 
— The confessional— The Kullavagga — Offences and penances— The Pavaranaor invitation— The 
nuns or sisters— The laity. 

THE BUDDHIST DOCTRINES. 

IT is one of tlie strangest phenomena, that the system holding itself 
forth so prominently as the bringer of happiness and extinguisher of 
suffering should be fitly called a philosophy of pessimism, of negation, of 

^ ^. agnosticism. Yet it was a natural reaction from the Brahman 
Reaction *=* .-pi 

from assumption oi knowing everything, and that everything would 
Brahmamsm, ^^ j^[g]^i if its management were committed to Brahmans. In 
only one direction did the Buddhists claim to attain knowledge, that was 
the path by which to attain deliverance from suffering, and ultimate Nir- 
vana. The kernel of this doctrine we have already given (p. 258). The 
suffering which Buddha bewails is not merely active pain and misery, but 
also the want of control which our self has over the body and 
^aiid^ consciousness. Everything, too, is non-permanent, and that is a 
Ignorance. gQ^row ; consequently a man is not sure of himself, and cannot 
say, " That is mine, that is I, that is myself." The root cause of this is 



THE BUDDHIST DOCTRINES. 275 

ignorance ; but while we might agree with the Buddhists that ignorance lies 
at the root of much if not of all evil, the Buddhists have their own inter- 
pretation of what ignorance constitutes this great evil ; it is the ignorance 
of their four sacred truths, and these truths contain no allusion to any 
notion of nihilism, to the Nothing and nothingness as the supreme attain- 
ment, which is sometimes represented as the essential of Buddhist pessi- 
mism. Far from being of this nature, Buddhism has a positive if limited 
philosophy, and elevates its gaze to the highest and most permanent 
existence, regarding the Eternal Immutable, supremely free and 
happy. There is the only refuge of man from suffering, where Eternal 
birth and death, change and decay have no dominion. Man °^^^*^^®- 
must seek deliverance from the mutable, and return to the Immutable : 
whether that may lead to eternal existence or not, is left undetermined. 
Buddha never pretended to know ; rather he left it to be inferred that he 
did not know. His object was gained, as well as the happiness of his 
followers in this world, when they had attained " deliverance," release from 
desire, union with the Immutable. 

Never has the vanity of earthly things, so succinctly expressed by the 
Old Testament Preacher, been so elaborately set forth as in the Buddhist 
books. Listen to its sad strain. '' The pilgrimage of beings, y ■+ * 
disciples, has its beginning in eternity. No opening can be earthly 
discovered, from which proceeding, creatures, mazed in ignor- °^^* 

ance, fettered by a thirst for being, stray and wander. "What think ye, 
disciples, whether is more, the water which is in the four great oceans, or 
the tears which have flowed from you and been shed by you, while ye 
strayed and wandered on this long pilgrimage, and sorrowed and wept, 
because that was your portion that ye abhorred, and that which ye loved 
was not your portion ? A mother's death, a father's death, a brother's 
death, a sister's death, a son's death, a daughter's death, the loss of rela- 
tions, the loss of property, all this have ye experienced through long ages ; 
and while ye experienced this through long ages more tears have flowed 
from you and have been shed by you, while ye strayed and wandered 
on this long pilgrimage, and sorrowed and wept, because that was your 
portion which ye abhorred and that which ye loved was not your portion, 
than all the water which is in the four great oceans." (0.) And so on 
through the whole range of mortal affairs. 

The Dhammapada, that notable collection of Buddhist apophthegms 
proverbs, and similes, which existed before the second council (377 b.c), 
contains some of the most pithy sayings of melancholy. " Man gathers 
flowers ; his heart is set on pleasure. Death comes upon him, like the 
floods of water on a village, and sweeps him away." ''How can ye be 
gay ? How can ye indulge desire ? Evermore the flames burn. Darkness 
surrounds you: will ye not seek the light?" ''Look upon the world as a 
bubble ; look upon it as a mirage." " There is no satisfying lusts, even by 
a shower of gold pieces." " Let no man love anything ; loss of the beloved 
is evil. Those who love nothing, and hate nothing, have no fetters." 



276 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

"From love comes grief ; from love comes fear." Yet in association with 
these sad views througliont we have the joyful standard raised aloft. He 
who has learnt the sacred truths of Buddhism has overcome these evils and 
entered into joy. " The virtuous man is happy in this world, and he is 
happy in the next ; he is happy in both. He is happy when he thinks of 
the good he has done ; he is still more happy when going on the good 
path." " Earnest among the thoughtless, awake among the sleepers, the wise 
man advances like a racer, leaving behind the track." " Let no man think 
lightly of good, saying in his heart, it will not come nigh unto me. Even 
by the falling of water-drops a waterpot is filled ; the wise man becomes 
full of good, even if he gather it little by little." " Let us live happily, 
free from greed among the greedy." " His good works receive him who 
has done good, and has gone from this world to the other ; as kinsmen 
receive a friend on his return." 

We cannot fully expound what is known as the causal nexus in Budd- 
hism, but this in itself has never been taught to the masses, and was only for 

The causal the more intellectual ; while to western minds it is confused and 
nexus, inconclusive and more or less self-contradictory. We find that 
Buddhism, like most other human systems, has failed to express, though it has 
verged near to the core of, philosophical questions. What is certain is, that 
the early Buddhists regarded the consciousness as the sole continuing thing, 
while at death the body, sensations and perceptions vanish ; and this con- 
sciousness was connected with a sort of spirit-stuff or element, undemon- 
strable, everlasting, all-illuminating ; it passes over at death to become 
associated with the germ of a new material being to be born again. The 
succession of re-births must continue until the being attains " deliverance," 
as made known by Buddhism. 

Although expressed in a widely different form from our own, we see 
throughout Buddhism an assertion of human responsibility which tends 

Human re- ^^ ^^® highest degree to morality. However much we may be 
sponsiMiity. conditioned by our previous state as by our environment, we 
are always affected by our own actions. As explicitly as in the Christian 
Bible, we find stated that " not in the heavens, not in the midst of the 
sea, not if thou hidest thyself away in the clefts of the mountains, wilt thou 
find a place on earth where thou canst escape the fruit of thy evil actions " 

Punishment (Lhammapada v. 127). Even when the way of deliverance 
of evU. jj^g^g "been attained, a man will still suffer punishment for evil- 
doing not yet expiated. Thus, a robber and murderer who became a 
Buddhist was violently attacked when he went to collect alms ; and 
Buddha tells him he was now receiving the penalty for evil deeds for 
which otherwise he would have had to suffer thousands of years in hell. 
A judgment scene is depicted, in which the wicked man is brought up 
from hell before King Yama, who inquires of him whether he did not see 
on earth the five visions of human weakness and suffering, — the child, the 
old man, the sick man, the criminal under punishment, and the dead man. 
He is further asked whether he did not consider that he was not exempt 



THE BUDDHIST DOCTRINES. 277 



from old age and death, and ought to do good in thought, word, and deed. 
Confessing that he had neglected it, he is told that he alone is responsible, 
and must gather the fruit. The warders of hell take him away and subject 
him to the severest physical torments, ending in death only when his guilt 
is fully expiated. 

One aspect of the Buddhist doctrine of causality is well illustrated by 
the following. ^' Whoever perceives in truth and wisdom how things 
originate in the world, in his eyes there is no 'it is not' in Being and 
this world. "Whoever perceives in truth and wisdom how things causauty. 
pass away in this world, in his eyes there is no 'it is ' in this world. . . . 
Sorrow alone arises where anything arises ; sorrow passes away where any- 
thing passes away. ' Everything is ' ; this is the one extreme : ' everything 
is not,' this is the other extreme. The Perfect One, remaining far from 
both these extremes, proclaims the truth in the middle. ' From ignorance 
come conformations (sankharas),' " forms of being determining their own 
successions and successive forms. There is no thought of an independent 
matter apart from an existence or being. Every perception, every con- 
dition, bodily or spiritual, is one of these sankharas, and all are transitory, 
all under the control of causality. Beyond this Buddhism does not attempt 
to go ; it does not know the Eternal, or how the world was created, or 
whether it is everlasting or finite. 

Buddhism even does not allow that there is a soul distinct from the 
body. Practically it only recognises the combined being that is seen or 
is conscious of itself, and that suffers ; and it has no explanation 
beyond. Eeduced to its lowest term. Buddhism recognises 
simply that suffering is going on, or keeps coming and going ; without 
defining any permanent soul that suffers. All on this earth is under the 
dominion of causality. 

The state of Nirvana, Buddha held, may be entered upon before the 
death of the body, and therefore it is not identical with annihilation, as has 
often been represented. Although its meaning is extinction, it 
is the extinction of desire, of suffering, of error, of ignorance ; 
and it is termed the eternal state. What that eternal state is, early Budd- 
hism in no way determines. Hence the Nirvana may perhaps best be 
regarded as the perfection which the Buddhist attains in this life. " What 
is to be extinguished has been extinguished, the fire of lust, hatred, be- 
wilderment." In this state the devout disciple says, " I long not for death, 
I long not for life ; I wait till mine hour come, like a servant who awaiteth 
his reward." Yet the Buddhist may truly be said to anticipate extinction 
of the consciousness on dying. Yet even that is consistent in his eyes with 
an imagined completion of his being, which no terms applicable to earthly 
things can possibly describe. And those who wished to cherish a hope of 
continual existence and perfect happiness were permitted to do so. 

The moral system taught by Buddha as obligatory upon his followers 
can be separated from the system and rules of his monastic order. It is 
not a little curious to find moral precepts at that early time not based upon 



.2 78 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

obedience to a Supreme Ruler o£ the world, or a Creator, and consequently 
' Moral not based upon any duty of human beings to obey a Supreme 
precepts/ R^uler. In fact this moral law is entirely utilitarian, taking, its 
stand solely upon benefits obtainable by the doer, or punishments to be 
incurred by him. Further than this, that we hear of no one being repelled 
by Buddha who sought to learn the truth, it does not appear that Buddhism 
concerned itself with the mass of mankind even so far as to give precepts, 
available for them all, or to preach deliverance to them all. It is evident 
that this has not hindered the very wide spread of the society ; and the 
declaration that they had a message only for those who recognised their evil 
state and desired deliverance no doubt acted as a stimulus to the outer 
masses so far as they were in an intellectual state capable of aspiring after 
something better. But Buddhism did not lay itself out to tell all people that 
they ought to do or to be so-and-so every day, always, everywhere. Onl}^ 
when, they sought discipleship, lay or mendicant, did Buddhism furnish them 
with a code of observance, which included moral duties, undertaken for 
the purpose of elevating their own state. Thus "He who speaks or acts 
with impure thoughts, him sorrow follows, as the wheel follows the foot of 
the draught horse. He who speaks or acts with pure thought, him joy 
follows, like his shadow, which does not leave him." 

The third to the sixth portions of the noble eightfold path more 
specially concern morals. The first and second, correct views, free from 
superstition or delusion, and right aims or correct thoughts, worthy of an 
intelligent man, are specially intellectual. The third, right speech, per- 
fectly truthful, as well as kindly ; the fourth, right conduct, pure, honest, 
peaceable ; the fifth, a right mode of gaining a livelihood, doing harm to 
no living thing; and the sixth, right effort, self-control, self- training, embrace 
the sum of Buddhist morals. The seventh and eighth, mindfulness and 
contemplation, are again purely inward. The whole moral code may thus 
be expressed as uprightness in word, deed, and thought; but the great 
importance of wisdom as the crown of uprightness is fully expressed. 

A great portion of the Buddhist morality, however, was negative, 
made up of prohibitions. Five special hindrances, veils, or entanglements 
Negative ^^® specified, which must be mastered, namely, lustful desire^ 
morality, malice, sloth, self-righteousness or pride, and doubt. Five main 
commands are often repeated. The Buddhist must (1) kill no living thing, 
(2) not steal, (3) live chastely, (4) speak no untruth, (5) not drink intoxica- 
ting drinks. But in the rules for the monks, we find such positive additions 
as the following : — " The cudgel and the sword he lays aside ; and full of 
modesty and pity, he is compassionate and kind to all creatures that have 
life. What he hears here, he repeats not elsewhere to raise a quarrel. . . . 
He lives as a binder- together of those who are divided, an encourager of 
those who are friends, a peacemaker, a lover of peace. . . . Whatever 
word is humane, pleasant to the ear, lovely, reaching to the heart, urbane, 
pleasing to the people, such are the words he speaks. . . . Putting away 
foolish talk, he abstains from vain conversation. In season he speaks ; 



THE BUDDHIST DOCTRINES. 279 



he speaks that which is ; he speaks fact . . . that which redounds to 

profit, is well defined, and is full of wisdom. He refrains from injuring 

any herb or any creature. He takes but one meal a day. He abstains from 

dancing, singing, music and theatrical shows " (S. E. xi.). 

It cannot be said that the Christian virtue of love is taught by Buddhism. 

There is sometimes some approach to it, but it is not clear. The virtue 

enioined by Buddhism is rather the extinction of hating: than 

. . B6n6yol6nc6. 

positive love. Thus, " He who holds back rising anger like a 

rolling chariot, him I call a real driver. . . . Let a man overcome anger 
by not becoming angry ; let a man overcome evil by good ; let him over- 
come the greedy by liberality, the liar by truth." " Enmity never comes to 
an end through enmity here below ; it comes to an end by non-enmity ; 
this has been the rule from all eternit}^" A notable story is found in the 
Mahavagga, which illustrates this last doctrine. But the benevolence 
which an early Buddhist felt was far removed from Christian benevolence. 
His body, which might be hurt by others, w^as not really himself; so he felt 
no bitter resentment at anything done to it. " Those who cause me pain 
and those who cause me joy, to all I am alike, and affection and hatred I 
know not. In joy or sorrow I remain unmoved ; in honour and dishonour 
throughout I am alike." This benevolence was not a spontaneous sympathy 
rising in the good man's heart, but a result of meditation and intentional 
mental exercise ; and this benevolence, radiating from him, is said to exert 
a kind of magical influence, bringing about harmonious relations between 
Buddhists and all people and even animals. 

But what of beneficence, so highl}^ esteemed in Christianity ? To out- 
ward appearance, it was just as highlj^ esteemed in early Buddhism ; but the 
forms of its exercise were different. From all that we can gather, _ ^ 

B6I16fiCGIlC6 

poor people, in the sense of those wanting daily food or means to 
get it, were by no means abundant at that time in India ; and the higher 
modes of Christian beneficence were not yet dreamt of. Joining the 
Buddhist order itself gave ■ rise to the very practical step of renunciation ; 
but in the case of those who were already married and had families it 
released the adherents from their family responsibilities and cares. This 
renunciation can scarcely be called beneficence, for it was not done in order 
that other persons might be benefited. Practically the chief beneficence ex- 
ercised by Buddhists was by the lay adherents, who were expected to show 
liberality to all individual monks and to the Order generally. This benefi- 
cence was for the sake of their religious profession, however, and can hardly 
be called pure beneficence. And all through early Buddhism the special vir- 
tue of beneficence is overshadowed by the broader and deeper necessity for 
renouncing every worldly possession ; even lay adherents were not to count 
things their own, by which they might confer on the Order needed benefits. 
In some of the narratives a little later than the earliest, the giving away 
of wife and children is represented as of no moment compared with winning 
the Buddhahood. We see clearly that it was not by means of beneficence 
that the character advocated b}^ Buddhism was to be acquired. 



28o THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

That discipline was essentially internal. '' Rouse thyself by thyself, ex- 
amine thyself by thyself, . . . curb thyself as the merchant curbs a good 
Self-disci- ho^^se. . . . Cut off the five senses, leave the ^nq.^ rise above 
piiae. \^Q £ye^ ... In the body restraint is good, good is restraint 
in speech, in thought restraint is good, good is restraint in all things " 
(S.E. X., Dhammapada). Everything is to be done with a self-conscious 
effort, and watchfulness. Self-examination is to be practised after every 
contact with the world, after every begging excursion ; and all emotions or 
desires, which are stigmatised as evil and treacherous, are to be suppressed. 
In no religion is it more sternly insisted on that the character is the inner 
self. "All that we are is the result of what we have thought ; it is founded 
on our thoughts, it is made up of our thoughts," says the first verse of the 
Dhammapada. 

Temptation to evil is associated with a personal spirit or essence called 
Mara, not believed to be the originator of evil and sorrow — for on that point 
Temptation, Buddhism had no belief — but the chief tempter to evil in thought, 
Mara. ^ord, and deed. He, like Yama in the Brahman system, is Death 
or the King of Death, and so is king of all the pleasures of this world. The 
foundation of the Buddhist Order is a deadly blow at this kingdom, and con- 
sequently the Buddhists are objects of his continual attack. He offers Buddha 
himself the rule over the whole earth, if he will renounce his spiritual mission. 
He is tempted by Mara's daughters. Desire, Unrest, and Pleasure, and resists 
their temptations. In all the narratives addressed to the people generally, 
Mara appears as a real personage, not everlasting, but capable of attacking 
every one. The higher Buddhist philosophy sees Mara in everything which 
is subject to change. " Wherever there is an eye and form, wherever there 
is an ear and sound, wherever there is thinking and thought, there is Mara, 
there is sorrow." (0.) But in the details relating to the tempter, as given 
by the Buddhist books, we find nothing grand, nothing great even in evil. 
The attacks made upon Buddha and his followers are comparatively simple, 
and are easily foiled. Buddha was, it is related, tempted with a kingdom 
in order that he might do what he asserted to be possible, " rule as a king in 
righteousness, without killing or causing to be killed, without practising 
oppression or permitting oppression to be practised, without suffering pain or 
inflicting pain on another," and he is told that he could turn the Himalayas 
into gold if he chose. Buddha answers : " What would it profit a wise man if 
he possessed even a mountain of silver or of gold ? He who has comprehended 
sorrow, whence it springs, how can he bend himself to desire ? He who 
knows that earthly existence is a fetter in this world, let him practise that 
which sets him free therefrom." Then Mara, the Evil one, said, " The 
Exalted One knows me, the Perfect One knows me," and disconcerted and 
disheartened he rose and went away. Other narratives represent Mara as 
constantly watching the avenues of the senses that he maj^ gain access to 
the mind ; and this continual siege is only to be met by continual watch- 
fulness, which will at last make Mara give up the hopeless task. 

Dr. Oldenberg graphically describes the struggle between the individual 



THE BUDDHIST DOCTRINES. 



soul and the sorrow-producing chain of suffering, and the tempter Mara, 
as pictured by the early Buddhists. "The struggle is neither ^^^^ ^^^ ^ 
slight nor brief. From that moment forward, when first the and victory 
conviction dawns upon a soul, that this battle must be fought, 
that there is a deliverance which can be gained — from that first beginning of 
the struggle up to the final victory, countless ages of the world pass away. 
Earth worlds and heavenly worlds, and worlds of hells also, pass away as they 
have arisen and passed away from all eternity. Gods and men, all animated 
beings, come and go, die and are born again, and amid this endless tide of all 
things, the beings who are seeking deliverance, now advancing and victorious, 
and anon driven back, press on to their goal. The path reaches bej^ond the 




CASKET CONTAINING BUDDHA's TOOTH, IN THE TEMPLE OF DALADA MALIGAWA, KANDY, CEYLON. 

range of the eye, but it has an end. After countless wanderings through 
worlds and ages the goal at last appears before the wanderer's gaze. And in 
his sense of victory there is mingled a feeling of pride for the victory won 
by his own power. The Buddhist has no god to thank, as he had previously 
no god to invoke during his struggle. The gods bow before him, not he 
before the gods." 

The place of prayer in other religions is in Buddhism taken by 
abstraction, meditation, withdrawal as far as possible from the world of 
sense. How far this may proceed by an artificial system we may states of 
see later. Some portions of the Buddhist scriptures describe abstraction, 
methods of producing self-concentration ; and frequently they approach 
pathological or morbid conditions. It is no wonder that hallucinations of 



282 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

tlie senses should arise in men who have torn themselves from every home 
tie, and devoted themselves to homelessness and abstraction. But heavenly- 
visions, heavenly sounds, forms of supernatural beings are only rarely seen ; 
rather the condition commonly attained was that known as clairvoyant, in 
which the spirit was believed to be peculiarly refined, pure, pliant, and firm. 
Then the monks imagined they saw the past clearly, even their own past 
existences, saw into the thoughts of others, acquired miraculous powers, be- 
came invisible and again appeared on earth. Many of these may be paralleled 
by various accounts in the Bible ; but there are no parallel results flowing 
from them. 

Among the monks no gradation was at first recognised except the 

higher order of those who had attained deliverance ; but later four grades 

The four '^^^^ acknowledged : (1) the lowest, those who had attained the 

grades of path, and were not liable to re-birth in the lower worlds (hells, 
■ world of animals, spirit worlds) ; (2) those who return once only 
to this world — these have destroyed desire, hatred, and frivolity ; (3) the non- 
returning, who only enter the higher worlds of the gods, and these attain 
Nirvana ; (4) the Saints (Arhats). But these grades did not give those who 
had attained them any special place in the Order. 

A special grade was occupied by those who gained participation in the 
Buddhahood by their own inherent force, having won the knowledge bring- 
ing deliverance by their own exertions. They were believed to have lived 
chiefly in the ages previous to Buddha, himself ; but they were not equal to 
the " universal Buddhas " of whom Gautama was one. 

The position claimed by and assigned to Buddha is peculiar in that 
he had no special commission from a supreme Being, and did not put 

The person himself forward as the representative of the invisible powers. 

of Buddha. He was simply, in the present order of things, the first who had 
obtained universal Buddhahood. He taught to others the truths that he 
had himself discovered. He was their helper, but it was by their own 
effort and meditation that it could really be received by them. And yet 
the claims attributed to Buddha are nothing less than omniscience and 
perfection. He says : "I have overcome all foes ; I am all- wise ; I am free 
from stains in every way ; I have left everything ; and have obtained 
emancipation by the destruction of desire. Having myself gained know- 
ledge, whom should I call my master ? I have no teacher ; no one is equal 
to me ; in the world of men and of gods no being is like me. I am the 
Holy One in this world, I am the highest teacher, I alone am the perfect 
Buddha ; I have gained coolness by the extinction of all passion, and have 
obtained Nirvana." (Mahavagga, S.E. xiii.) " He appears in the world for 
salvation to many people, for joy to many people, out of compassion for the 
world, for the blessing, the salvation, the joy of gods and men." But 
Buddha is by no means represented as the sole person who has attained 
Buddahood. Many Buddhas had been before him and would come after 
him ; but they were supposed all to be born in Eastern India, and to be all 
of the Brahman or soldier (Kshatriya) castes ; " and their teaching prevailed 



THE BUDDHIST DOCTRINES, 283 

for longer or shorter periods, after whicli faith vanished for a time in the 
earth. Thus we see that Buddha was the starter of the new rehgious life, 
and essential to it ; but by no means a god, or a heaven-sent messenger. 

THE BUDDHIST SCRIPTURES. 

Those which are pre-eminently worthy of this designation, as being the 
oldest and purest, are the Pali books preserved by the Ceylonese Buddhists. 
They are arranged in three collections or " Baskets " (pitakas). The first, or 
Vinaya-pitaka, includes books containing regulations for the external life of 
the order of monks. The second, or Sutta-pitaka, contains a number of 
miscellaneous works, each composed of suttas or short pithy sentences, some 
relating sayings of Buddha, others legends and stories of the preceding 
Buddhas. The third contains various disquisitions, an enumeration of the 
conditions of life, etc. 

The most interesting of all these, and the most deserving of attention 
for its literary excellence, is the Dhammapada, or Path of Virtue (or Foot- 
step of the Law), from which we have already quoted. The word The Dham- 
subsequently came to mean generally " a religious sentence." Its mapada. 
date, like that of the rest of the scriptures, is stated by the Buddhists to be 
fixed by the first Council of the Church immediately after the death of 
Buddha ; what appears to be certain is that this book existed before Asoka's 
council, about b.c. 242, after which date it was introduced into Ceylon by 
Mahinda, Asoka's son. And we may take the Dhammapada as having been 
believed to have been personally uttered by Buddha. Even if he did not 
compose it (which there is ^nothing to prove positively), it was composed 
soon after his death, by some one or more persons whose genius rose as 
high as his. A point of great importance in judging of this whole canon is 
that it contains no mention of Asoka's council, but does mention the first 
and second councils (of Rajagaha and Yesali), and describes them at the 
end of the Kullavagga. 

We will now give some further extracts from the Dhammapada, to 
illustrate its literary character, apart from the special points we have already 
drawn attention to. Sometimes we find in it dogmatic teaching quite 
straightforwardly put, thus : " He who wishes to put on the yellow dress 
without having cleansed himself from sin, who disregards also temperance 
and truth, is unworthy of the yellow dress." " By oneself the evil is done, 
by oneself one suffers ; by oneself evil is left undone, by oneself one is 
purified. Purity and impurity belong to oneself, no one can purify another." 
" That deed is not well done of which a man must repent, and the reward 
of which he receives gladly and cheerfully." "Do not speak harshly to 
anybody ; those who are spoken to will answer thee in the same way." 
Here we have the Eastern representative of the Proverbs of Solomon. 

How much wisdom is to be found in the following : " Let the wise man 
guard his thoughts, for they are very difiicult to perceive, very artful, and 
they rush wherever they list." " The fool who knows his foolishness is 
wise, at least so far. But a fool who thinks himself wise, he is called a fool 



284 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS, 

indeed." '' One's own self conquered is better than all other people." Here 
is a condensed censure of asceticism : " Not nakedness, not platted hair, not 
•dirt, not fasting, or lying on the earth, not rubbing with dust, not sitting 
motionless, can purify a mortal who has not overcome desires." 

The following is a varied selection of these gems. '' Bad deeds, and 
deeds hurtful to ourselves, are easy to do ; what is beneficial and good, that 
is very difficult to do." '' This world is dark, few only can see here ; a few 
only go to heaven, like birds escaped from the net." " Health is the greatest 
•of gifts, contentedness the best riches; trust is the best of relationships, 
Nirvana the highest happiness." '' If any thing is to be done, let a man do 
it, let him attack it vigorously. A careless pilgrim only scatters the dust 
of his passions more widely." Similes of great aptness or beauty abound. 
^' As the bee collects nectar and departs without injuring the flower, or its 
colour or scent, so let a sage dwell in his village." '' Like a beautiful 
flower, full of colour, but without scent, are the fine but fruitless words of 
him who does not act accordingly." '' There is no fire like passion, there is 
no shark like hatred, there is no snare like folly, there is no torrent like 
greed." '^ The fault of others is easily perceived, but that of oneself is 
•difficult to perceive ; a man winnows his neighbour's faults like chafi, but 
his own fault he hides, as a cheat hides the bad die from the gambler." 
'' If a fool be associated with a wise man even all his life, he will perceive 
the truth as little as a spoon perceives the taste of soup." 

It is natural to find in these pithy sayings the pervading truth of the 
^universality of suffering and the vanity of life. ^' Before long, alas ! this 
body will lie on the earth, despised, without understanding, like a useless 
log." "As a cowherd with his staff drives his cows into the stable, so do 
Age and Death drive the life of men." Old age is thus depicted : "Look at 
this dressed-up lump, covered with wounds, joined together, sickly, full of 
many thoughts, which has no strength, no hold. This body is wasted, full 
of sickness and frail ; this heap of corruption breaks to pieces, life indeed 
*ends in death," We are told to "look upon this world as a bubble, as a 
mirage." But watchfulness and the true knowledge preserves a man in 
safety. One of the later sentences gives a fine picture of a stoic. " Him I 
•call indeed a Brahman who, though he has committed no offence, endures 
reproach, bonds, and stripes, who has endurance for his force, and strength 
for his army." Indeed the whole section on the true Brahman is fine : he 
is tolerant with the intolerant, mild with faultfinders, free from passion 
among the passionate, is thoughtful, guileless, free from doubts, free from 
attachment, and content. 

THE BUDDHIST ORDER. 

Some attention must now be given to the great Order of mendicants 
or monks which perpetuated Buddha's influence and extended his teaching. 
Yery early in Buddha's career they became an organised Brotherhood ; and 
a formal system of admission and rules of conduct were framed as need 
arose. At first candidates who professed belief in this doctrine were 



THE BUDDHIST DOCTRINES. 285 

simply admitted by the great teacher, but it is a natural development that 
this should be delegated to others as the Order grew. The -me 
Mahavagga, one of the oldest Pali books, contains the records Mahavagga. 
of these events, and of the regulations imposed on the Order, preceded by 
a narrative embodying many of the early events in Buddha's preaching, 
including not a few marvels and miracles. Soon it became customary to 
hold meetings of the Order twice a month, at the periods of full Fortnightly 
and new moon, already sacred periods in India, observed by ^leetuiss- 
Brahmans with ceremonies of long standing. The special purpose of these 
Buddhist meetings was the confession of faults one to another and the 
acceptance of the due penance. A list of common or possible confession 
offences was drawn up, and read out at each meeting, every ^^^ p®^^^°®- 
member present being called upon to answer three times as to his innocence 
of each offence. Among these offences are some which show how strictly 
from the first Buddhist monks were regulated. Even in building strict 
a hut it must be of prescribed measurement ; no extra robes must regulations. 
be kept ; no rug or mat with silk in it must be used by a monk, and a rug 
must last six years ; spare bowls must not be possessed ; no monk must 
encroach on the hospitality already given to another ; no monk might take 
more than one meal at a public rest-house. 

The members of the Order had to go into the neighbourhood of houses 
completely clad, clean, with downcast eye, making but little noise, not 
swaying the limbs about with excited gestures. Their heads must be un- 
covered. Various observances are connected with taking the food given to 
them. They were not to preach the Buddhist doctrine to persons in 
unseemly attitudes, nor to any one sitting. 

After Buddha's death a different system of receiving monks of course 
arose. The following is the profession of faith which early became pre- 
valent : 

" To Buddha will I look in faith ; he, the Exalted, is the holy, supreme 
Buddha, the knowing, the instructed, the blessed, who knows profession of 
the worlds, the Supreme One, who yoketh men like an ox, the ^*^*^- 
Teacher of gods and men, the exalted Buddha. 

" To the doctrine will I look in faith ; well preached is the doctrine by 
the Exalted One. It has become apparent ; it needs no time ; it says 'Come 
and see ' ; it leads to welfare ; it is realised by the wise in their own hearts. 

" To the Order will I look in faith ; in right behaviour lives the Order 
of disciples of the Exalted One ; in proper, honest, just behaviour lives the 
Order of the disciples of the Exalted One, the four couples, the eight classes 
of believers ; that is the Order of the disciples of the Exalted One, worthy 
to have men lift their hands before them in reverence, the highest place 
in the world, in which man may do good. 

"In the precepts of rectitude will I walk, which the holy love, which 
are uninfringed, unviolated, unmixed, uncoloured, free, praised by the_^wise 
and not counterfeit, which lead on to concentration." 

Although we have spoken of the Buddhist Order, somewhat as if it 



286 TJ£E WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

were a body corporate, it never became strictly so. No central authority or 
Not a body representative council was ever constituted ; no person was 

corporate, (deputed by the founder of the religion to represent him after 
his death. And indeed mankind had not then arrived at the conception 
of a Pope, or a general authority exercising sway through widely different 
No head after and separate regions. The only device that then occurred to 

Buddha, i^^ monks was to attribute every new regulation which they 
wished to enforce, to Buddha himself. He was the one person to whom 
authority was conceded; and in so far as his authority was acknowledged, 
his supposed behests were likely to be obeyed. The only other way of 
AssemhUes or imposing new regulations was by means of assemblies or councils 

councUs. Qf monks, but though sometimes spoken of as general councils 
as of a Church, they were only assemblies of monks at a particular centre 
at one time, not called from all Buddhist centres, and not representative. 
Probably the first of these, said to have been held at Rajagaha immediately 
after Buddha's death, included the most prominent and revered of his 
followers ; but there was no way of imposing its decisions on those who 
were not present, except by a purely intangible influence. The same was 
the case with the later councils. No doubt they were assembled because 
evils had arisen, or questions required decision. But the more Buddhism 
spread, the more independent spirits entered its ranks, the more difficult 
was it to heal divisions or to prevent divergences of doctrine and practice 
from arising. And this went on, antagonised only by the cohesion pro- 
duced by the sacred books, the devotion and reverence for Buddha, the 
greater or less consciousness of a common interest to advance and a common 
battle to fight. Hence it was that, as its founder predicted. Buddhism was 
destined to die in India, and to maintain itself in other countries in widely 
different forms from those in which it had originated. 

At first no limitations were imposed as to admission to the Order ; any 
applicant was received. But it was soon necessary to lay down certain 
T- •*. +-«^« rules of exclusion. Criminals, those afflicted with serious de- 

Limitations ... ' 

to formities, soldiers and servants of kings, debtors and slaves, and 

sons whose parents refused their consent, were thus excluded. 

No youth might enter the first stage till twelve years old, or might be fully 

received as a monk till twenty. Two stages were marked, the preliminary 

reception or outgoing from lay life or from another sect of ascetics, and^ 

the complete entry (Upasampada) into the Order. The latter was conferred 

Form of ^^ ^ general meeting (Samgha) of monks in any place, a resolu- 

reception. j^[q^ asking for it being proposed, and any one who objected 

being required to declare his objection. The petitioner was asked if he had 

certain diseases, if he was a freeman, if he had no debts, if he had a proper' 

alms-bowl and robes, if his parents consented, if he was in the royal service, 

etc. He had further to offer some experienced monk as his sponsor or 

The four teacher. He was then proposed for formal reception ; and if no 

resources, la^onk objected, he was declared to be received. He was next 

formally told what were the four resources of the Order, (1) morsels of food 



THE BUDDHIST DOCTRINES. 287 



given in alms, (2) a robe made of rags taken from a dust heap, (3) dwelling 
at the foot of a tree, (4) the filthiest liquid for medicine. All other food, 
drink, shelter, and clothing were to be regarded as extra allowances. After 
this, four great prohibitions were communicated : (1) the command The four 
to live a chaste life, (2) not to take even a blade of grass that had proMbitions. 
not been given to him, (3) not to take the life of even the minutest creature, 
(4) not to boast that he possessed any superhuman perfection. Thus the 
whole reception was confined to declarations on the part of both the can- 
didate and the assembly. Nothing like prayer, special initiation, or confer- 
ment of power was included. 

It followed that it was equally easy to leave the Order. This was 
a direct consequence of Buddha's teaching, which was only open to those 
who voluntarily received it. Perhaps no Order ever held its Quitting the 
members so lightly ; and in this lay one of the secrets of its order. 
strength. The monks were bound to lead a very temperate life, but their 
subsistence was sure so long as the Order had any repute ; the thoughts to 
which they were exhorted chimed in with their own natural pre- jtg 
possessions, and an undoubted position of respect and influence advantages, 
was occupied by every monk. Then again, while not coercing any one to 
stay (a monk might leave on simply declaring that he wished to return to 
relatives, or home, or a worldly life), the Order had a considerable hold on 
him by reason of the censure and the exclusion which it might pronounce. 
The breaking of any of the great prohibitions caused exclusion, provided 
iiny monk took notice of it and brought the case before an assembly. So 
the double mode — forcible exclusion, and voluntary retirement — were in 
-easy operation, and thus the Order, retaining only voluntary and well- 
behaved members, was strong. 

In one thing Buddhist monks differed from many other Orders : they 
were strictly forbidden to acceptor possess silver or gold, or even to treasure 
them for the Order. Thus they were kept far from " the root of no silver or 
all evil." If a monk nevertheless accepted such a gift, he was ^°^^- 
compelled to hand it over to some lay adherent in the neighbourhood, who 
was to purchase with it butter, oil, or honey, for the use of the monks, 
the guilty receiver excepted. Or again the gold or silver might be cast 
away. Such a severe restriction was steadfastly maintained for centuries. 

Another distinction of the Buddhist monks from other Orders, in India 
and elsewhere, was in the seemliness of their outward appearance. Far 
from cultivating dirt or unseemliness in any form, they were geemiv 
scrupulously careful about bathing, the care of the body, ventila- outward 
tion, and other things conducive to health. Their garments, 
though they might be very poor, were to be seemly and decent, and it 
was not forbidden to accept a sufficiency of food and clothing from any 
lay adherent. The whole picture of the Buddhist monks of early times is 
a remarkable one in its preservation of the medium between asceticism 
and excess, a resolute choice which has no doubt preserved it from the 
extremes of Hindu asceticism, though it has not always kept it equally free 



288 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

from excesses of other kinds. Shelter was always obtainable and allow- 
able and even comfortable quarters were not disdained. Everything was, 
as far as known, conducted on sanitary principles, in many points reminding 
us of the domestic legislation of the Jews. The seniors and teachers were 
especially revered and well attended to, their pupils and the novices whO' 
anion- were their proteges being expected to travel ahead of them and 
sMp. prepare quarters for them when on their journeys, and to do- 
every kindly office for them. Solitude in fact was discouraged. We every- 
where hear of groups of monks residing together, helping one another in 
difficulties, sickness, or temptation, and looking after one another's spiritual 
welfare. For five years after his admission to the Order each monk had to 
be under the tutelage of two monks of ten years' standing whom 
Tutelage. ^^ ^^^ ^^ accompany and attend upon, and from whom he was 
to receive instruction. W here many monks resided together, offices became 
somewhat subdivided, but only in relation to domestic matters ; thus different 
individuals were charged with the distribution of fruit, of rice, the care of 
the sleeping and assembly rooms, etc. 

It is noteworthy how little importance the Buddhist monks attached 
to labour apart from absolute necessities. Like the strict Brahmans, to- 
whom the recitation of the Vedas was all-important, the monks 
and regarded the repetition of Buddha's sayings and discourses and 
discussions. ^^^ j:^\q^ of the Order as essential. But this was varied with 
discussions on points of difficulty or the fuller exposition of the leading 
doctrines : " He who abides in the Order talks not of many topics and talks 
not of vulgar things. He expounds the word himself, or stirs up another 
to its exposition, or he esteems even sacred silence not lightly." (0.) On 
the whole we have a picture of an Order living in the world, yet not of the 
world almost daily contemplating the turmoil and distractions of a suffer- 
ing changeful life, yet never taking part in its affairs ; a standing witness 
to self-seeking quarrelling people that something existed far better than 
their life, that passions could be quelled, that there was a life which gave 
relief from sorrows and produced a philosophic calm. Perhaps 
and love of in this life too there was more pure love of nature than was always 
nature, acknowledged ; and the rule as to sparing life was certainly in 
accord with this. Some of their poets have beautifully expressed this love 
of nature. " The broad heart-cheering expanses, crowned by Tcareri forests, 
those lovely regions, where elephants raise their voices, the rocks, make me 
glad. Where the rain rushes, those lovely abodes, the mountains where 
sages walk, where the peacock's cry resounds, the rocks, make me glad. 
There is it good for me to be, the friend of abstraction, who is struggling 
for salvation. There is it good for me to be, the monk, who pursues the 
true good, who is struggling for salvation." (0.) 

The fortnightly meetings already referred to (p. 285) were almost the 
only regular assemblies of Buddhists, and confession and questioning of 
P ^ one another was almost the only religious form. We must con- 
ceremonies, stantly keep in mind the burdensome and expensive nature of 



THE BUDDHIST DOCTRINES. 



289 



the Brahman observances, and likewise the authority which the Brahmans 
claimed over all kinds of concerns of other people. Thus the contrast to 
the latter was very evident in Buddhism : little ceremony, retired life, 
modest demeanour, pure living, no profession of supernatural power, no 
assumption of authority. Herein was a great part of its strength. It is 
surely one of the most remarkable phenomena in the world that a religion 
— if it can be truly called a religion, — which professes no knowledge and 
inculcates no worship of a god, and which is not bound in reverence to a 
supernatural Person, should have obtained sway over one-third of Reverence to 
the population of the globe. Buddha, it is true, is ever held in Buddha. 




^YOKSHIPPEIlS BEFORE THE ENTRANCE TO THE SHRINE OF THE TOOTH, CEYLON. 

reverence, but he is not believed in as existing ; he is in Nirvana, but 
whether Nirvana is a state of present existence or not is doubtful, and thus 
there is no prayer to Buddha, no answer to prayer by Buddha ; yet his 
memory is fresh, his name is sanctified, his teaching is influential as ever. 

The only thing in early Buddhism approaching the pilgrimages and 
acts of worship in other religions, is the holding in reverence of the four 
notable places in Buddha's • life : his birthplace, the spot where Regard for 
he attained knowledge and perfect insight, the place where he ^^ly places. 
started the kingdom of righteousness, and the place of his death. Those 
who died while journeying to these places were promised that their re-birth 

u 



290 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

should be in heaven. The care of Buddha's relics, the building of monu- 
ments to contain them, and the holding of festivals in their^honour were 
entu-ely left to lay members. 

Perhaps the institution most nearly parallel with the Buddhist 
assemblies is the class-meeting among the Methodists as instituted by John 
The Wesley. The " leader " of the meeting was the monk of longest 
confessional, standing in the district, and every member of the Order was to 
be present, even if ill, unless he were able to send by another monk his 
assurance of freedom from the faults which the sacred form (Pattimokkha, 
the words of disburdenment) inquired into. No woman, no lay member^ 
no novice, might take part in or be present at this solemnity. Three 
times every question must be put, and silence was an assertion of purity. 
In later times it was held necessary that every monk should have previously 
confessed his fault and done the appropriate penance (unless it were one for 
which exclusion was the punishment) ; and it was the duty of any brother 
who knew of an oifence committed by another to demand his confession 
and performance of penance. 

A full procedure (contained in the Kullavagga) gradually grew up to 
meet all cases of transgression. Buddhist monks, like other human beings, 
The proved themselves liable to err, and we find recitals such as this 
KuUavagga. ^^ ^^ beginning of various sections of the Kullavagga : " Now at 
that time the venerable Seyyasaka was stupid, and indiscreet, and full of 
faults, and devoid of merit, and was living in lay society in unlawful associa- 
tion with the world, so much so that the monks were worn out with placing 
him on probation and with throwing him back to the beginning of his 
probationary term," etc. (S. E. xvii.) The various narrations show that 
Offences and some monks at times were guilty of almost every kind of offence 
penances, q^ frivolity, and SO regulations for warning, punishing, or ex- 
cluding them were devised. If an individual, even a lay person, had been 
offended or put down, his pardon had to be asked. Suspension was the 
punishment for not acknowledging and not atoning for an offence. How 
severe this " cutting " could be, is shown by the following recital: "And 
the monks did no reverence to him, rose not from their seats to welcome 
him, rendered him not service, offered him not salutation, paid not respect 
to him, offered him not hospitality, nor esteemed him, nor honoured him, 
nor supported him." The various penances and forms connected with them 
are too numerous for us to attempt a further account of them. 

One other simple annual ceremony there was, known as the Pavarana 
or invitation. At the end of the rainy season, before commencing the season 
The Pavarana of itinerancy, the monks met* in assembly, each sitting down on 
or invitation. ^^ ground, raising his clasped hands, and inviting his brethren 
to charge him with any offence he might be suspected of, promising, if he 
had been guilty, to make atonement. If any monk happened to be isolated, 
he could hold this service by himself. 

Thus utterly devoid of show, of stately formality, of imposing accom- 
paniments, was Buddhism ; priestless, templeless, agnostic as to the supreme 



THE BUDDHIST DOCTRINES. 291 

Being, its undeniable power and influence drew to it multitudes of ad- 
herents ; and they were not all sound or docile fisli that came to the net. 
Hence we early hear of* dissensions in the Order, and whole chapters in the 
sacred books are devoted to their consideration. There are procedures for 
settling disputes, for dealing with charges against the innocent, the insane, 
etc. ; and when peaceable reconciliation proved impossible, matters were to 
be decided by a vote of the majority, unless the subject was too trivial, or a 
vote would lead to an open schism. 

The " nuns," or " sisters," of Buddhism were regarded as constituting 
a separate Order, with their own fortnightly assemblies, yet in complete 
subordination to the monks, so that none of the higher cere- The nuns, or 
monies were complete without the co-operation of monks. Every sisters, 
sister had to bow reverently, rise, and raise her clasped hands before every 
monk, however newly admitted. Both the confession meetings and the 
preaching of the true Buddhist doctrine had to be conducted for them by 
the monks ; and the nuns, after having held their own annual meeting, 
had to send to the corresponding meeting of monks asking them if they 
had any fault to reprehend in them. They were forbidden to revile or 
scold monks, or to accuse them. Ordination of the sisters, penances for 
transgressions, settlement of disputes, all had to be performed or arranged 
by the monks. Every fortnight the sisterhood had to obtain audience of 
a monk who had been appointed by his assembly to instruct and admonish 
them ; but he was strictly forbidden to enter their abode, or to journey or 
have any intimate companionship with them. No sister might live alone^ 
or in a forest ; they lived within the walls of towns and villages, and never 
seem to have been at all comparable in numbers or influence to the monks. 
Indeed, it would have been against the spirit of the Buddhist system that 
they should be so; for it could only exist by the keeping up of family 
life, the provision of food and dwelling-places, which could not be continued 
if women made a practice of living in nun-like separation. 

The relations between the Order and the laity were unlike those of 
almost every other church. Lay believers must have been very numerous, 
to admit of the support of such large numbers of monks, and the 
extensive dedication of parks and buildings to their use ; but the 
monks never thought it necessary to institute a formal method of admitting 
lay adherents, nor to keep a roll of them. Practically in each district the 
followers of Buddha were well known, and it was not desirable to exclude- 
any one from the class of givers without some potent reason. It was usual 
however for a declaration to be made to a monk by believers, that they 
took refuge in Buddha, in the Doctrine, and in the Order ; but a monk 
might recognise a beneficent person as a lay believer before such profession. 
Instruction in the doctrines of Buddha would be readily given to any person 
who offered hospitality to the monks, and as readily withdrawn from any 
one who maligned or insulted them. A serious offence was visited by 
withdrawal of the alms-bowl, and refusal of hospitality; but such mild 
excommunication would probably be quite in accordance with the desire 



2 92 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

of any one who could speak ill of the Order. The monks showed consider- 
able readiness to re-admit any one who apologised for his fault and became 
reconciled to them. Beyond this they did not greatly concern themselves 
with the private life of the laity. Their true church consisted of the 
Order ; the rest of mankind was scarcely within measurable distance of bliss. 
And their moral state was but faintly cared for. It is true that an eight- 
fold abstinence was enjoined on them, including abstinence from killing 
animals, stealing, lying, drinking intoxicating liquors, unchastity, eating 
after mid-day, and from perfumes and garlands ; and they must sleep on hard 
beds on the ground. General meetings of believers do not seem to have 
been held, nor were they admitted to meetings of the monks. But praises 
and promises of bliss were freely bestowed after this fashion : " To give 
houses to the Order, wherein in safety and in peace to meditate and think 
at ease, the Buddha calls the best of gifts. Therefore let a wise man, who 
understands what is best for himself, build beautiful houses, and receive 
into them knowers of the doctrine. Let him with cheerful mind give food 
to them, and drink, raiment and dwelling-places, to the upright in heart. 
Then shall they preach to him the doctrine which drives away all suffering ; 
if he apprehends that doctrine here below, he goes sinless into Nirvana." 
Naturally there was sometimes a tendency for monks to exact too much, 
and the sacred books exhibit a stern repression of such practices, together 
with considerable sensitiveness as to the opinion of the lay-believers. 

We may here briefly refer to the modern doctrine termed " Esoteric 
Buddhism," which finds favour with some persons in our own land. In the 
Esoteric Book of the Great Decease, Buddha expressly disclaims any secret 
Buddhism. (Joctrine of this kind. Modern Esoteric Buddhism should rather 
be called a form of Theosophy, which takes hold of some points in Budd- 
hism, especially that of transmigration or reincarnation, and expresses the 
belief that souls become reincarnated in successive bodies, without remem- 
bering what took place in a previous state of existence ; the successive lives 
being separated from one another by " intervals of spiritual consciousness 
on a plane of nature wholly imperceptible to ordinary senses." During this 
stage, the lower passions of earth are forgotten and the higher alone enjoyed ; 
and the vividness of this joy will depend on the impulse and intensity of 
previous upward aspirations. Reincarnation, when this impulse is ex- 
hausted, provides an appropriate punishment for ordinary evil doing. 

The word " karma," or " doing," is very important in Esoteric Budd- 
hism : it is explained as the law of cause and effect in the moral world. It 
determines, according to fixed consequences, the state and con- 
dition in which reincarnations take place ; on earth good karma 
may be laid up, and bad karma worked out by suffering. Finally, the 
individual returns no more to earth-life ; and the spiritual state becomes 
permanent and exalted. A further doctrine is, that, concurrent with the 
physical existence, the human ego is capable of existence and of conscious- 
ness in a non-physical state. But all these ideas are quite unprovable by 
ordinary methods of proof. (See A. P. Sinnett, " Esoteric Buddhism.") 




BURMESE BUDDHIST PRIEST AND PUPILS. 



CHAPTER VII. 
iMoient 35utiDI)i0m. J. 

Missionary religions — Buddhism many-sided — The first Buddhist councils— King Asoka— The third 
council— Asoka's edicts— Divergence of branches— The fourth (Kanishka's) council— Fa-hien— 
Siladitya's council— His good deeds— Huen-Siang — Decline of Indian Buddhism— Its causes— The 
Greater and the Lesser Vehicles— Wide range of Buddhism— Number of Buddhists— Singhalese 
Buddhism— Gradual modification— Images of Buddha— Viharas in Ceylon— Cave temples — Wor- 
ship of the laity— Worship of the Bo-tree— Dagobas— Relics of Buddha— Impressions of Buddha's 
foot— Vassa and public readings— The Pirit ceremony— Buddhist monks in Ceylon— Schools- 
Services of monks in illness— Burmese Buddhism— Burmese monastery schools— Novices— A 
Burmese monastery— The Phon-gyees— Life of a monk— Monastery buildings— Burmese pagodas 
—The great Rangoon temple— Pagahn— Burmese worship— Images of Buddha— Pagoda feasts- 
Nat worship— Animism— Funerals of laity— Funerals of monks— Siamese Buddhism— Siamese 
temples— Newborn children— Reformed sects in Siam. 

AS a missionary religion, Buddhism ^ is only comparable with Mahomet- 
anism and Christianity. No other religions have set themselves to 
conquer many races outside their original home ; no others have Missionary 
achieved so much peacefully. Hinduism professedly restricts religions, 
itself to the Hindus, though it has displayed great powers of absorbing 
aboriginal races into itself. Buddhism, Mahometanism, and Christianity 
are for all people who will receive them ; and their followers have proved 
their faith by their missionary efforts. 

Sir Monier-AVilliams, in his recent work on Buddhism, well expresses 
the great variety of aspects under which it is necessary to study Buddhism. 
In various countries and periods, " its teaching has become both Buddhism 
negative and positive, agnostic and gnostic. It passes from many-sided, 
apparent atheism and materialism to theism, polytheism, and spirituaUsm. 

* See Spence Hardy's "Eastern Monacbism " and "Manual of Buddhism"; Sir Monier- 
Williams's " Buddhism "; "The Burman," by Shway Yoe (Mr. Scott), (B.) ; Alabaster's " Wheel of 
t)ie Law." 

393 



294 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

It is, -iinder one aspect, mere pessimism ; under another, pure philanthropy ; 
under another, monastic communism ; under another, high morality ; under 
another, a variety of materialistic philosophy ; under another, simple de- 
monology ; under another, a mere farrago of superstitions, including 
necromancy, witchcraft, idolatry, and fetishism. In some form or other it 
may be held with almost any religion, and embraces something from almost 
every creed." 

At the first Buddhist Council, held at Rajagriha, after the death of 
Gautama, the teachings of the Enlightened One were sung in three di- 
visions, namely, the Sutras, or Suttas, or words of Buddha to his disciples ; 

The first "the Vinaya, or discipline of the Order, and the Dharma, or doctrine ; 

Buddiiist forming together the Tripitakas, or three baskets or collections. 
A hundred years later, a second council, held at Vesali, con- 
demned the system of indulgences which had arisen, and led to the splitting 
of Buddhism into two parties, who afterwards gave rise to as many as 
eighteen sects. But these controversies did not hinder the spread of 
Buddhism in Northern India. About the middle of the third 
century B.C., Asoka, the king of Magadha, or Behar, grandson of 
Chandragupta (Greek Sandrokottos), founder of the kingdom, and noted for 
his connexion with Alexander the Great and Seleucus, became a sort of 
second founder of Buddhism. He founded so many monasteries that his 
kingdom received the name of Land of the Monasteries (Vihara or Behar). 
The third He made it the religion of the State, and held at Patna the third 

councu. Buddhist council in 244 B.C., which rectified the doctrines and 
canon of Buddhism. Asoka subsequently did much to spread the Order by 
sending out missionaries ; and he inculcated its principles by having them 
cut upon rocks and pillars, and in caves, through a wide extent of India. A 
number of these still exist. The form which the Buddhist scriptures took 
under his influence, in the dialect of his time and country, has been the 
basis of the manuscripts preserved in Ceylon, in what is now known as 
the Pali language. In every way Asoka showed himself to be one of the 
most enlightened of religious monarchs ; and he in no way sought to make 
his views triumph by force. His missionaries were directed to mingle 

Asoka's equally with all ranks of unbelievers, and to ^' teach better things." 

edicts, jj^g edicts include the prohibition of the slaughter of animals for 
food or sacrifice, the statement of the happiness to be found in virtue and 
the contrast of the transitory glory of this world with the reward beyond it, 
the inculcation of the doctrine that the teaching of Buddhist doctrine and 
virtue to others constitutes the greatest of charitable gifts, an order for the 
provision of medical aid for men and animals, the appointment of guardians 
of morality, etc. 

From the time of Asoka we may date the divergence of Buddhism into 

its varied national forms ; henceforth it is only possible to treat the subject 

Divergence either by the comparative method or by referring in turn to the 

of branches, development of each main branch. Space will only permit us 

to treat each very briefly. The fourth great Buddhist council, held under 



MODERN BUDDHISM. 295 

Kanishka, who reigned from Kashmir widely over north-western India, in 
the first century a.d., drew up three commentaries on Buddhism, Thefourtii 
which were the basis for the Tibetan scriptures. This council in- (Kanisuka's) 
dicates that Buddhism was firmly and widely established in India, 
and up to at least a.d. 800 it continued widely prevalent there, though Brah- 
manism was never suppressed, and in fact it was gradually absorbing many 
Buddhist ideas, and preparing, when that operation was completed, to take 
its place entirely. In the beginning of the fifth century a.d., Fa-hien, a 
Chinese Buddhist, visiting India, found Buddhist monks and Brah- 
man priests equally honoured, and Buddhist rehgious houses side by 
side with Hindu temples. In the seventh century the Buddhists were being 
outnumbered by the Hindus, although there were still powerful Buddhist 
monarchs and states in India. At this period Siladitya appears as a great 
patron-king, who in 634 held another great council at Kanauj on suaditya's 
the Ganges; but the progress of Brahmanism was manifest in council, 
the discussions which took place at this council between Buddhists and 
Brahmans, and by the worship of the sun god and of Siva on days succeed- 
ing the inauguration of a statue of Buddha. The divergences among 
followers of Buddha were seen in the disputes which took place between 
the advocates of the Northern and the Southern Canons, or the greater and 
lesser " Vehicles " of the law. Siladitya was further notable for msgood 
his public distribution of his treasures and jewels every five years, ^®®^^- 
after which he put on a beggar's rags ; thus he celebrated Buddha's Great 
E-enunciation. Near Gaya he supported the vast monastery of Nalunda, 
where it is said that ten thousand Buddhist monks and novices pursued 
their studies and devotions ; but Gaya was already a great centre of 
Hinduism. Huen-Siang, who travelled from China through India 
in the seventh century, found Brahmanism gaining ground, though 
Buddhism still flourished in Southern India. Some of the Hindu reformers 
persecuted it, as already related. It was still comparatively strong ^^^^^^^^ of 
in Orissa and Kashmir in the 11th century, and Magadha con- Indian 
tinned Buddhist until the Mohammedan conquest at the end of 
the twelfth century. After that, Buddhism was practically extinct in 
India. 

Why was this ? Partly because, as we have already pointed out, 
Hinduism seized upon the more valuable doctrines of Buddhism, and com- 
bined them with the stronger and more popular elements of its _ 

p . ^^ JT 1. j'jjg courses. 

own faith and ritual. Buddhism, too, did not set itself to ex- 
tinguish Brahmanism ; that would have been contrary to its principles ; 
and its composure and extinction of desires was not calculated to put down 
any active opposition. Moreover, the Buddhists' celibacy contradicted one 
of the great instincts of humanity ; and we must allow for the full effect 
of their ignoring the existence of God, of their denial of revelation, and 
of the efficacy of prayer and priesthood. Again, ^and perhaps chiefly, 
Buddhism left too little for the lay adherent to do. Those only were true 
Buddhists who became monks ; the Church outside was not defined ; almost 



296 THE WORLDS RELIGIONS. 

its only privilege was to wait on and feed tlie monks ; [consequently^ 
Vishnuism and Sivaism, in which the people had a most important part to 
play, most special ends to gain, and a most vital interest, conquered the 
affections and devotion of the masses of India. 

It is in Ceylon, Burmah, and Siam that the nearest resemblance to 
primitive Buddhism is to be found at the present day. These countries 

The G e t ^^^'^^ "to the canon of scriptures, as given in preceding chapters, 
andtheLessercalled by the Northern Buddhists the "Lesser Vehicle," in de- 
preciation. Mahinda, the son of king Asoka, was the great apostle 
of Buddhism in Ceylon ; and now it has a history of over two thousand 
years. The canon was first translated into Singhalese and then translated 
back into Pali by Buddaghosa in the fifth century, since which the texts 
have remained practically unchanged in Pali, not very different from the 
language of Asoka's day and kingdom. They have been translated into 
modern Singhalese, and commented upon at great length. 

The council held by Kanishka was the starting-point of the Northern 
Canon, often called the ''Greater Vehicle" (Mahayana), written in Sanskrit. 
There are nine principal books of these scriptures, of which the best known 
are the "Lotus of the true Law," and the "Legendary Life of Buddha." 
All of them were translated into Tibetan ; and a large number of com- 
mentaries upon them were written. It is upon this "Greater Vehicle" that 
the Buddhism of Nepaul, Tibet, China, Manchuria, Mongolia, and Japan is 
founded ; but these all differ considerably from one another. Extending 
over so wide and so populous an area of the earth's surface. Buddhism has 

Wide range been described as being the religion professed by more persons 
of Buddhism, -j^j^an any other, and has sometimes been credited with five hundred 
millions of adherents. The mistake that is made in such a calculation is 
evident when we remember that in China, where the greatest number of 
nominal Buddhists exists, a vast proportion of the population profess Con- 
fucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism equally or indifferently ; and the study ot 
our chapters on the former will have shown how deep a hold Confucianism, 
ancestor worship, and the varied forms of Taoism, have upon the Chinese. 

Number of If they were called upon to exclude one of their religions, it is 

Buddhists, almost Certain that Buddhism would be excluded. It is very 
doubtful if it is proper to reckon so many as a hundred milhons of Chinese 
as Buddhists. Again, we have seen that Shintoism prevails in Japan, where, 
nevertheless, many people generally show some adhesion to Buddhism. 
Buddhism, essentially, has no lay standard of adherence, since the true 
Buddhists are the monks only. Sir Monier- Williams reckons the number of 
Buddhists at one hundred millions ; Dr. Happer, an experienced American 
missionary in China, estimates that there are only twenty millions of real 
Buddhist believers in China, and a total of seventy- two and a half millions 
in Asia. But it is a very doubtful thing to attempt to reckon the numbers 
of adherents of a religion, and especially such a religion as Buddhism. It 
is certainly one of the four most prevalent religions in the world . 



MODERN BUDDHISM. 



297 



SINGHALESE BUDDHISM. 

Great indeed is the contrast between modern Buddhism, with its elabo- 
rate organisation, its wealthy monasteries, its considerable ritual, its image 
worship and deifications, and the simplicity of its early state Gradual 
as we have sketched it. No doubt this has come to pass by a ^°*^^^^^*^°^- 
gradual process gf adaptation to those instincts and desires of the masses of 
the people which have compelled recognition in all quarters of the globe and 
in almost all religions, together with the regard which grew around Gautama 
as a perfect man ; and from the first, great importance seems to have been 
attached to his relics. Yet it was long before images of him came imag-es of 
into general use. In Ceylon these are called "Pilamas," meaning Buddha, 
counterpart or likeness. They had become numerous in the third, fourth, 
and fifth centuries a.d., some being over twenty feet high and resplendent 




A BURMESE FUNERAL PKOCESSIU.N 



with jewels. " The viharas in which the images are deposited," says Spence- 
Hardy, "are generally, in Ceylon, permanent erections, the walls vmaras in 
being plastered and the roof covered with tiles, even when the ceyion, 
dwellings of the priests are mean and temporary. Near the entrance are 
frequently seen four figures in rilievo^ representing the guardians and 
champions of the temple. Surrounding the sanctum there is usually a 
narrow room, in which are images and paintings ; but in many instances it 
is dark. Opposite the door of entrance there is another door, protected by 
a screen, and when this is withdrawn an image of Buddha is seen, occupy- 
ing nearly the whole of the apartment, with a table or altar before it, upon 
which flowers are placed. Like the temples of the Greeks, the walls are 
covered with paintings ; the style at present adopted in Ceylon greatly re- 
sembling, in its general appearance, that which is presented in the tombs 
and temples of Egypt. The story most commonly illustrates some passages 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



in tlie life of Buddha, or in the births he received as Bodhi-sat. The viharas 
are not unfrequently built upon rocks or in other romantic situations. The 
■court around is planted with the trees that bear the flowers most usually 
•offered. Some of the most celebrated viharas are caves, in part natural, 
with excavations carried further into the rock. The images of Buddha are 
sometimes recumbent, at other times upright, or in a sitting posture, either 
in the act of contemplation, or with the hand uplifted in the act of giving 
instruction. At Cotta, near Colombo, there is a recumbent image forty-two 
feet in length. Upon the altar, in addition to the flowers, there are fre- 
quently smaller images either of marble or metal. In the shape of the 
images, each nation appears to have adopted its own style of beauty, those 
of Ceylon resembling a well-proportioned native of the island, whilst those 
of China present an appearance of obesity that would be regarded as any- 
thing but divine by a Hindu. The images made in Siam are of a more 
attenuated flgure, and comport better with our idea of the ascetic." 

The cave temple at Damballa is one of the most perfect. One of its 
halls contains a gigantic recumbent figure of Buddha in the solid rock 
forty-seven feet long ; at its feet stands an attendant, and opposite 
'to the face is a statue of Vishnu, who is supposed to have assisted 
at the building ; another has more than fifty figures of Buddha, and statues 
of several Brahmanic devas, Vishnu, Natha, etc. There is a handsome 
dagoba in this vihara, the spire nearly touching the roof. The whole 
interior — rock, wall, and statues — is painted in brilliant colours, yellow 
predominating. These, and other cave temples in Ceylon show that they 
were constructed through the same impulse and in the same art epoch with 
those at Ajunta and Ellora. No recent vihara of importance has been 
erected in Ceylon. 

The laity, on entering a vihara, bend the body or prostrate themselves 
before the image of Buddha with palms touching each other and thumbs 
Worship of touching the forehead. They next repeat the threefold formula 
the laity. q£' ^^king refuge, or they take upon themselves a certain number 
of the ten obligations. Some flowers and a little rice are then placed upon 
the altar, and a few coppers are cast into a vessel. No form of prayer is 
used, and to all appearance there is no feeling concerned in the worship, 
which is a matter of course and convention, with a desire of gaining some 
boon. Buddha, the Doctrine, and the Order, appear in Ceylon to be 
almost co-equally invoked for protection. The protection of Buddha is to 
be obtained by listening to the scriptures or keeping the precepts, and thus 
the evil consequences of demerit are overcome. The protection of the 
Order is gained by a small gift. The protection of the three takes away the 
fear of successive existences, mental fear, bodily pain, and the misery of the 
four hells. Buddha will not protect one who refrains from worship when 
near a dagoba or other sacred place, or covers himself with his garment, an 
umbrella, etc., when in sight of an image of Buddha. The Doctrine will 
not protect one who refuses to listen to the reading of the scriptures when 
•called upon, or who listens irreverently or does not keep the precepts. The 



MODERN BUDDHISM. 299 

Order will not protect one who sits near a priest without permission, who 
reads the precepts without being appointed, or argues against a priest, or 
has his shoulders covered or holds an umbrella up when near a priest, or 
who remains seated when riding in any vehicle near a priest. Many 
notable legends attest the importance of these statements. 

The worship of the Bo-tree (Pipul, or sacred fig) under which Grautama 
was accustomed to sit is no doubt very ancient, and in the court-yard 
■of most viharas in Ceylon there is one, said to be derived from worship of 
the original one brought to the island in the fourth century b.c. *^® Bo-tree. 
Usually one was planted on the mound under which the ashes of Kandyan 
-chiefs and priests were placed. 

The dagoba next claims attention, but this word appears in another 
guise, as '' pagoda " ; it is derived from " da," an osseous relic, and " geba," 
the womb, meanins: the shrine of an osseous relic. The word ^ ^ 
■^'tope," otherwise " stupa," a relic, is used for the same buildings. 
It is a circular building of stone, built on a natural or artificial elevation, and 
its summit is crowned with a hemispherical cupola, formerly terminated by 
spires. One of the great dagobas in Ceylon, at Anuradhapura, was originally 
405 feet high, but is now not more than 230 feet; another, formerly 315 
feet, is now not more than 269 feet. All are built of brick and covered with 
a preparation of lime, of a pure white, and capable of high polish, so that 
when perfect the building resembled a crystal dome. At various periods in 
modern times these dagobas have been opened. One, opened in 1820 in 
Ceylon, contained in the interior a small square compartment of brickwork, 
«et exactly towards the cardinal points. In the centre, directly under the 
apex, was a hollow stone vase with a cover, containing a small piece of 
bone, with some thin pieces of plate-gold, a few rings, pearls, and Reiics of 
beads, a few clay images of the sacred naga, or snake-god, and Buddha, 
two lamps. Such relics are either supposed to have been those of Buddha 
himself or of some Buddhist saint, and many miracles are ascribed to their 
virtues. The most celebrated relic of Buddha now existing is in Ceylon, 
namely, the dalada, or left canine tooth, a piece of discoloured ivory two 
inches long (much too long for a human tooth). This is preserved in a 
small chamber in the vihara attached to the old palace of the Kandyan 
kings, enclosed in nine successive bell-shaped golden and jewelled cases, each 
locked, and the key kept by a separate official. On the walls of the corridor 
of entrance are coloured frescoes of the eight principal hells of Buddhism, in 
which evildoers are represented being torn asunder by red-hot tongs, or sawn 
in two, or crushed between rocks, or fixed on red-hot spikes. Thus does the 
spirit of gentle Buddhism find place for practical threats of horrible torture. 

Next to the relics in regard are impressions of Buddha's foot. The 
most celebrated is on Adam's Peak in Ceylon, annually visited 
by 100,000 pilgrims. It is a depression or excavation over five of Buddha's 
feet long, and three-quarters of a yard wide. Representations 
of it are divided into 108 compartments, each containing a design or 
figure, with a wheel in the centre. 



300 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

The Yassa, or residence in a fixed abode during the rainy season, cele- 
brated by reading the Buddhist scriptures to the people, is well kept up in 

vassaand ^Jeylon. The reading takes place in a temporary building of 
public pyramidal form, with successive platforms, built near a vihara. In 
the centre is an elevated platform for the monks, and the people 
sit around on mats. Lamps and lanterns of great variety and gay colour 
are held by the people in their hands or on their heads during the reading. 
Sometimes the scene is a very attractive one. " The females are arrayed in 
their gayest attire, their hair being combed back from the forehead and 
neatly done up in a knot, fastened with silver pins and small ornamental 
combs. The usual dress of the men is of white cotton. Flags and 
streamers, figured handkerchiefs and shawls, float from every convenient 
receptacle. At intervals, tom-toms are beaten; the rude trumpet sends 
forth its screams ; and the din of the music, the murmur of the people's 
voices, the firing of musketry and jinjalls, and the glare of the lamps, pro- 
duce an effect not much in consonance with an act of worship " (Hardy). 
Usually only the Pali text is read, so that the people do not understand a 
word, and many fall asleep or chew betel. Whenever the name of Buddha 
is repeated by the reader, the people call out simultaneously ^^Sadhu," an 
exclamation of joy. In many ways these readings are observed as festival 
occasions ; they take place at each change of the moon, or four times in the 
lunar month. Great merit is said to accrue to all hearers who keep the 
eight precepts upon these service days. It is not proper to trade or to 
make trade calculations on them, still less to injure any one. 

Another of the ceremonies in which the laity have a share is the 
" Pirit," or reading certain portions of the scriptures as an exorcism against 

ThePirit demons, i.e., really malignant spirits who were formerly men. 

ceremony. Certain portions of the scriptures are supposed to avail specially 
in this work, and these are collectively termed the Pirit. One of these 
contains the following : " All spirits here assembled, those of earth and 
those of air, let all such be joyful ; let them listen attentively to my words. 
Therefore hear me, ye spirits ; be friendly to the race of men ; for day 
and night they bring you their offerings ; therefore keep diligent watch over 
them. Ye spirits here assembled, those of earth and those of air, let us 
bow before Buddha, let us bow before the Law, let us bow before the 
Order." The recitation of the Pirit on a great occasion continues without 
interruption through seven days and nights, relays of priests being engaged, 
with many attendant circumstances of festivity. 

We now pass to the Buddhist order of monks in Ceylon, " priests " as 
they call themselves now-a-days. " In nearly all the villages and towns of 

Buddhist Oeylon," says Hardy, " that are inhabited by the Singhalese or 

monks in Kandyans, the priests of Buddha are frequently seen, as they 

have to receive their food by taking the alms-bowl from house to 

house. They usually walk along the road at a measured pace, without 

taking much notice of what passes around. They have no covering for the 

head, and are generally barefooted. In the right hand they carry a fan, in 



MODERN BUDDHISM, 



301 



-shape not much unhke a hand-screen, which they hold up before the face 
when in the presence of women, that the entrance of evil thoughts into the 
mind may be prevented. The bowl is slung from the neck, and is covered 
by the robe, except at the time when alms are received." There are several 




.ACUED I'LATi-ORM OF THE KAXGOON PAGODA 



thousands of these living as celibates in simple leaf-huts or in viharas ; they 
follow substantially the rules given in the last chapter. Their countenances 
are usually less intelligent-looking than those of the common people, with an 
appearance of great vacancy approaching imbecility ; a few rise above this 



302 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

state, but it is only the natural physical result of the kind of meditation and 
rote- worship in which they engage. Yet the populace regard them as a 
kind of inferior Buddhas, and pay them great deference. In their dress they 
repeat that attributed to Buddha ; it is assimilated to a yellow garment of 
rags, by the pieces being torn and sewn together again. The left shoulder 
is usually covered, the right bare. There is generally a school attached to 
the vihara, in which boys are taught to read, recite, and write^ 
this last being first effected on sand with the linger. A large 
proportion of the books read relate to Buddhism. Latterly the Ceylon 
Buddhists have established a college at Colombo for the study of Sanskrit,. 
Pali, and Singhalese. Each vihara has a head, and frequently possesses 
considerable landed property, biit there is no organised hierarchy. One of 
the most important services rendered by the Buddhists has been in their 
maintenance of schools; the pupils in general become qualified to enter 
upon the Buddhistic novitiate at once, and the ceremony of initiation is a 
very simple one. 

Notwithstanding the limited sacerdotal functions assigned to the 
monks, they are to a certain extent recognised in birth and marriage cere- 

. g J monies, especially in fixing auspicious days for weddings. Iix 
monks case of illness, a monk is sent for, an offering of flowers, oil, and 
food being at the same time forwarded. A temporary audience- 
place is fitted up close to the house, and here the monk reads from the 
scripture for six hours to the relatives and friends, and, if possible, the sick 
man also. Offerings are again given to the priest, who finally says, '' By 
reverence do the wise secure health, by almsgiving do they lay up treasures 
for themselves." If he appears about to die, the monk recites the formula 
of profession of Buddhism, the five prohibitions (p. 278), and the four 
earnest reflections. As a rule, in Ceylon, the dead are buried; but the 
bodies of monks are burnt under decorated canopies, which are left ta 
moulder away. 

BURMESE BUDDHISM. 

A very vivid picture of Buddhism in Burmah has been given by Mr» 

Scott in his fascinating book, '^ The Burman," published under the 

pseudonym of " Shway Yoe." Every boy goes to the monastery 

monastery school from the age of eight, and is taught to read and write, the 

schoo s. Q-]^Qf pg^j.^ Qf j^\^Q teaching consisting of Buddhistic formulas and 

precepts ; and, until the English took possession of the country, every boy 

took the yellow robe at the close of his schooling, although he might retain 

it but for a short time ; and as yet comparatively few have thrown off the 

conventional mode of education in favour of the Grovernment schools. On 

entering the Order as a novice, at the age of twelve or more, 

there is an elaborate ceremony, corresponding to baptism, at 

which the youth receives a new name, showing that it is now possible for 

him to escape from suffering ; but this is again lost when or if he returns. 

to the world, though having borne it enables him to add to his merits by 



MODERN BUDDHISM. 



3Q3 



good works. The ceremony includes the putting off ot fine clothes, the 
shaving of the head, reciting a Pali prayer to be admitted to the Order as a 
novice, that he may walk steadily in the path to perfection, and finall^^ 
attain to the blessed state of " Neh'ban," as Nirvana comes to be rendered 
in Burmese, and the reception of the yellow robes and the begging-pot from 
the chief or abbot of the monastery. Finally, there is a feast at the parent's- 
house. The stay of the novice in the monastery is not usually long, some- 
times even only one day, but usually at least through one rainy season, or 
Wah (Vassa, sometimes called Lent by Europeans). Those who resolve to 
adopt the religious life enter upon advanced studies of Buddhist writings ; 
but many things hinder the novice, especially the duty of attending on the 
monks, begging, carrying umbrellas or books for his seniors. In Lower 
Burmah the parents sometimes send food regularly for their son, but this 
would not be allowed in Upper Burmah. 

In a Burmese monastery the whole 
community is roused a little before day- 
light, awakened by a big bell, a Burmese 
and after washing, each brother °ioiiastery. 
recites a few formulas, one of which is 
" How great a favour has the Lord Bu- 
ddha bestowed upon me in manifesting 
to me his law, through the observance of 
which I may escape hell and secure my 
salvation." The entire brotherhood as- 
semble round the image of Buddha, recite 
the morning service, and then perform 
various domestic duties, the elder only 
meditating. A. slight meal and an hour's 
study are followed by the procession of 
all the monks through the town, to 
receive food in the alms-bowl. On their 
return a portion is offered to Buddha's image, and then breakfast is taken. 
Strictly it ought to consist of the morning's gift, not specially dressed ; 
but usually this is now given to the scholars or any chance wanderers^ 
while a tasty meal is prepared for the monks. Visits of courtesy or 
honour fill up part of the day, at which great ceremony is observed, the 
conversation, according to Shway Yoe, coming round to the merit of alms- 
giving. After a light meal at noon, all return to work, some teaching, others 
studying the Buddhist books, overseeing the writers who copy manuscripts '. 
but the work of many is merely meditation, repeating the formulas of the 
Order, " while, throughout all, sounds the din of the schoolroom, where the 
pupils are shouting out their tasks at the top of their voices. The novices 
and monks may take a stroll in the evening, but at sunset all are summoned 
back, and the scholars recite the whole or part of their day's work to the 
abbot. So the evening passes till 8.30 or 9, when all assemble for devotion, 
before the image of Buddha. Then a novice loudly proclaims the hour, day, 




BUEMFSE IMAGE OF GAUTAMA. 



304 * THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

and year ; all bow before Buddha thrice, and similarly before the abbot, 
and then retire. The testimony of JShway Yoe is, that '' the effect of such a 
school, presided over by an abbot of intelligence and earnestness, must in- 
fallibly work for the good of all connected with it, and especially so in the 
case of an impulsive impressionable people like the Burmese. As long as 
all the men of the country pass through the monasteries, the teachings of 
western missionaries can have but little power to shake the hold of 
Buddhism on the people." 

Among those who are fully recognised as monks, the Phon-gyee of 
^' great glory" is distinguished, having been at least ten years a monk, and 
ThePhon- having proved himself steadfast and self-denying. From this 
gyees. q\2,'s>'& the Sayah (head or abbot) is chosen. Beyond these is re- 
cognised the Provincial, overseeing a number of monasteries in a district 
and the Sadaw, or royal teacher, of whom there are eight, forming a sort of 
supreme Burmese religious board. It is always possible to leave the 
monastery, in which point Buddhist monasteries differ from most others. 

The life of a monk is an ideal one in many respects ; food is supplied 
to him ; he has no sermons to prepare ; he has few outside religious rites to 
Life of a attend ; and if he observes the cardinal precepts of Buddhism, 
monk. -j^Q -g continually accumulating merit. There is nothing in the 
admission or routine of the full monkhood which is not in essence con- 
tained in our chapters. Discipline is strictly maintained, the breaking of 
the prime commands being severely punished; unfrocking, expulsion, pos- 
sibly stoning, are penalties sufficiently heavy. The condition of an ex- 
pelled monk is pitiable : ''no one may speak to him ; no monk will take 
alms from him ; he can neither buy nor sell ; he is not allowed even to 
draw water from a well." If there is evil living or neglect of religious 
duty in a neighbourhood, the brethren invert their alms-bowls and cease 
to go out begging. This is felt to be so grave a censure that it does not 
fail to influence the most hardened in a very short time, yet laxities are 
not unknown. Some monks will receive money or gold, or will adopt cir- 
cuitous methods of getting what they desire. So far has this proceeded 
that an active sect has arisen in lower Burmah to restore and maintain the 
true austerities and ordinances of Buddhism, and it has gained many ad- 
herents among laity as well as monks. On the whole, the monks are greatly 
reverenced by the people, who make obeisance when they pass, the women 
kneeling down by the roadside in Upper Burmah. The oldest layman 
terms himself the disciple of the youngest monk, whose commonest actions 
are spoken of in magniloquent language. 

The monastery is an essential accompaniment of the Burmese village, 
away from bustle, surrounded by fine trees. Usually it is built of teak. 
Monastery sometimes of brick. All are oblong, and one storey high, the living 
buildings, j^qq^s being raised eight or ten feet on pillars. The woodwork 
is ornamented with varied carving of figures and scroll-work ; the roofs 
appear as if constituting successive storeys — three five, or, seven. The main 
hall is divided into two portions — one for the scholars and a higher one for 




Ni:i'..u. I'vui: OF A Burmese pnoN-GYKK. 
205 



3o6 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

the reception of visitors. At the back of this, against the wall, are images of 
Buddha on a sort of altar, with candles, flowers, praying flags, etc. Near 
this are various treasures, books, manuscripts, chests, models of monasteries 
and pagodas, etc. This hall is also used as the sleeping place of the monks. 
Sometimes a number of these buildings are contained within one enclosure. 
The most gorgeous group of monastic buildings in the world probably 
is the Royal Monastery outside Mandalay. " Every building in it is magni- 
ficent ; every inch carved with the ingenuity of a Chinese toy, the whole 
ablaze with gold leaf and a mosaic of fragments of looking-glass. . . . 
The interior is no less elaborate. The wood-carving is particularly fine." 
But this is only one among many. The whole space between Mandalay Hill 
and the city is full of monasteries, some with excellent libraries of palm-leaf 
books ; while in Lower Burmah many do not possess even a complete copy of 
the three chief books of the '' Lesser Vehicle." It being the special privilege 
of the lay believers to build and support monasteries, plenty of scope for such 
philanthropy is always allowed ; but many monasteries have a good deal of 
cash laid away. The Burmese are taxed most seriously by Buddhism, for 
abundant almsgiving must be supplemented by regular worship at the 
pagodas. 

The pagodas of Burmah are still more numerous than the monasteries, old 
crumbling ones beside new glittering buildings, as in India, with very many 
Burmese imaginary relics of Buddha or other saints. All these buildings 
pagodas. ^^ Burmese call Zaydee, the offering place, or place of prayer j 
while the more notable pagodas are termed Payahs. A relic or sacred object 
is buried or enclosed in each; without it no "htee," or umbrella, could 
crown its spire. Often these include golden images of Buddha with the 
hooded snake. They are based on the primitive mound plan, combined with 
the lotus, extended in many cases into an inverted bell with a spire. They 
are all made of sun-dried brick, very liable to decay, and only a few are 
renewed or made substantial enough for permanence. Some of the pagodas 
are surrounded at the base by a circle of smaller pagodas, each enshrining 
an image of Buddha. 

The most magnificent Buddhist temple is that at Rangoon, the Shway 

Dagohn Payah, containing, it is said, eight hairs of Gautama Buddha, beside 

The great ^^^^^^ ^^ ^^® three Buddhas who preceded him. It stands upon a 

Rangoon huge mound of two terraces, the upper 166 feet above the ground 

temple, ^^^g-^^^ ^^^ -^ extent 900 feet by 685. The long flights of steps 

by which the ascent is made are covered by long ranges of handsome teak 

roofs, with frescoes showing scenes in Buddha's disciples' lives, and horrible 

scenes of the torments of the wicked in hell. From the centre of the upper 

terrace rises the solid octagonal brick payah, 370 feet high, abundantly 

gilt. At the top is the htee, or gilt umbrella of iron work of many rings, each 

with many jewelled bells of gold and silver, tinkling with every movement 

of the air. Four chapels at the foot of the pagoda have colossal sitting 

figures of Buddha, with hundreds of smaller ones in every style and posture, 

surrounding or even fixed upon them. The decorations and carvings upon 



MODERN BUDDHISM. 307 

and around these are elaborate beyond description ; the multitudes of bells of 
all sizes, from the great one of 42 tons downwards, deserve special mention. 
The great bell was carried off by the English after the second Burmese war, 
but by accident it capsized and lay at the bottom of the Rangoon river, and 
the English failed to raise it. The Burmese begged to be allowed to try, 
and with primitive appliances and great perseverance succeeded in raising it, 
and so got it back again, to the great triumph of Buddhists ; and indeed the 
carrying off of religious emblems or property of any kind from a conquered 
people is a feat no Englishman has reason to be proud of. The original 
temple, 27 feet high, has been again and again encased with bricks rendering 
it larger and taller, and has thus attained its present height, and it is 
periodically regilt ; also the faithful are never tired of climbing as high as 
they can, and fixing squares of gold leaf upon it. "Lepers and cripples and 
nuns in their white robes line the steps and cry out in piteous tones for 
alms. Round the platform itself are sellers of candles and coloured tapers, 
Chinese incense sticks, and prayer flags, along with abundance of gold leaf. 
Numbers of young girls sit about with flowers, especially of the lotus, and 
meats of different kinds for offerings. The platform is never deserted. 
Even long after midnight the voice of the worshipper may be heard in the 
night air, chanting in solemn monotone his pious aspirations, while on a 
duty day, and especially on a feast day, the laughing, joyous crowd of men 
and maidens, in their gay national dress, makes the platform of .the Shway 
Dagohn one of the finest sights in the world." (B.) 

The Shway Maw-Daw, the lotus-shrine of Pegu ; the depository of the 
sacred hair at Prome, and the great temple at Mandalay, are among the 
more remarkable temples in Burmah. But we must not omit to 

Pfl.pfg.nTI, 

mention the great collection of pagodas at Pagahn, the deserted 
capital on the Irrawaddy, extending for eight miles along the bank and for 
two miles inland. Colonel Yule, in his " Mission to Ava," has described 
them in detail. Some are cruciform vaulted temples, with great galleries 
and transepts, and remind visitors of old-world cathedrals ; others have 
minarets, pyramids of fretwork ; some are like huge bulbous mushrooms. 
It is said that there are nearly ten thousand more or less complete, but ruin 
is on many, and jungle-bushes have overgrown them. Very many contain 
colossal figures of Buddha and sculptured groups. Again, Shway Goo, an 
island between Mandala}^ and Bhamo, is a great centre of temples, having 
nine hundred and ninety-nine. 

Thus we may gather some faint idea how deeply the belief in securing 
merit by building a pagoda has entered into the nature of the Burmese ; 
but, says Shway Yoe, they are not idolaters ; they worship neither Burmese 
rehcs nor images. The pagoda and the figure only furnish a 'w-orswp. 
fitting place to praise the great Buddha and to resolve to imitate liis charity 
and sinless life. No actual prayers are offered to them ; simple praises 
learnt at the monastery school, or special forms made by the worshipper are 
repeated, and their character is similar to those we have aheady given 
samples of. They are not merely addressed to the image, but also to the 



3o8 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



entire building, and may be repeated anywhere, at a distance from it. 
Pilgrims -to the Rangoon temple prostrate themselves now and again, from 
the time they catch sight of the spire, repeating simple formulas or Pali 
sentences of which they may or may not know the meaning. Many of them 
have little paper prayer flags in various fanciful shapes, having written in 
the centre some pious sentence in Pali or Burmese. These are laid on the- 
slirine, and add to the merit of the worshipper, as do the candles, lamps^ 
flowers, incense-sticks, etc., which are offered. '' The worshippers, if they 
are men, squat down, resting the body on their heels. The body is bent 
a little forward, and the hands are joined together and raised to the 
forehead. The women kneel down altogether, and take especial care to 
cover up their feet. All are of course barefooted. Before commencing the 
repetition of the formulse, three prostrations are made with the forehead tO' 
the ground. It is usual to hold some offering between the hands during 
worship, and this is afterwards reverently deposited on the altar. 

Strange to say, the Burmese have but little idea of perpetuating their 
images of Buddha; few are of marble or brass; most are of short-lived brick,, 
Images of niortar, and wood. The utmost period for which they could' 
Buddha, endure would be as nothing in comparison with the countless; 
future ages. Their variety too is not great; they are either standing in 
the preaching attitude, sitting cross-legged, or recumbent and representing 
the approach of death. The erect figures are usually very large ; these are 
common in Upper Burmah, some forty feet high ; many have been and are- 
frequently gilt. In Lower Burmah the whole of the receptacles near the 
shrines are crammed full of little images of all kinds. Only a few great 
images are carved or placed in the open. 

The ignorant in some cases ascribe miracles to particular images or 
relics, but all enlightened Buddhists strongly repudiate those beliefs, and 
only unprincipled monks can now and then be got to propagate them. 
There is one noteworthy marble Buddha at the foot of Mandalay Hill,. 
twenty-five feet high, carved out of one block, scores of tons in weight. 
Another on the top of the hill has gold leaf only on the eyeballs, and its 
constant renewal by the faithful causes the pupils to protrude frightfully. 
Other notable images are formed of bricks laid against rock surfaces. Many 
are deserted, marks of past populations, still reverenced by the chance 
visitor, but regarded more with curiosity than adoration. 

The pagoda feasts are the great holidays of the Burmese, each shrine 
having its own day, and they considerably resemble the great fairs of 
Pagoda medieval Europe, a few minutes spent at the shrine, reciting 
feasts, sentences in praise of Buddha, sufficing for the devotions of most 
of the visitors, while a few listen to the reading and expounding of the 
sacred books by the head of the monastery. The four feast days every month 
are also well observed, and have in general been made to coincide with 
Sunday in Lower Burmah since the British occupation ; but there is much 
variation in the strictness with which the day is kept. The three months 
of "Wah (corresponding to Vassa) are kept as a sort of Lent, without fastings, 



MODERN BUDDHISM. 



'30.9 



but with special observance of religious duties, and absence of feasts and 
marriages. Often the richer people get monks to expound the law in their 
houses, and invite their friends to hear them. The end of this season is 
celebrated by a carnival, including in Rangoon much feasting and even 
plays in the monasteries and grand illuminations. 

Notwithstanding the firm hold which Buddhism has upon the Burmese, 
they still propitiate the nature-spirits or nats, as if Buddhism were unknown. 
The word " nat " in Burmese has two distinct meanings, one kind j^^^ ^oj.gijip 
of nats being the inhabitants of the six inferior heavens, the devas. 




ENTRANCE TO THE SHWAY DAGOIIX, RANGOON. 



transferred from the Vedic mythology, and the other the spirits of the air, 
water, and forest. The last are most diligently propitiated, for fear of the 
harm they may do, at a little shrine at the end of each village. Sometimes, 
it is a mere bamboo cage with a gaudy image or images of a fetish-like 
ugliness, to which offerings are made by the villagers. In fact, the whole 
category of local spirits, disease spirits, demons, omens, and magic- workers is 
to be found in considerable force in Burmah, though greatly frowned upon 
by the Buddhist priests. Lucky and unlucky days, days proper for special 
things or improper for others, have also very great influence in Burmese life, 
and in them the astrologers find great profit. So that concurrently with 



3IO THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

the more advanced notions of Buddhism, there may be found in Burmah 
practically the whole round of primitive notions about the spirit 
world. The butterfly spirit is the Burmese idea of the essential 
spirit of human life, which may wander in dreams, be charmed or afflicted 
by demons and wizards, be preserved by witch-doctors, and which finally 
departs at death. 

Marriage in Burmah is not a religious ceremony, being contrary to the 
celibate ideas of the monks ; but in burials the latter are largely concerned. 
Funerals They are summoned to stay in the house of death as a protection 
of laity, froni evil spirits ; they deliver addresses on the vanity of human 
desires and the uncertainty and wretchedness of life ; they receive large alms, 
determining the extent of their services, and at the grave they recite the 
five commandments and the ten good works, and various sentences in Pali. 
When they are leaving with their alms, the chief mourner pours water on 
to the ground and says, " May the deceased and all present share the merit 
of the offerings made and the ceremonies now proceeding," that the earth 
may remember it when men forget. For a week after, feasting and mourn- 
ing go on in most cases, the monks receiving offerings, reciting Pali sentences, 
driving off evil spirits, and purifying the house. Many people in Burmah 
are still cremated. 

The funeral of a monk is very different. When he dies, he simply 
returns to one of the various heavens, and his funeral is called " Phongyee 
Funerals byan," the return of the great glory. A notable monk has a 
of monks, f^^eral that is attended by people from all around. After elaborate 
preparations, the body is enclosed in a gorgeous sarcophagus, painted with 
religious subjects and variously decked. It lies in state for months under 
an open teak building called a " monastery for the dead," hung with gift- 
paintings of all kinds of subjects and various other gifts, and is visited by 
streams of pilgrims, who say their religious sentences, make offerings of 
flowers and fruit, and give contributions towards the final ceremony. This 
is the erection and burning of the funeral pyre : an elaborately decorated 
seven-roofed building, with a spire rising to seventy feet, is erected in a 
space cleared of jungle ; the funeral car, previous to the coffin being placed 
upon it, is the subject of a prolonged "tug of war," the victory of those who 
are privileged to drag the car bringing abundant merit to them and being 
highly prized. The cof&n is at last dragged to the pyre and lifted to its 
platform, beneath which an abundant supply of combustibles is heaped. 
Finally the whole is lighted by rockets fired from a distance. The bones 
of the deceased are gathered up and buried near the pagoda. Unlike other 
Buddhist countries, a shrine or pagoda is not erected over the dead in 
Burmah. 

SIAMESE BUDDHISM. 

After this account of Burmese Buddhism it will not be necessary to say 
much of its Siamese form, which is very similar. The Siamese monks, 
though their monasteries are sometimes elaborate buildings, only remain in 



MODERN B UDDHISM. 3 1 1 

them during the rainy season. The sacred footprint of Buddha, five feet 
long by two broad, known as the Phra Bat, is greatly venerated, and has a 
shrine erected over it, at which valuable gifts are offered. There is no real 
likeness to a foot, and the cavity has scarcely any markings on it ; but it 
is venerated as a genuine relic. There are plenty of markings on the 
supposed genuine copies of it, divided into 108 compartments, with figures 
having an elaborate symbolic relationship to Buddhism. On the whole, it 
may be said that Buddhism is more strictly observed in Siam than in 
Burmah. 

The great temple, " Wat Poh," in Bangkok, contains an enormous gilt 
figure of the dj^ing Buddha, about 160 feet long, constructed of bricks, 
lacquered and heavily gilt. The huge foot-soles are inlaid with Siamese 
mother-of-pearl figures illustrating stories of Buddha's life. The temples, 
floor is of tesselated marble. Another great temple, — the "Wat Chang," 
or Elephant Temple, — has a lofty spire with external decoration in remark- 
able patterns which at a distance look like mosaics of precious stones, but 
are in truth nothing but a mixture of broken glass, crockery, and shells. A 
representation of the three-headed elephant is prominently placed on each 
of the four facades of this temple. 

Cremation is the usual mode of disposing of the dead. Priests pray 
day and night in the house until the body is removed to the temple-grounds. 
The interval between death and burial varies according to the 
rank and wealth of the family ; it may even be protracted for 
months, during which the prayers go on continuously, the coffin being 
covered with flowers. But the devouring of bodies by vultures and dogs is 
not at all uncommon. 

The Laos beheve that children are the offspring of the spirits ; and 
when newly born, they are placed on the top of the ladder leading to the 
house, and the spirits are called to take away the child at once or Newborn 
not to molest it afterwards. Various offerings to the spirits are cmidren. 
made ; and on the second day the child is considered out of their power, 
and is nominally sold to some relative for a trifle, it being supposed that the 
spirits would not take what has been thus sold. 

The Siamese as a rule have but one wife. The Buddhist priests are 
called in to the marriage ceremony, read an extract from their scriptures, 
and pray for a blessing on the pair, who are then sprinkled with holy water. 
After further prayers and feasting the marriage is complete. 

It is significant of possibilities of Buddhist revival, that in Siam in 
recent years free Buddhist churches have arisen, rejecting the miraculous 
and mythical elements, and recurring to the pure moral teachings Reformed 
of the founder. The late king gave a powerful support to these ^^^^^ ^ ^^^ 
churches and their efforts. His foreign minister, Chao Phya Phraklang, 
wrote " a book explaining many things," showing that much of the popular 
mythology was not essential to Buddhism, although he retained the belief 
in Buddha having visited the heavens and taught the angels. He may be 
called a Buddhist rationalist, teaching a universal morality. Having studied 



312 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS, 



Christianity very carefully, lie rejected it, terming it " a foolish religion." 
His book, as translated by Mr. Alabaster, is worth reading as a specimen 
of the keen criticism Christian missionaries encounter from educated 
Buddhists. A brief quotation from a passage relating to the future state 
will be found of interest. " We observe that some die young, others live to 
old age ; some are born great, others not ; some rich, others poor ; some 
beautiful, others ugly ; some never suffer illness, others are continually ill, 
or blind, or deaf, or deformed, or mad. If we say that God made these, 
we must regard Him as unjust, partial, and ever changing ; making those 
suffer who have never done anything to deserve suffering, and not giving 
to men in general that average of good and bad fortune which attends even 
the speculations of the gambler. But if we believe in the interchange and 
succession of life throughout all beings (i.e., the transmigration of souls), 
and that good and evil arise from ourselves, and are the effects of merit and 
demerit, we have some grounds for belief. 

''Those who believe that after death the soul passes to hell or heaven for 
ever, have no proof that there is no return thence. Certainly it would be a 
most excellent thing to go direct to heaven after death, without further 
change, but I am afraid that it is not the case. For the believers in. it, who 
have not perfectly purified their hearts, and prepared themselves for that 
most excellent place, where there is no being born, growing old, and dying, 
will still have their souls contaminated with uneradicated evil. . . . 
How is it possible that those who have not cleared away the evil disposition 
from their soul should attain the most excellent heaven, and live eternally 
with God the Creator ? And of those who are to remain in hell for ever, 
many have made merit and done much good. Shall that be altogether 
lost?" 




PAGODA AT PAGMIN. 




THE THREE PRECIOUS ONES (CHINESE BUDDHISM 



CHAPTER YIII. 

Tibetan Buddhism— Tibetan Scriptures— Worship of the Triad— The Bodhi-satvas— Maitreya— The 
Dhyani-Buddhas — Buddhist Jieavens— The Lamas — The Grand Lama— History of Tibetan 
Buddhism— The Mongol emperors— The Dalai and Panchen Lamas— Succession of Grand Lamas 
— Great monasteries — The Vatican of Buddhism — Interview with Grand Lama— Tashi Lunpo— 
Praying- by machinery — Prayer cylinders — Prayer walls and flags — Daily worship of monks — 
Festivals — Fasts — The Papal domain of Buddhism— Chinese Buddhism — Introduction of Buddhism 
to China — Chinese life of Buddha — Mythical details — Buddhist patriarchs — The Buddhist books 
translated— Opposition of Confucianists — Bodhidharma — The Mongol emperors -Modem dis- 
couragement—Present state— Temples — Images in the halls — Realism of images— Kwan-yin— 
Anntabha — Halls of 500 saints— Tien-tai — Schools of Chinese Buddhism — The Lin-tsi— Monasteries 
and monks — Ascetics — Nunneries— Popular aspect — Buddhist calendar — Influence of Buddhism 
on China— The Do-Nothing Sect— Japanese Buddhism— The Shin-Shin. 



TIBETAN BUDDHISM. 

THE Buddhism of Tibet may be said to pervade and dominate the 
national life. The Buddhist leaders practically rule and possess the 
-entire land, paying little more than nominal allegiance to China.^ Their 
hierarchy, monasteries, ceremonies, and images are repeatedly instanced 
^s the most elaborate parallel which can be found to the Roman Catholic 
•system ; and it is certain that Buddhism in Tibet presents an almost com- 
plete contrast to the simplicity of Gautama's Order. It did not reach Tibet 
till the seventh century a.d., when it had already a history of more than 
;a thousand years behind it, and had gained predominance in Kashmir and 
Nepal. The Tibetans, like other Mongoloid peoples, had a Shamanistic 
nature worship, with much magic and sorcery and dread of spirits ; and it 
is little doubtful that their previous beliefs largely influenced the modifica- 
tion which Buddhism underwent. 



' See Sir Monier-Williaras's " Buddhism "— Edkins's " Chinese Buddhism 
China '' — Beal's " Chinese Buddhism." 

313 



and " Religion in 



314 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

We will first give some notion of the developments which the central 
doctrines of Buddhism underwent in the Tibetan Scriptures. The Triad^ 

Tibetan Buddha, the Law or Doctrine, and the Order had already become 
Scriptures, venerated, and we find that Fa-hien on his travels committed him- 
self to the Order as a sort of personality, invoking it by its " dread and 
Worship of supernatural power." Images of Buddha became common, and 
the Triad. ^\^ ^ later period the Law and the Order began to be symbolised 
among the northern peoples. The Law is now often represented as a man 
(a woman in Sikkim) with four arms, two hands folded in worship, or raised, 
a third holding a book or a lotus, the fourth a rosary or a garland ; but 
the Law is in some cases only represented by a book. The Order is de- 
picted as a man with one hand holding a lotus, and the other lying on his 
knees. Strangely enough, the order of arrangement of these three represen- 
tative figures is not uniform. 

The next further development of Buddhism was connected with 

Gautama's Bodhi-satva state. Before he was born on earth, he was believed 

The Bodhi- ^0 have last existed in a state of self-enlightened knowledge as a 

satvas. Bodhi-satva, and to have voluntarily chosen to become a saviour 
of the world before attaining the Nirvana to which he was entitled. He 
led his followers to look for the advent of another Buddha, now a Bodhi- 
satva, known as Maitreya, " the compassionate one," after 5,000 years, when 
Grautama should have been forgotten and the Law no longer obeyed. At 
present he is believed to preside in the heaven of contented beings, 
and to watch over all Buddhists and their interests. Inasmuch 
as he lives and is the future Buddha, not merely one who has passed away, 
he has become an object of worship and prayer. Huen-Siang reported that 
it was said, "No words can describe the personal beauty of Maitreya. He 
declares a law not different from ours. His exquisite voice is soft and 
pure." And his worshippers look forward to attaining his heaven and 
listening to his voice. 

Beyond this, the memory of the leading disciples of Buddha and those 
who became prominent later for their holy life, ability, or zeal in propa- 
gating the faith, was in process of time exalted into what could only be 

Solitary properly compared with canonisation or almost deification. Also 

Buddhas. ^^ '^^^^ grew up that there were self-dependent solitary Buddhas 
and many Bodhi-satvas. The Great Vehicle or Maha-yana teaches that there 
will be numberless supreme Buddhas, Bodhi-satvas and solitary Buddhas, 
who will attain their position by their virtues and wisdom ; and these Bodhi- 
satvas are represented as enjoying heaven indefinitely without aiming at 
Nirvana. In fact, the Tibetan idea is, that these Buddhas and saints only 
descend in their corporeal emanations upon earth, much like the avatars of 
the Hindu gods, being incorporate in a succession of saints. Naturally they 
are much reverenced, as they are believed to raise their worshippers to 
the bhssful heaven where they abide. Thus did Buddhism give promise 
of heavens which were attainable, and throw into the background the 
far-distant Nirvana. 



MODERN BUDDHISM. 315 

In the third century three Bodhi-satvas were worshipped in Northern 
India besides Mai trey a. At first protectors of Buddha, they were gradually 
credited with the function of watching over all Buddhists. The first ^ 
Avalokitesvara, the lord that looks down (with pity), is in Tibet regarded 
as a sort of supreme spirit, who, while remaining ever in heaven, becomes 
incarnated in successive Grand Lamas. He presides over the temporal 
wellrbeing of all human beings, ghosts, and animal spirits. He is termed 
" Grod of mercy," " Lord of the world," etc., and is prayed to very frequently 
in bodily danger or disease, as well as for relief from future re-birth. He 
is generally depicted with several faces and arms, the former pyramidally 
placed in three tiers, two hands folded in adoration of Buddha, and two 
others holding the lotus and the wheel. Often he greatly resembles 
Vishnu. Yajra-pani (the thunderbolt-handed) is a sort of Buddhist Siva^ 
controlling and destroying evil spirits ; while Manju-sri (he of glorious 
beauty), is possibly a deification of the Brahman who introduced Buddhism 
into Nepal. 

Later still a new mystical worship arose, worshipping 
the Dhyani-Buddhas, or Buddhas existing in the higher 
worlds of abstract meditation, corresponding to The Dhyani- 
the earthly Buddhas and representing them. s^<i<i^as. 
Each of these was supposed to give off a Dhyani Bodhi- 
satva, to preside over and protect Buddhism between the 
death of one Buddha and the coming of the next ; and 
before long, the Dhyani-Buddha corresponding to Gautama, 
namely Amitabha (diifuser of infinite light), was worshipped 
as a personal god. Some of the Nepalese Buddhists de- 
veloped a still more advanced theory of a primordial or 
Adi-Buddha, the source of all things, out of whom the 
Dhyani-Buddhas proceeded,, and corresponding to the 
Hindu supreme Brahma. But neither Adi-Buddha nor 
Amitabha were regarded as creators of the world out of wheel. 

no.liing. 

The elaborate descriptions of the twenty-six successive Buddhist 
heavens, in which many of the Hindu gods were fabled to dwell and reign,, 
we cannot reproduce. Six are inhabited by beings still liable to Buddhist 
sensuous desires ; sixteen by those in successive stages of abstract heavens, 
meditation, called the worlds of the Brahma gods, and Brahma rules there, 
but yet is greatly inferior to Buddha. All these gods have to pass into a 
new form of existence after vast periods of time. Finally, there are four 
heavens of formless beings. All their mythology, though departing enor- 
mously from primitive Buddhism, does not violate the view that Buddhist 
Arhats (saints) and Buddhas are ranked above all the popular divinities- 
We need not enlarge upon other additions to Buddhism from Hinduism, 
and also from popular beliefs in demons, spirits of animals, nature spirits^ 
sorcery, and magic. These additions are abundant, and rise but little, if at 
all, above the corresponding ideas and practices among savage races. 




3i6 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

We shall not detail the inferior gradations of the Tibetan monkhood, 

but pass on at once to the superior monks, who are rightfully termed 

Lamas, or superior teachers, and are, like European abbots, heads 

of monasteries. Some of these are believed to be incarnations of 

deceased saints and Bodhi-satvas ; they are consequently termed Avatara 

Lamas. The lowest grade of these represents a saint or the founder of a 

The Grand great monastery ; the second grade is a living emanation of a 

Lamas. Bodhi-satva ; while the highest or G-rand Lama is an incarnation 

of a supreme Buddha or his Bodhi-satva ; to them a wide range of authority 

is assigned. There is also a female hierachy in the convents, with its female 

avatars. 

To understand the Tibetan sj^stem, we must sketch in brief its history. 
The first monasteries were founded at Lhassa in honour of two princesses, 
History of ^^"^^^ ^^ ^•'^^ Tibetan king who introduced Buddhism. In the 
Tibetan eighth century the translation of the enlarged (Maha-yana) canon 
of Buddhist scriptures into Tibetan was begun. It extended to 
108 volumes (forming the Kanjur), and was followed by 225 volumes of 
commentaries and general literature, known as the Tanjur. After several 
fluctuations, in the latter part of the eleventh century Buddhism again 
revived, under the influence of Atisha from Kashmir and Brom Ton, a 
Tibetan. Many monasteries were founded in that and the next centuries, 
those at Sakya and Easeng being the most important. Raseng, founded by 
Brom Ton in 1058, was devoted to the strict rules of Buddhism (the yellow 
The Mongol sect) ; Sakya was more lax, and became the headquarters of the 
emperors, j^^^j g^^,^^ many of whom were married before becoming monks. 
In the thirteenth century the power of the Mongols spread over Tibet. 
Kublai Khan adopted Buddhism and greatly favoured the Tibet monks. 
Already great authority had gathered round the chiefs of the Sakya and the 
]Raseng monasteries, and Kublai exerted his authority to appoint the nephew 
of the ruler of the Sakya monastery to succeed his uncle, and made him a 
tributary ruler over Tibet. In return for his authority, he and his suc- 
cessors were required to crown the Mongol emperors. This first G-rand 
Avatara Lama, known as Phuspa Lama, devised the Mongol alphabet, 
started a revision of the Tibetan Buddhist texts, which prepared the way 
for their translation into Mongolian, and founded many monasteries. When 
the Ming dynasty supplanted the Mongols in China, they continued to 
favour the Tibetan Lamas, but raised three other chief Lamas to similar 
rank. At the end of the fourteenth century there arose a reformer, Tsong 
Khapa, who, after studying the originals of the Buddhist scriptures in Tibet, 
raised again the standard of orthodoxy, and gathered round him many thou- 
sand monks of the strict yellow sect; he built and became the first head of a 
great monastery at Galdan, and his followers built others. He wrote many 
books, restored celibacy, abolished many superstitious forms of worship, 
and renewed the practice of retirement for meditation at a fixed season, 
which had not been kept up in Tibet owing to its lack of a rainy season. 
After his death in 1419 (since celebrated at the Feast of Lamps, as his 



MODERN BUDDHISM. 



317 



ascension to heaven), he was reverenced as an incarnation of Amitabha^ 
Manju-sri, or Vajra-pani, and his image is still seen in temples of The Dalai and 
the yellow sect, with those of the Dalai and Panchen Lamas on the Panchen 

Lamas 

right and left. Since his time (though it cannot be precisely traced) 
there has arisen the practice of discovering each new incarnation in an infant, 
probably to avoid discussions and competition. At any rate, at present there- 
are two Grand Lamas : one the Dalai or Ocean Lama, at Lhassa, the other 
the Tashi or Panchen Lama at Tashi Lunpo, not far from the British Indian- 
frontier. The former is believed to be an incarnation of the Dhyani-Bodhi- 





BUDDHIST MONASTERY IN TIBET, 



satva Avalokitesvara, the latter of his father or Dhyani-Buddha, Amitabha ;. 
but the Dalai Lama is by far the most powerful, or rather his representa- 
tive, an elected chief Lama who attends to business, while the Dalai him- 
self is supposed to be lost in divine meditation, and receives the succession of 
reverence and worship due to'^his character and origin. There ^^^^^ Lamas, 
appear to have been various modes of keeping up the succession,' viz., by 
the dying Lama stating in what family he would again become incarnate,, 
or by consulting sacred books and soothsayers, or by the Panchen Lama- 
interpreting the traditions and discovering the new Dalai Lama, and vice 
versa. Nowadays the Chinese court has a predominant influence in choosing 



3i8 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS, 

new Grand Lamas. Yet all the forms of divination, signs, choice by lot, 
etc., are gone through ; and similar proceedings take place in the election 
of all Lamas in whom saints are supposed to be incarnated. The same is 
the case in various Mongolian monasteries. When the choice has been 
made, the child is brought before a great assembly of the monks, and is 
expected to recognise clothes, books, etc., belonging to the deceased Lama, 
and to answer questions as to his former life as Lama. Among the chief 
Lamas may be mentioned those of Galdan (where the body of Tsong Khapa 
is said to be still visible poised in the air, and uncorrupt), Kurun in Mongolia, 
Kuku in Tartary, the Dharma-rajah of Bhutan, and the Grand Lama of 
Peking. The Dharma-rajah of Bhutan, belonging to the Red sect, has for 
his titles : " Chief of the realm. Defender of the Faith, Equal to Sarasvati in 
learning, Chief of all the Buddhas, Head- expounder of the Shastras, Caster 
out of devils. Most learned in the holy laws, an Avatar of God, Absolver of 
sins, and Head of the best of all religions." 

While in many parts of northern Buddhistic countries the monasteries 
are small buildings near or combined with a chapel or temple, in Tibet, 

Great Mongolia, and Ladak there are many immense monasteries or 
^o^^s*®^^®^' Lamasseries, often in retired and lofty situations, but also 
aggregated about great centres such as Lhassa and Tashi Lunpo. About 
500,000 monks owe allegiance to these two capitals, and there are at least 
thirty large monasteries in and near Lhassa. Potala, on the north-west of 
Lhassa, has been the abode of all the Dalai Lamas since the fifth, Navang 
The Vatican Lobsang (1617-1682), who rebuilt it. This great building, four 
of Buddiiism. gtories high, on a commanding height, has in or connected with 
it ten thousand rooms for monks. Everywhere are statues of Buddha and 
other saints, and varied offerings of the pious, who throng to Lhassa to pay 
their worship to the Grand Lama, with gifts of gold, silver, and copper. 
The great building is surmounted by a cupola overlaid with gold. 

Thomas Manning is the only Englishman who has ever seen a Dalai 

Lama ; this was on the 17th December, 1811. He described him as a 

cheerful, intelhgent child of seven. Mr. Sarat Chandra Das, CLE., 

with Grand saw the present Dalai Lama in 1882. The interview was con- 

^^^*' ducted with impressive silence and dignity by the high officials. 
Consecrated water coloiired yellow with saffron was sprinkled on the 
company ; incense, great lamps, and a yellow hat with five points (denoting 
the five-Dhyani-Buddhas) are important elements in the ceremonial, which 
is not complete without all sharing tea with the Lama from a golden teapot, 
preceded by a grace in proper Buddhist form, and concluding thus, '^ Never 
even for a moment losing sight of the three Holies (Buddha, the Law, and 
the Order) ; always offer reverence to the Tri-ratnas (or three jewels) ; let 
the blessings of the three be upon us." Consecrated rice, touched by the 
Grand Lama, was distributed to the faithful. The sacred youth sat all 
through the ceremony cross-legged on a throne- like altar with wooden lions 
' on either side. 

It is said that Lhassa almost vies with Benares and Mecca as a place of 



MODERN BUDDHISM. 319 

pilgrimage, Potala, the Vatican of Buddhism, being the great resort ; and 
the rice, the pills of blessing, the scraps of silk, and the prayer-papers or 
flags which the Grand Lama has consecrated, are treasured for life. 

Tashi Lunpo, with its great monastery of the Panchen Lama, has been 
much more frequently visited by Europeans. This monastery is much 
more varied, consisting of several hundred distinct houses, 
surrounded by pinnacled gilded temples and topes. It is, however, 
in connection with the oldest monastery — La-brang in Lhassa — that the 
greatest temple of Buddhism in Tibet is to be found. It is three store^^s 
high, with a portico and colonnade of huge wooden pillars. Opposite the 
entrance are the usual great statues of the four great kings ; beyond is a 
long oblong hall, like a basilica, with rows of columns dividing it into three 
longitudinal divisions, with two transepts. The walls contain no windows, 
but across the central division or nave is stretched transparent oil-cloth, 
which is the only mode of admission of daylight to the building. A row of 
small chapels flanks each side of the long building. In the transepts are 
seats for the monks, and beyond the second is a sanctuary with an altar for 
offerings ; at the extreme west end, in a special recess, is a grand altar with 
many steps, and on the summit is the revered gilt image of Gautama Buddha, 
respecting the origin of which various stories are told. On the upper steps 
of the altar are many images of deified saints ; and the temple contains very 
many images and pictures of Buddha, saints and deities, as well as relics. In 
front of this altar are lofty thrones for the Dalai and Panchen Lamas, flanked 
by smaller ones for the other Avatar Lamas ; seats of less dignity are provided 
for the heads of monasteries and higher orders of monks in the western 
transept. Five thousand oil lamps give light, and the muttering of the 
chief Buddhist formula goes on continually. Tibetan temples are usually 
much smaller than this ; the chief features are altars with images of Buddha 
and the Bodhi-satvas, bowls for offerings, bells, etc. 

The Tibetan Buddhists have outdone every other race in one respect ; 
that is, in praying by machinery. Impressed with the importance of 
accumulating religious merit as a means of shortening their stay praying by 
in lower forms of life, and accelerating their entrance to heaven, machinery, 
they not only orally repeat multitudes of times the " jewel " formula, which 
has acquired such vogue among them, but they get it repeated by turning 
machines or extending flags to the wind, in or on which the sacred formula 
is written. This formula consists merely of the sentence, " Om mani padme 
Hum." The first syllable is the Hindu sacred syllable (p.l02) ; the next 
two words mean, " the Jewel in the Lotus," an allusion, it is said, to Avalo- 
kitesvara as the patron of Tibet appearing from or seated on a Lotus. The 
last syllable is regarded by some as an Amen. The whole formula is thought 
by Sir Monier- Williams to have some relation to Hindu Siva- worship, and, 
he says, " no other prayer used by human beings in any quarter of the 
globe is repeated so often. Every Tibetan believes it to be a panacea for all 
evil, a compendium of all knowledge, a treasury of all wisdom, a summary 
of all religion." Each of its syllables is believed to influence one of the six 



MODERN BUDDHISM, 321 



courses or stages of transmigration througli which all must pass, diminishing 
his stay in them, or in time abolishing it altogether. 

The favourite prayer cylinders are of metal, having the mystic invoca- 
tion engraved on the outside, while the cavity is filled with paper in rolls, on 
which it is written as many times as possible. This cylinder can prayer 
be made to revolve on a handle, and is whirled in the hand, or cylinders, 
rotated by a chain or string. " All day long," sa^^s Capt. Grill in " The 
River of Grolden Sand," '' not only the Lamas, but the people may be seen 
muttering the universal prayer, and twisting their cylinders, invariably in 
the same direction with the hands of a clock. One or more great cylinders, 
inscribed with this sentence, stand' at the entrance to every house in Tibet ; 
and a member of the household or a guest who passes is always expected to 
give the cylinder a twist for the welfare of the establishment. At almost 
every rivulet the eye is arrested by a little building that is at first mistaken 
for a water mill, but which on close inspection is found to contain a cylinder, 
turning by the force of the stream, and ceaselessly sending up pious 
ejaculations to heaven ; for every turn of a cylinder on which the prayer is 
written is supposed to convey an invocation to the deity. Sometimes 
enormous barns are filled with these cylinders, gorgeously painted, and with 
the prayer repeated on them many times ; and at every turn and every 
step in Tibet this sentence is forced upon the traveller's notice in some form 
or another." 

Another variety of prajdng ingenuity is the erection of long walls 
inscribed with any number of this and other invocations, by which travellers 
who walk in the proper direction gain the credit of so many Prayer walls 
repetitions. Praying-flags, with prayers and symbols, extended ^^^ ^^^^• 
by every wind, praying drums which frighten away evil spirits, bells which 
have the same function, or which call the attention of the deities or saints, 
armlets with sacred sentences or relics inside, and various other objects, 
are among the '' properties " greatly used in Tibetan Buddhism, while the 
rosary for counting the number of repetitions of prayer is a more familiar 
object in Tibet than even in Roman Catholic countries. 

The monks of the Tibetan monasteries meet in their temple or chapel 
three times a day for worship: at sunrise, midday, and sunset. They are 
summoned by a loud conch-shell trumpet, and enter in procession. ^ 
A bell gives the signal to commence repeating or chanting prayer worswp of 
formulas, passages of the Law, litanies, etc., often with noisy 
musical accompaniments. The ritual is varied by each monk repeating a 
sentence in turn, the recital of the praises and titles of honour of Buddha or 

*^* The illustration on pafte 320 depicts a group of Buddliist priests or Lamas at 
Darjeeling, Britisli Sikkiin, at the entrance to tlieir Temple. The head Lama is seated 
below at the left, wearing the sacred liat, a garment of cloth of gold, and a set of holy 
beads. In front of him are a small tom-tom, a brass sanctifying instrument, and a bell. 
Next to him is the second Lama, with c^-mbals and a short horn. In the centre is a 
student under instruction for tlie office of Lama, having before him sheets of the sacred 
writings. Over the doorway is a small image of Buddha, ilanked by small brass cups 
containing rice and oil. Standing in the verandah are two travelling Lamas from 
Lhassa. 

Y 



32 2 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

one of the Bodhi-satvas. When one of the G-rand Lamas is present, the 
service is very elaborate. Incense and perfumes are burnt, and at times- 
holy water and grain are distributed. In some ceremonies tea-drinking is a 
conspicuous element. Laymen play but a very subordinate part in these 
services. They are allowed to be present, repeating prayers and invocations 
and making offerings ; they may also acquire merit by walking round 
monasteries, temples, etc., without stopping. Sometimes they carry loads- 
of books containing prayers, and frequently prostrate themselves at full 
length on the ground; at the end of their journey they are held to have 
gained the same merit as if they had recited all the prayers in the books 
they carried. 

The Tibetans have a number of special festivals which we can only 
briefly mention. The new year's celebration, lasting a fortnight, is a sort 
of carnival ; at the water-festival in August or September, rivers 
and lakes are blessed, and the people bathe to wash away their 
sins. Buddha's birthday and the anniversary of his death are very impor- 
tant days ; on the latter, every monastery and temple, and every house in 
Lhassa is darkened with the burning of incense. The festival of lamps, the 
ascent of Tseng Khapa to heaven ; and days of spirit-hunting and per« 
formances of religious dramas, are among the diversified holidays of Tibet. 
Periods of fasting, especially before the great festivals, are observed by 
the devout. Of course these are more observed by the monks 
of the yellow sect. One of these periods of fasting lasts four 
days, during which the monks confess their faults and meditate on the evils 
of demerit. On the third day no food whatever is taken, and not even the 
saliva must be swallowed ; not a word is spoken, and each monk is engaged 
without intermission in silent prayer and confession. Many monks keep 
the four holy days of each month as fast days. 

Tibet, then, is the Papal domain of Buddhism. Some lamasseries are 

enormously rich. They own half the country, constantly receive legacies, 

The Papal ^^^ ®^®^ grow rich by usury. No taxes are paid by them, and 

domain of their own lands are attended to by large numbers of slaves. Many 

of the monks do not keep their vows of celibacy, and the common 

people are said in their hearts to detest the Lamas for their oppression. 

Whether this is generally true or not, every rational mind will agree that 

Tibetan Buddhism is by no means an unmixed good. 

CHINESE BUDDHISM. 

The influence of Buddhism in China is still great, though not as exten- 
sive as formerly, owing to the loss of the patronage of the emperors ; but it 
exists in a considerably modified form. " The worship of Pu-sah," says Dr. 
Beal, " in the houses of the rich and poor, is hardly recognised as Buddhist 
in its origin ; and, indeed, the very term Pu-sah, which is the Chinese form 
of Bodhi-satva, is explained as of native origin, and signifying " universal 
benevolence," whilst the objects of Buddhist worship, such as the Goddess 
of Mercy and the Queen of Heaven, have been placed among the number of 



MODERN BUDDHISM, 



323 



tlieir genii." Also the images of Pu-sali are to be found in the houses of 
many officials and others who would deny that they were Buddhists. 

Chinese Buddhism dates from a.d. 61, when the Emperor Ming-ti is 




said to have had a dream in which he saw a golden figure of a god hovering 
over his palace. He inquired of one of his ministers what this introduction' 
could mean, and was told that a divine person named Buddha of Buddhism' 
had been born in the West, and that his dream was probably 



324 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

connected with. him. The emperor in consequence sent a mission to India 
to obtain books and news concerning this person. They returned in a.d. 67, 
with two Buddhist monks, together with various books, pictures, and relics. 

The emperor listened to them readily, and had a temple built for them in 
his capital Loyang (now Honan-fu). The narrative of these events includes 
various miracles worked by the Buddhists in proof of their religion. 

The short life of Buddha which these priests introduced and translated 
into Chinese is of special interest, for, as we have seen, no separate life of 

Chinese life Buddha exists in the southern canon. In the Chinese life he is 

of Buddha, generally termed Sakyamuni, the Sakya sage, and his proper 
name, Gautama, is scarcely mentioned. This title, Sakyamuni, seems to have 
been more acceptable to the northern Buddhists, because of the belief that 
the name Sakya was like that of a prominent Central Asian people, the 
Saese or Scythians ; and this name has been adopted as the title of the 
Chinese Buddhists (Shih-kian or Shih-tsen). 

It would be most interesting, if we had space, to give an account ot 
the life of Buddha as depicted in Chinese books. Previous Buddhas, 

MsrtMcai appearing through enormously long ages, are named ; and the 
details. Buddha of the present age (Sakyamuni) is said to have gone 
through a number of stages of elevation in previous ages. Kt last, in 
the age immediately before the present one, Sakya became a Bodhi-satva, 
was born in the Tushita heaven, and finally descended to earth on a 
white elephant with six tusks. The narratives which follow, while ex- 
plicable as consistent with the life we have already given, are overlaid 
with much exaggeration and myth. The life is arranged so as to explain 
the origin and scenes of the very numerous books of the northern canon. 
Thus at one time Sakya is instructing the Bodhi-satvas ; at another he 
is in the heavens of the Hindu gods, teaching Indra, Yama, etc. All 
this serves as a scene for the development of the Bodhi-satva mythology. 
After long abstinence and meditation, and severe temptation by the 
king of the Maras, Sakyamuni became a perfect Buddha (i.e., in Chinese 
phrase, from being Pu-sa became Fo). In order to convey the truth 
to men simply, and as they could receive it, he assumed the guise of an 
ascetic, preached the four primary truths, established the order of monks, 
and sent them out to propagate his doctrine. He is afterwards said to have 
subdued a fierce snake and to have made him take the vows of the order ; 
to have resisted the fiercest temptations of the king of the Maras, and to 
have gone to the Tushita heaven to instruct his mother Maya. Then fol- 
lowed the reception of his son Hahula and other boys as novices, the 
admission of women, the establishment of discipline, etc. Sakya is said to 
have gone to Ceylon himself, to have visited the middle heavens, to have 
secured the gods (devas) as protectors of his doctrine, to have sent Yisva- 
karma and fifteen daughters of devas to be the patrons of China. He 
instituted the daily service and ordained honour for his books. In his last 
days he gave forth his most perfect works, ''The Lotus of the Good Law " 
and " Nirvana," intended to make his disciples long for higher attainments. 



MODERN BUDDHISM. 325 

This was his meaniug, say the Chinese Buddhist authors, when he said, 
"I am not to he destroyed, but shall be constantly on the mountain of 
instruction." Buddha, entering Nirvana, is not dead, but lives in his 
teaching. Before his death he is said to have had presented to him images 
of himself of gold and sandal- wood, which he consecrated, giving his 
disciples in charge to them. At this time also he forbade the eating of 
animal food. His death and cremation were attended by marvels too 
numerous to mention. 

In the Chinese records we are introduced to a long series of Buddhist 
patriarchs, the successive chiefs and defenders of Buddhist law and disci- 
pline, each selected by the last patriarch, the first being Maha Buddhist 
Kashiapa, appointed by Buddha. A patriarch, says Dr. Edkins, patriarchs, 
is represented as " one who does not look at evil and dislike it ; nor does he, 
when he sees that which is good, make a strong effort to attain it. He does 
not put wisdom aside and approach folly ; nor does he fling away delusion 
and aim at comprehending truth. Yet he has an acquaintance with great 
truths which is beyond being measured, and he penetrates into Buddha's 
mind to a depth that cannot be fathomed." Such an one had magical powers, 
could fly through the air, go into trances, and penetrate men's thoughts. 
Nevertheless he lived poorly, and was meanly clad. Thirty-three of these 
are named, including five Chinese patriarchs, and their biography is given. 

From the foundation of Chinese Buddhism a succession of western 
Buddhist monks and learned men came to China and undertook great 
labours of translation and preaching to propagate their doctrines. The 
In the fourth century the Chinese were entering the Order by ^^ook?* 
permission of a Chow prince, many pagodas were erected in translated. 
Loyang, and considerable monasteries were built in North China. Many 
of the Buddhist teachers professed to work miracles, and certainly dealt in 
magic. Chinese Buddhist pilgrims visited India and other Buddhist coun- 
tries, and brought back accounts of marvels they had seen (as, for instance, 
Fa-hien and Huen-siang). Early in the fifth century Kumarajiva, an Indian 
Buddhist, assisted by eight hundred priests, produced a new translation of 
the Buddhist books into Chinese, extending to three hundred volumes. 

After this time the rulers of China became for a time hostile to Bud- 
dhism ; but this was soon reversed, and there was much intercourse between 
Buddhist princes in India and China. Monasteries and temples ODDosition 
multiplied, and magic and wonders, as fostered by the books of of 

the Greater Vehicle, overlaid the original faith. At various times 
Chinese emperors, followed by their people, combined more or less of Con- 
fucianism and Taoism with Buddhism, and seldom prohibited any of them. 
At various periods the Confucianists sought to put down the Buddhists, to 
make the monks and nuns marry, etc., and decrees were promulgated 
against them ; and sometimes their property was confiscated and they were 
compelled to return to secular life. Side by side with religious changes, 
Hindu Buddhists introduced many improvements in Chinese orthography, 
science, and literature. 



326 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

The twenty-eiglith Indian Buddhist patriarch, Bodhidharma, visited 
China in the sixth century, and died there. He exalted meditation at the 
expense of reading and book knowledge, allowing no merit 
' either to these or to the building of temples. In his view true 
merit consisted in "purity and enlightenment, depth and completeness, and 
in being wrapped in thought while surrounded by vacancy and stillness." 
His influence in China, where he died, was powerful enough to make his 
followers a distinct sect of contemplatists, as contrasted with the ascetics 
and the ordinary temple-monks. His sect gradually became the most influ- 
ential ; and it appears to have distinctly weakened the looking for a future 
life and retribution, by exalting self-reform as to be brought about solely 
by inward contemplation. Not long after his death a monk of Tien-tai, 
named Chi-kai, invented a system which combined contemplation with 
image-worship, and it gradually gained great popularity, his books being 
after some centuries reckoned among the classics of Chinese Buddhism. 

The history of Chinese Buddhism in the middle ages presents a continual 
series of assaults by Confucianists, alternate persecutions and support by 
emperors, and frequent interference. Certain temples were destroyed and 
others exalted; certain monasteries and temples were transferred from 
one kind of worship to another, from one sect of Buddhists to another j 
and all the time the emperors did not ostensibly become Buddhists. 
The Mongol The Mongol emperors, however, especially Kublai Khan, became 
emperors, (decided Buddhists, and used the Chinese imperial temples for 
Buddhist worship. Towards the end of the thirteenth century a census 
stated that there were over 42,000 Buddhist temples and 213,000 monks in 
China, which implies a very great number of lay adherents. After the 
fall of the Mongols some restrictions were gradually imposed on the Bud- 
dhists ; and the Sacred Edict, issued in 1662, and still read periodically in 
public, blames them for fixing their attention on their individual minds 

Modem ^^"^^i ^^^ for inventing baseless tales about future happiness and 
discourage- misery. Thus Buddhism is officially discountenanced, although 

^®^ ^' in Mongolia and Tibet the Chinese encourage and pay deference 
to it; and in China itself the worship and festivals continue to be very 
largely attended, although the building of new temples has to a large 
extent fallen off. 

Chinese Buddhism at the present day is so extensive and varied that 
it is only possible to glance at its leading features. In many ways it 

Present occupies much the same standpoint as in Tibet ; and the Chinese 
state. monk takes refuge in Buddha, the Law, and the Order, hke his 
Singhalese brother. The worship of Buddha still remains, in a considerably 
materiahsed form ; but image- worship is by no means held to be essential 
by instructed Buddhists, though it is allowed by them for the ignorant and 
weak. But added to this worship is that of a great number of associated 
and inferior beings, making Chinese Buddhism at present practically a 
complex polytheism. Its public attitude may be gathered from an account 
of the temples and services. 



MODERN BUDDHISM. 



327 



Looking south, like so many Chinese buildings, the temples of the 
Chinese Buddhists consist of a series of halls, the vestibule being guarded 
by the same four great kings mentioned at p. 319, carved in 
wood, and dressed and equipped with various symbols, such as a 
sword, an umbrella, a snake, or some other object with a well-defined sig- 
nificance to Orientals. They give all kinds of blessings to true Buddhists, 
and withdraw their favour from kings and nations which neglect the truth. 
Maitreya (Mi-li Fo) also appears in the same entrance-hall ; sometimes even 
Confucius has an image here, as protector of the Buddhist religion. 

The great hall opening from the entrance-hall contains the images of 




TWO OF THE GUARDIANS OF BUDDHA. KUSJAN MONASTJiKY, NEAR FOO-CHOW. 

Buddha, the Six Bodhi-satvas, Ananda, and many saints, in various sym- 
bolical attitudes, Wen-shu and Pu-hien often being placed right images 
and left of Buddha, while Kwan-yin is behind them looking "^ ^^® ^^^^ 
northward. Sometimes Buddha is alone in front and the other three are in 
a row behind him. Kwan-yin appears in numerous forms in pictures and 
sculptures ; in one he is represented by a female figure presenting an infant 
to mothers praying for children. Other halls may be added to the principal 
ones, containing statues, sculptured scenes, and pictures. The large central 
hall, according to Dr. Edkins, is intended to symbolise Buddha giving 



328 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

instruction to an assembly of disciples, while the leading idea of the . 
entrance-hall is to show the powerful protection by celestial beings which 
Buddhists enjoy. All this is in agreement with the narratives in the 
" Greater Vehicle." There may be many subordinate chapels, dedicated to 
Bodhi-satvas and other beings of Buddhist, Hindu, and Chinese mythology. 
The images of the Pu-sa or Bodhi-satvas stand when in the presence of 
Buddha, but sit when in their own shrines. Even the Taoist images are 
admitted into the all-comprehending Buddhist temples, as well as those of 
celebrated Chinese Buddhists. 

In North China, especially at Pekin, it is customary, whether the 
images are of brass, iron, wood, or clay, to make them with internal organs 
Realism of ^^ complete as possible, according to Chinese notions, which are 
images, j^q^ very correct ; but the heads are always empty. Surrounding 
the abdominal organs is a large piece of silk covered with prayers or 
charms, while within it are bags containing small pieces of gold, silver, and 
pearls, and the five chief kinds of grain ; but many of these valuables have 
been stolen from the images. 

While the more intellectual Buddhists explain their temples and images 
as purely symbolical, and their offerings, bowings, etc., as expressing rever- 
. ential reception of Buddha's teaching, the common people regard 
the images as deities, and pray to them for deliverance from 
sickness, sufferings, childlessness, poverty, etc. Kwan-yin is very exclu- 
sively worshipped, being commonly known as the goddess of mercy, who 
hears the cries of men. This worship is always associated with that of 
Amitabha (0-me-to), the father of Kwan-yin, and they are believed to dwell 
in the happy (western) land of Sukhavati. Those born in this paradise have 
only unmixed joys, of which gorgeous descriptions are given. This heaven 
has taken a strong hold of the imagination of Chinese Buddhists, and they 
will repeat the name " Amita Buddh " incessantly, while counting their 
beads. It is possible, and is strongly held by some, that some of the ideas 
of this worship, especially of the Litany of Kwan-yin, were derived from 
Persian, Arab, and Jewish sources. It is a wide-spread belief that Kwan- 
yin, moved by infinite compassion, has promised to become manifest in all 
the innumerable worlds, to save their inhabitants. He also visited all the 
hells for this purpose ; and detailed accounts of his visits and their beneficial 
results are given. There are special elaborate services in which Kwan-yin 
is worshipped and invoked, while at the same time Buddha and the other 
Bodhi-satvas are duly honoured. One prayer runs thus: "May the all-seeing 
and all-powerful Kwan-yin, in virtue of her vow, come hither to us as we 
recite the sentences and remove from us the three obstacles (of impure 
thought, word, and deed). Professor Beal gives the following translation 
from the Chinese of the confession or " act of faith " in Kwan-yin : — 

"All hail, good, compassionate Kwan-yin! 
Thongli I were thrown on the Mountain of Knives, 
They should not hurt me ; 
Though cast into the lake of fire, 



MODERN BUDDHISM. 329 



It should not burn nie ; 

Though surrounded by famished ghosts, 

They should not touch me ; 

Though exposed to the power of devils, 

Thej" should not reach me ; 

Though changed into a beast, 

Yet should I rise to heaven. 

All hail, compassionate Kwan-j^in." 

Incense is burnt, flowers and food are offered, and invocations are repeated 
again and again to Kwan-yin and Aniitablia, with appropriate readings from 
the sacred books, some of them in Sanskrit and unintelligible alike to priests 
and people, but supposed to have a magic effect. The distinctive worship 
of Amitabha is practised by many, both in China and Japan; they 
are called the "pure land " sect, who rely on Amitabha to effect 
their entrance to the bright paradise. The mere repetition of the name 
with concentrated and undivided attention is believed to ensure paradise ; 
he is also invoked by the form " Praise to Amita Buddha," and the most 
extravagant promises are made to those who rightly invoke him. This is 
the prevailing form of Buddhist worship in many parts of China, and it is 
very popular owing to its putting out of sight Nirvana and presenting a 
heaven of conscious happiness and joy to the believer. 

At the temple Pi-yun-si, west of Pekin, there is a hall of 500 departed 
saints, arrayed in six parallel galleries ; the figures are of clay, full-sized ^ 
and seated. In another court are scenes from the imagined ^^^^ ^^ qqq 
future state, all modelled in clay, showing the fate both of the saints, 
good and the evil. These halls are in addition to the usual elaborate series 
of halls. Pagodas also form part of this great establishment. Similar halls 
are numerous in the Tien-tai district. 

Music is much used in Chinese Buddhist worship, the instruments in- 
cluding drums, small and large bells, cymbals, and various metal forms 
struck by clappers which have no analogy in western music. 

Dr. Edkins admits that while the populace believe in the extravagant 
details of mythology or magic, the priests in the services still read the old 
passages from the Buddhist books which teach the nothingness of every- 
thing ; so that, if fully exposed, the most utter contrasts would be found in 
any of their services. 

One of the most famous Buddhist regions of China is Tien-tai, a cluster 
of hills 180 miles south-east of Hang-cheu. It came into note through 
Chi-kai, who in the sixth century founded his school of con- „. ^ . 

'. . .... Tien-tai. 

templative Buddhism there, imagining its grand natural scenery 
to be the residence of the great saints of Buddhism, the Arhats or Lohans ; 
indeed, he heard them sing near the remarkable rock bridge over a cataract, 
and now they are represented by five hundred small stone figures at the 
side of the bridge. Here Chi-kai developed an elaborate comment on and 
development of Buddhism, which he called '' perfected observation." He 
explained everj'thing as an embodiment of Buddha, subtly getting rid of 



330 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



all the objects of popular belief. He taught his followers various forms of 
meditation, which his followers have maintained, while not entirely con-^ 
demning'popular belief, nor going to the extreme of Buddhist agnosticism.' 




At the present day monasteries are to be found five miles apart throughout 
the Tien-tai hill country. 

Besides this there are numerous important '' schools " of Chinese Bud- 
dhism, named from prominent teachers, from whom the present heads of 



MODERN BUDDHISM. 331 

monasteries claim continuous succession. Their doctrines for tlie most part 
do not differ widely from one another, but great importance 
is attached to minutise. The Lin-tsi school was founded by a ^cwSi^sf 
teacher who died in 868, and had a great reputation for magical Buddhism, 
powers ; it is now very widely spread in China and in Japan. The Lin-tsi 
It teaches that Buddha is within the believer if he only be recog- 
nised. " What is Buddha ? A mind pure and at rest. What is the law ? 
A mind clear and enlightened. What is Tao ? In every place absence 
of impediments and pure enlightenment. These three are one." Discipline 
is strictly maintained by means of three blows with the hand or with the 
cane, three successive reproofs, and the alternation of speech with silence. 
We cannot particularise the other varied schools of Chinese Buddhism, 
but they are as numerous as the principal dissenting bodies in England. 

The monasteries need not be particularly described, after what w^e have 
said of Buddhist monasteries in other countries. They all have a temple or 
worship-hall attached. Most of the larger establishments own land Monasteries 
or other property, but not often sufficient for all expenses, which ^^^ monks, 
are met by mendicant expeditions, the offerings of worshippers, and volun- 
tary presents sent to them. The procession of monks walks through the 
streets to receive alms beating a gong or cymbal at intervals, and often recit- 
ing Buddhist formulse. The monks dress very differently from the Chinese 
people. In officiating they usually wear yellow garments of silk or cotton, 
with a wide turn-down collar and huge sleeves ; at other times their clothes 
are mostly of an ashy grey. Their heads are closely shaven two or three 
times a month, and many have one or more places on the scalp burnt with 
red-hot coals. Their celibacy appears to be strict, and they do not own 
any relationships in the outside world, and show very little sociability in their 
intercourse with the people. They spend much of their time in chanting 
their sacred books, mostly in a form which represents the sound without the 
sense of the Hindu or Tibetan originals. Some monasteries keep their 
large bells constantly tolled day and night, so that the sound never ceases. 

A large monastery has numerous rooms devoted to specific uses, includ- 
ing a library, study, reception-rooms for distinguished guests, and a place 
for keeping living animals, not for food, but as a work of merit. Sometimes 
there is a fish-pond full of fine fish which must not be caught or eaten. 
Special provision is made for cattle, swine, goats, fowls, etc., many being 
deposited by lay people in fulfilment of a vow, together with money or grain 
to support them until their death. The monks professedly refuse all animal 
food, but it is believed that some transgress. On the whole, the mass of the 
Chinese do not highly reverence the Buddhist monks, because they trans- 
gress the principles of filial obedience so deeply rooted among them ; but 
they are nevertheless much employed to conduct private religious cere- 
monies, whether on behalf of recently deceased persons, those suffering in 
hells, or the sick and infirm. Frequently the succession of novices in the 
monasteries is kept up by the purchase of boys from their parents. 

Within the monastery ranks there are frequently ascetics who for 



332 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



Ascetics. 



years together have no intercourse with the outside world, but sit in con- 
stant silent meditation in their cells, receiving their food through 
a hole in the door. Usually the bodies of deceased monks are 
burned in a special cremation-building, the ashes and unconsumed bones 
being afterwards collected and deposited, in an earthen vessel, in a special 
room or building of the monastery. 

There are numerous Buddhist nunneries in China, under the especial 

patronage of Kwan-yin, and while many join them of their own accord, 

. others are bought when young girls. The nuns shave the whole 

head like the men, do not compress their, feet, and wear a very 

similar costume to the monks. Some learn to read the Buddhist books, 

and attend upon those who worship at the temples. They also visit the 

sick and alEicted, and pay special attention to those who place themselves 

under their spiritual care. Although they have 

taken a vow of celibacy, the nuns are generally 

accused of breaking it, as in Tibet; and in 

some districts the Chinese officials have closed 

all nunneries for this reason. 

While Buddhism is not ardently believed 
in by a large proportion of the Chinese, it is 
Popular undoubtedly regarded with consider- 
aspect. g^i^ie respect; and its formulae and 
practices, especially those which are magical, are 
largely resorted to as a matter of precaution. 
Words not understood by the people are con- 
tinually repeated by them with some sort of 
belief in their efficacy in overcoming evil influ- 
ences. The workman will burn his paper with 
the charm written on it before beginning his 
morning's work ; while the man of learning, 
who professes to despise Buddhism, knows by 
heart the magical sentences of the Ling-yen- 
king, or Heart Sutra. 
The Buddhist calendar includes a very complete set of festivals and 
processions, though they are not made the occasion for such display as in 
Buddhist Burmah. The emperors' and empress's birthday, the anniversaries 
calendar, ^f emperor's deaths, and the four monthly feasts are, of course, 
kept. Then there are days for worshipping the devas of the older Hindu 
mythology, for eclipses of the sun and moon (addressed as Pu-sahs or Bodhi- 
satvas, the power of Buddha being invoked to deliver them), for sacrifice to 
the moon, and praying for fine weather or rain. The Deva Wei-to (really . 
the Yeda) is invoked as protector, and his birthday is kept, as also the 
birthdays of three other divine protectors, including the god of war, of 
Buddha, and each Bodhi-satva, the anniversaries of the death of the chief 
Chinese Buddhist saints, and of the founder of a monastery, etc. But this 




BUDDHIST NUN, WITH CAP AND 
KOSARY. 



list might easily be lengthened. 



MODERN BUDDHISM. 



333 



Independent of its professors, Buddhism lias exerted a great influence 
in tempering the character of Chinese religion. The discountenancing of 
sacrifices, the tenderness to animal life, the conception of a spiritual aim 




in religion, and of self-discipline as of supreme importance, have not been 
without far-reaching effect on the Chinese. The example of mfluence of 
Buddha as beneficently desirous of being born in the world Buddhism in 
to save it, his patience and self-sacrifice in his successive lives, 



334 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



his teaching of the noble path and the desirability of freedom from the 
fetters of this life have all tended to elevate the popular faiths. A more 
doubtful influence of Buddhism has been the popularisation of beliefs in 
material hells. A great variety of tortures and circumstances of punish- 
ment are described, and the demons are represented as delighting in human 
sufferings. On the one hand it is alleged that the beliefs on the whole have 
tended to discourage the crimes that are said to be visited with such 
punishments, on the other, that the popular mind is thereby familiarised 
with pictures and descriptions of horrible cruelties. 

The tolerance inculcated by Buddhism, too, has had its effect in spread- 
ing a considerable indifference to religion in China, while on the other hand 
it has favoured its own existence. But the extent of mutual concession and 
accommodation to be found among the Chinese in religious as well as other 
matters is a very pleasing feature, when it does not signify lifelessness or 
mere indifference. The Buddhists too deserve credit, for their representations 
of Buddhas and Bodhi-satvas are pre-eminently merciful, although their 
objection to suffering as an evil loses sight of its medical and beneficial influ- 
ence. Buddhism, too, has in China acquired more regard for filial duty than 
elsewhere. 

We may also note how greatly Buddhism has contributed to the artistic 
and literary development of the Chinese. The pagoda form is theirs 
especially. It is derived from the Indian tope or dagoba ; the base or 
platform signifies the earth, the semicircular building covering it the 
air, and the railing above, the heaven ; the spire and umbrellas above have 
been expanded into successive storeys or platforms, representing the succes- 
sive worlds above the heavens. In many cases, however, the Chinese 
pagodas have no religious significance, and only relate to the popular 
geomancy by which luck is determined. Those which contain Buddhist 
relics are always connected with monasteries. Some are of brick, others 
of porcelain, others of cast iron. Many are now falling to ruin, and few 
are now built. Flower cultivation is another artistic feature in China 
and Japan which has a connection with the Buddhist flower offerings; 
many beautiful flowers are grown in the temple and monastery gardens 
for use as offerings and in decorations. 

We must not conclude this account of Chinese Buddhism without calling 
attention to an interesting sect of reformed Buddhists who have spread 
The do- considerably since the beginning of the sixteenth century in the 
nothing sect. jQ^gr ranks of the Chinese, known as the Wu-wei-kian, or " Do- 
nothing sect." They oppose all image-worship, but believe in Buddha 
without worshipping him. They meet in plain buildings with no images, 
and containing only an ordinary Chinese tablet dedicated to heaven, earthy 
king, parents and teachers, as signifying the fit objects for reverence. They 
enjoin the cultivation of virtue by meditation alone, and inward reverence 
for the all-pervading Buddha, who is within man and in all nature. Their 
founder, Lo Hwei-neng took the title Lo-tsu (the patriarch Lo) ; on the 
anniversaries of his birth and death, the new year, and in the middle of the 



MODERN BUDDHISM, 335 

eighth month, they meet to drink tea and eat bread together. They are 
strict vegetarians, beheving strongly in metempsychosis and the conse- 
quent sin of taking animal life. They have no order of monks or of priests. 



BUDDHIST CEREMONY, JAPAN. 



Matter they regard as perishable, and believe that at the end of the world 
they will be taken to heavon by Kin-mu, the golden mother, whom they re- 
gard as the mother of the soul. She is indeed more an object of worship by 



33(^ THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

this sect tlian Buddlia, being regarded as a protectress from calamities and 
sickness, and from the miseries of the unseen world. So far have the 
Taoist notions invaded even this pure form of Buddhism. 

JAPANESE BUDDHISM. 

Buddhism found its way to Japan in the sixth century a.d. both from 
China and from Corea, but gained no great influence until the ninth, when the 
priest Kukai, or Kobo Daishi, showed how to adapt Shintoism to Buddhism 
by asserting that the Shinto deities were transmigrations of the Buddhistic 
ones. Thus explained, Buddhism gained great ascendency. In the seven- 
teenth century a philosophical awakening took place, under which every 
man was taught to long for perfection, to believe in successive transmi- 
grations of souls, and to look forward to the perfect reward of absorption into 
Buddha. A very great number of Buddhist shrines and temples exist, 
vastly more ornate and wealthy than those of the Shinto, containing images 
of extraordinary variety for adoration, supporting till lately a numerous 
priesthood, who took care to attract the people in every possible way, by 
spectacles, games, lotteries, and even shooting galleries. The recent 
revolution, however, has been attended with a great spoliation of 
Buddhism, 'suppression of temples and monasteries, melting of bells for 
ooinage, etc. ; and the religion now only exists on sufferance, and has 
already put forth renewed efforts to gain spiritual influence over the 
people. 

There are numerous sects, corresponding in the main to those of 
China, some being contemplative, others mystic, others taking charge of 
The Shin- ^^^ popular ceremonies. The Shin-shin especially reverence 
shin. Amitabha as being willing and able to save those who be- 
lieve in him. No prayers for happiness in the present life are made by 
them, and they teach that morality is of equal importance with faith. 
They have many of the finest temples in Japan, and are remarkable for 
their active missionary work in China and Corea, and for the high standard 
of education they maintain. The priests are allowed to marry and to eat 
meat. The creed of the sect, as stated by one of its principal teachers, is as 
follows : 

" Rejecting all religious austerities and other action, giving up all idea 
of self-power, we rely upon Amita Buddha with the whole heart for our 
salvation in the future life, which is the most important thing, believing 
that at the moment of putting our faith in Amita Buddha our salvation is 
settled. From that moment invocation of his name is observed as an expres- 
sion of gratitude and thankfulness for Buddha's mercy. Moreover, being 
thankful for the reception of this doctrine from the founder and succeeding 
chief priests whose teachings were so benevolent, and as welcome as light 
in a dark night, we must also keep the laws which are fixed for our duty 
-during our whole life." 




JAIN TEMPLE OF ADINATH, QWALlOlt. 



CHAPTER IX. 

Jainism and BuddMsm— Mahavira — Jain beliefs— Temples at Palitana— Mount Abu— Parasnath— 

The Yatis. 

THE Jains are at the present day an important body of religion- 
ists in India, more for their wealth and influence than their numbers. 
It is said that half the mercantile transactions of India pass through 
their hands as merchants and bankers, largely in the north and west of 
India, and in smaller numbers throughout the southern peninsula, jainism and 
Till comparatively recently they were believed to be quite a BuddMsm. 
modern sect of Hindus, at any rate not much more than a thousand years 
old. But the careful researches of several eminent scholars have led them 
to the belief that Jainism is coeval with, if not slightly older than. Bud- 
dhism, and took its rise in the same development of Brahman asceticism 
and reaction from Brahmanical tyranny. We cannot enter into the details 
of the discussion, but shall simply take this view as supported by the best 
authority. Prof. Jacobi. 



338 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

There are some resemblances between Buddhism and Jainism which do 
not necessarily show that the one is derived from the other, but rather that 
they took their rise in the same age or during the same intellectual period. 
Buddhism proved the more adaptable and appealed to more widespread 
sympathies, and surpassed and overshadowed Jainism ; but the latter, less 
corrupted, and more characterised by charitable actions, has survived in 
India, while the former is extinct. We find similar titles given to the 
saints or prophets in both, such as Tathagata, Buddha, Mahavira, Arhat, 
etc. ; but one set of titles is more frequently used by the one, another by 
the other ; and it is noteworthy that the word Tirthankara, describing a 
prophet of the Jains, is used in the Buddhist scriptures for the founder of an 
heretical sect. Both lay great stress on not killing living creatures ; both 
worship their prophets and other saints, and have statues of them in their 
temples ; both believe in enormous periods of time previous to the present 
age. The rejection of the divine authority of the Yedas and of the sway 
of the Brahmans is also common to the two. There is further almost an 
identity between the five vows of the Jain ascetics and those of the 
Buddhist monks : namely not to destroy life, not to lie, not to take that 
which is not given, to live a life of purity, and to renounce all worldly 
things (the last being much more comprehensive than the corresponding 
Buddhist vow) ; but it appears that the first four were equally the vows of 
the Brahman ascetics. There are other points in the life of the Jain monks 
which agree substantially with rules laid down for the Brahman ascetics. 

Vardhamana, or Mahavira (his name as a Jain prophet), the great 
founder of Jainism, figures in their Kalpa Sutra as the twenty-fourth 
Mah • pi^ophet, and appears to have been a younger son of Siddhartha, 
a Khsatriya noble or chief of Kundagramma, not far from Vesali, 
already mentioned in our account of Buddhism, and the wife of Siddhartha, 
was sister of the king of Yesali, and related to the king of Magadha. At the 
age of twenty-eight Mahavira became an ascetic, and spent twelve years in 
self-mortification. After that period he became recognised as a prophet and 
saint, or Tirthankara (meaning conqueror or leader of a school of thought), 
and spent the remaining thirty years of his life in teaching and in or- 
ganising his order of ascetics, mostly within the kingdom of Magadha, but 
also travelling to Sravasti and the foot of the Himalayas. Mahavira is re- 
ferred to in the Buddhist books under his well-known name Nataputta, as 
the head of the rival sect of Niganthas, or Jains, and several contempo- 
raries are referred to in the books of both religions. We may put down 
Mahavira's date as about the fifth and sixth centuries B.C., but the earliest 
extant works of the Jains do not go beyond the third century, and were not 
reduced to writing till the fifth or sixth century a.d. It is very doubtful 
how far Mahavira is indebted to Parsva, his predecessor, according to the 
Kalpa Sutra, by about two centuries. The lives of the earlier Jains, like 
those of the predecessors of Gautama, are altogether mythical. Adinath is 
the earliest of them. 

The life of Mahavira, as related in the Kalpa Sutra, contains but few 



JAINISM. 339 



details, and is very far from having the interest of that of his great con- 
temporary. He is declared to have torn out his hair on entering the ascetic 
life, to have gone naked for eleven years, and to have abandoned all care of 
his body. All perfections of circumspect conduct and self-restraint are 
attributed to him. He at last reached the highest knowledge, unobstructed 
and full, so as to become omniscient. At his death he became a Buddha, a 
Mukta (a liberated soul), putting an end to all misery, finally liberated, 
freed from all pains. 

"Mahavira," says Professor Jacobi, ''was of the ordinary class of religious 
men in India. He may be allowed a talent for religious matters, but he 
possessed not the genius which Buddha undoubtedly had. The Buddha's 
philosophy forms a system based on a few fundamental ideas, whilst that of 
Mahavira scarcely forms a system, but is merely a sum of opinions on 
various subjects." The matter of the Jain works yet translated is so inferior 
to that of the Buddhist scriptures that we shall not make any extracts from 
them. 

The Jains believe in a Nirvana, consisting in the delivery of the soul 
from the necessity for transmigration ; and they do not look for an absorp- 
tion of the soul into the universal Soul. In fact they do not 
teach anything about a supreme deity. Right perception, clear 
knowledge, followed by supernatural knowledge, leading to omniscience, 
were the stages of progress to Nirvana. The space occupied by each of 
the perfected ones who have attained Nirvana is stated to be boundless, 
increasing according to their desire. Their parts are said to be innumer- 
able, and there is no returning again to a worldly state, and no interruption 
to that bliss. Their term of existence is infinite, and they exercise them- 
selves in the highest philosophy. Believers must also practise liberality, 
gentleness, piety, and sorrow for faults, and kindness to animals and even 
to plants. This last the Jains exhibit in the present day by an extreme 
unwillingness to injure living creatures. They believe all animals and 
plants (and even the smallest particles of the elements) have souls, and they 
spend much money in maintaining hospitals for sick animals. They will 
not eat in the open air during rain or after dark, for fear of swallowing a 
fly or insect ; they strain water three times before drinking it, and will not 
walk against the wind for fear that it should blow insects into the mouth. 
The strict devotees carry a brush to sweep insects out of the way when 
they sit down, and a mouth-cloth to cover the mouth when they are 
engaged in prayer. In strictness the Jains disregard Vedas, gods, and 
caste ; but practically they yield considerably to caste regulations, they 
pay some devotion to many of the Hindu deities and have a numerous list 
of good and bad spirits of their own, and they appeal to the Vedas as of 
considerable authority when they support their views. Now-a-days the 
peculiarity of nakedness is only retained by the ascetics among the Digam- 
baras (sky-clad ones), and then only at meal-times. The Svetambaras, 
the other sect of the Jains, are white-robed and completely clad. They 
have no sacrifices, and practise a strict morality. Many of their beliefs 



340 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

are common to Bralimaii and Buddhist philosophies, such as that re-births 
are determined by conduct in previous states of existence. 

The Jains possess some of the most remarkable places of pilgrimage in 
India, situated in the midst of most lovely mountain scenery. At Palitana, 
Temples at ^^ Kathiawar, is the temple-covered hill of Satrunjaya, the most 
Pautana. sacred of the pilgrim-resorts of the Jains ; and Jains from all 
parts of India desire to erect temples upon it. Many of them are very 
small buildings only about three feet square, covering impressions of the 
soles of two feet marked with Jain emblems, and sacred to Mahavira. The 
larger temples have considerable marble halls with columns and towers, and 
plenty of openings, unlike Hindu temples ; the marble floors have beautiful 
tesselated patterns. In the shrine, on a pedestal, are large figures of Maha- 
vira, sitting with feet crossed in front, like those of Buddha. Often on the 
brow and breast are five brilliants, and gold plates adorn many parts of the 
body. The eyes are of silver overlaid with pieces of grass, and projecting 
very far, so as to stare very prominently. The larger temples, says Fer- 
gusson (" History of Indian Architecture"), " are situated in tuks^ or separate 
enclosures, surrounded by high fortified walls ; the smaller ones line the 
silent streets. A few yatis^ or priests, sleep in the temples, and perform the 
daily services, and a few attendants are constantly there to keep the place 
clean or to feed the sacred pigeons, who are the sole denizens of the spot ; 
but there are no human habitations, properly so called, within the walls. 
The pilgrim or the stranger ascends in the morning, and returns when he 
has performed his devotions or satisfied his curiosity. He must not eat, or 
at least must not cook his food on the sacred hill, and he must not sleep 
there. It is a city of the gods, and meant for them only, and not intended 
for the use of mortals." Some of the temples date from the eleventh 
century, but the majority have been built in the present century. 

Mount Abu, in Hajputana, is another remarkable place of pilgrimage, 
and has been termed the Olympus of India. There are five temples, two 
of which, according to Fergusson (" History of Indian Archi- 
tecture"), are unrivalled for certain qualities by any temples in 
India. They are built wholly of white marble, and the more modern of 
the two was built (between 1197-1247) by the same brothers who erected a 
triple temple at Grirnar ; for minute delicacy of carving and beauty of 
detail it stands almost unrivalled. A simpler yet very elaborate one, 
erected in the eleventh century, is a typical example of larger Jain temples ; 
it has a central hall terminating in a pyramidal spire-like roof, containing 
a cross-legged seated figure of the deified saint worshipped, who in this 
case is Parsva, the predecessor of Mahavira. There is also a large portico 
surmounted by a dome, and the whole is enclosed in a large courtyard, sur- 
rounded by a double colonnade of pillars forming porticos to a range of 
fifty-five cells, as in Buddhist viharas, but each occupied by a facsimile 
of the central image, and over the door of each are sculptured scenes from 
the saint's life. In some Jain temples the image of Mahavira or other saints 
is repeated in an identical form hundreds of times, each with cells or niches. 



JAINISM. 



341 



Eemarkable skill and ingenuity have been displayed in tlie decoration of tlie 
columns and other parts of the Jain temples. 









JAIN EMBLEMS. 



Parasnath, in Bengal, is the eastern metropolis of the Jains, having been 

the supposed scene of the entrance into Nirvana of ten of their „ 

. . . Parasnath. 

twenty-four deified saints. In one view of Parasnath there are to 

be seen three tiers of temples rising one above another, in dazzling white 





EMBLEM OF DHABMA (tHE LAW), AT 8ANCHI 

(buddhtst). 



EMBLEM OF DHARMA, TEMPLE OF 
JAGANNATU, PDRI. 



stone, with fifteen shining domes, each with bright brass pinnacles. In 
style these temples differ from those in tlie West or South, and are partly 



342 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

derived from Hindu temples and partly from Mahometan mosques. Tliere 
are no priests to perform ceremonies for the pilgrims ; each performs his 
devotion according to his own views. They have to pay toll to the priestly 
order before entering, and to leave some contribution to the repairs of the 
buildings. Extreme cleanliness being one of the Jain principles, it is carried 
out perfectly in the temples, producing an effect of surpassing beauty. 
" On entering the centre and holy chamber," says one of the few European 
visitors who have gained admission, "it is impossible to avoid being im- 
pressed with the simple beauty of the place. The pavement is composed of 
fine slabs of blue-veined marble ; and on a white marble pediment, opposite 
to the entrance, five very beautiful images of the Jain saints sit in dignity 
waiting for the prayers of their disciples, which are rendered more deep- 
toned by the echoing influence of the dome." Pilgrims visit every shrine 
in the holy place, a work of extreme labour, owing to the number of peaks ; 
and the pilgrimage is completed by a circuit round the base of the group of 
hills, a distance of something like thirty miles. 

The yatis, or ascetics, among the Jains have no absolute rule as to wor- 
ship, being only devoted to meditation and abstraction from worldly affairs ; 
but they often read the Jain scriptures in the temples, while 
the ministrants, attendants, etc., in the temples are Brahmans. 
The Jains fast and specially devote themselves to religious duties during a 
part of the rainy season (the Buddhist Yassa). At its commencement they 
are accustomed to confess their sins to an ascetic and obtain absolution for 
them. The Svetambaras are the broader of the two sects, taking their meals 
clothed and decorating their images, and allowing that women may attain 
Nirvana, which the Digambaras deny. 

[On Jainism see "Sacred Books of the East," vol. xxii. ; "Imperial Gazetteer of India;" 
" Statistical Account of Bengal ; " " Encyclopaedia Britannica," Art. Jain.J 




CHAPTER X. 
ZoiOii^tn aulr tl)e %enir.3besJta^ 

The Avesta— Zend and Pahlavi— The Magi of the Bible— The Greeks and the Magi— Modem study by- 
Europeans— Zoroaster— A real personage— His life in Eastern Iran— His date— Mythical develop- 
ments — Marvels and miracles— Contrary opinions — The doctrines of Zoroaster — Ormuzd and 
Ahriman— Dualism — Importance attached to thoughts —Relation to early Aryan religion— Com- 
parison with Vedic religion— Ahura— Zoroaster and the settled agriculturists— Attributes of 
Ormuzd— The name of Ormuzd— Lofty conception of the Deity— The Amesha-Spentas— The 
Yazatas or spiritual genii— Mithra—Vayu—Sraosha— The soul of the bull— The powers of evU— 
Ahriman— The daevas and druj— The Yatus, Drvants, etc.— Zoroaster magnified— The universal 
conflict— The Era vashis— Immortality — Future rewards and punishments —The final dissolution 
and renovation. 

THE Zend-Avesta^ is the popular name of the great religions book or 
collection of books of the PaTsees, a wealthy and influential body of 
Indian residents (numbering over 70,000) whose ancestral home 
was Persia, but who after the seventh century, when the Persians 
were overthrown by the Mohametans, took refuge in Western India and the 
peninsula of Guzerat. Only a few thousand descendants of the old people 
still keep up the ancestral worship in Persia itself, in Yezd and its neighbour- 
hood. Properly speaking, the old collection of books is the Avesta^ Zend (or 
"interpretation ") being the name of the translation and commentary on it 
in the Pahlavi or early Persian language. Nor is " Zend " strictly a correct 
term for the language of the Avesta ; both the book and the Ian- ^end and 
guage in which it is written are properly called Avesta, and there Pahiavi, 
is no other book remaining in the language. But the language of the 
Avesta is very generally termed Zend, since that name has long gained 
currency. This language was that of north-eastern Iran in its wide sense, 
and was akin to Sanskrit. From it or a closely allied form the Iranian or 
Persian family of languages is derived. 

Considering how much was known by the ancient Hebrews and Greeks 
about the Zoroastrian religion, it is a surprising fact that little more than 
a century ago Sir William Jones rejected the Avesta as a modern The Magi of 
rhapsody. The priests of this religion were the Magi or '' wise *^® ^^^^®- 
men " of the Old and New Testaments, located in " the East " among the 
Chaldseans and Persians, and viewed by the Israelites chiefly as astrologers, 
diviners, and interpreters of dreams. In Daniel xx. we read that the prophet 

^ See " Sacred Books of the East," vols, iv,, v., xviii., xxiii., xxiv., xxxi. " Encyclop£edia 
Britanuica," ninth ed., articles "Persia," "Pahlavi," " Parsees," "Zend-Avesta," "Zoroaster." 
" Avesta," translated with commentary by Prof, de Harlez, second ed. Paris, 1881. " Civilisation of 
the Eastern Iranians," by Prof. Geiger, translated into English by D. P. Dastur ; London: Henry 
Frowde, 188G. (G.) 

843 



344 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS, 

and his associates were reckoned " ten times wiser than all the magicians 
and astrologers." How deeply this view of them impressed itself, we see 
in the fact that from their Greek name " magoi " is derived our generic 
term for all professors of enchantment and preternatural powers. Daniel 
is represented as interceding for the Magi when condemned to death by 
Nebuchadnezzar, and was himself appointed Master of the Magi ; again and 
again after this we find that one common ground was recognised between the 
religions, both hating idolatry and acknowledging the "God of Heaven." 
The '•'- wise men (Magi) from the east " of Matthew ii. may not have been 
from Persia, but the mention of them implies the high position they held 
and the respect paid to their persons and doings. Later references to Magi 
in the New Testament imply what was the fact, that large numbers of 
impostors had become distributed through the Eoman empire, among whom 
may be mentioned Simon Magus and Elymas. 

The Greeks early knew about the Magi through Herodotus and other 
travellers and historians ; and Aristotle and other philosophers wrote about 
The Greeks ^^ Persian religion in lost books. The Magi appear to have 
and the recommended the destruction of the Greek temples in Xerxes' 
^^^ invasion. After the Greek conquest of Persia the name of the 
Magi represented a hated system of divination, and the religion of a con- 
quered foe. Both Plato and Xenophon, however, speak of the Magi with 
respect. Philo, the great Alexandrian philosopher, describes them as men 
who gave themselves to the worship of nature, and the contemplation of the 
Divine perfections, and as being worthy to be the counsellors of kings. 
'Much literature was put forth in Greece as being the oracles of Zoroaster, but 
having very faint traces of his system. Throughout the middle ages, how- 
ever, no real knowledge of the ancient Persian religion existed in Europe. 
Gradually after the Eenaissance the old knowledge was re-collected ; and 
travellers in Persia and India gathered the beliefs of the Parsees and described 
Modern study ^^^ir practices. Thomas Hyde, an Oxford professor, in 1700 pub- 
by Europeans. Hglied the first accurate description of modern Parseeism ; and in 
1723 Richard Cobbe brought to England a copy of the Yendidad, which 
was hung up by an iron chain in the Bodleian library, a treasure which no- 
body could read. More than thirty years later, Duperron, a young French- 
man, after years of persuasion and investigation, obtained from the Parsees 
of Surat both their books and the means of translating them, and in 1764 
brought to Paris the whole of the Zend-Avesta ; in 1771 he published the 
first European translation. But it was loudly asserted that the Avesta was 
a forgery and a late concoction ; and it was not till the Pahlavi inscriptions 
of the first Sassanian emperors had been deciphered by De Sacy, and they 
in turn led to the reading of the Persian cuneiform inscriptions by Burnouf, 
Lassen, and Rawlinson, that it was proved beyond doubt that the Avesta 
was written in a still more ancient language. Zend, as it is usually called, 
is apparently derived from a common source with Sanskrit ; and its 
grammatical forms remind one of Greek and Latin as well as of the language 
of the Yedas. 



ZOROASTER AND THE ZEND-AVESTA. 345 

ZOROASTER, 

So mncli scepticism has been displayed as to the A vesta that it is 
scarcely surprising to find that many have doubted the existence of any 
person corresponding to Zoroaster or Zarathustra (in modern 
Persian, Zardusht), although they might in some cases admit that a real 
he was a mythological personage developed out of some man. P®^^°^^®- 
But it requires very cogent proof to upset the unanimous voice of classical 
antiquity, which speaks of Zoroaster as a real person and the founder of 
the Persian religion. The period when he lived and the details of his 
life must be admitted to be doubtful ; and his name is not mentioned in any 
cuneiform inscription yet deciphered. No doubt the Zoroaster of the later 
parts of the Avesta and of the Zend is largety mythical, and of these myths 
we must later give some account. But the Zoroaster of the gathas or 
hymns contained in the Yasna appears as a man, trusting in the Divine 
Being whom he worships, facing fierce opposition from without, crippled at 
times by the faintheartedness of his supporters, sometimes suffering from 
inward doubts and struggles, and again exulting in secure confidence. And 
it is less marvellous to believe in these sentiments as having proceeded from 
a man who was the founder of a religion than to believe they were invented 
long afterwards in the successful days of the religion, when it was beginning 
to decay. Bat, as in the case of Buddha and also of the early history of 
Buddha, these old Aryans had no notion of writing biographies. All we 
have from them is incidental information, which may be even more reliable, 
when sifted, than details professing to be biographical would have been in 
that age. 

Although his birthplace is uncertain, Zoroaster's active life and teach- 
ing may safely be placed in Eastern Iran, possibly in Bactria. The later 
parts of the Avesta describe him as teaching during the reign of ms life in 
Vishtaspa, the same word as is rendered Hystaspes by the Greeks ; Eastern Iran, 
but there is reason to believe this king belonged to a much earlier period 
than Hystaspes, the father of Darius. This king was evidently the patron 
and friend of the great religious teacher ; and his influence greatly con- 
tributed to Zoroaster's success. Two brothers, Frashaoshtra and Jamaspa, 
the latter a minister of the king, were among Zoroaster's prominent sup- 
porters ; indeed he married their sister Hvovi. Like some other religious 
leaders, Zoroaster derived much aid from his relatives and their followers ; 
and he appears to have had a family of sons and daughters. The Avesta does 
not speak of his death ; but in the late Shah-Nama, or book of Turanian 
kings (13th century), it is related that he was murdered at the altar in the 
storming of Balk by the Turanian conquerors. Almost the only means 
that we have of indicating Zoroaster's date is the fact that when „. , ^ 
Cyrus reigned, in the 6th century B.C., the Magian religion was 
firmly established in Western Iran. Various conjectures assign him dates 
between 1000 and 1400 b.c. 

Turning now to the view of Zoroaster given by the later parts of the 



346 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

Avesta, it is easy to see that he became invested with marvellous powers, 
-J ... J nothing less than supernatural, and was in fact made part of the 
develop- Magian mythology. He is described as smiting fiends chiefly with 
his prayers, driving away Ahriman the evil spirit with huge 
stones which he had received from Ormuzd, the supreme and good god. At 
his birth the floods and trees rejoiced. Ormuzd is even represented as sacri- 
ficing to a spring, and praying that Zoroaster may be brought to think 
and speak and do according to his law. Zoroaster in fact becomes the sup- 
porter of Ormuzd, and drives away Ahriman and the fiends that try to kill 
him. He is a godlike champion, who kills the powers of evil with the word 
of truth or the sacred spell. At some far-off period a posthumous son will be 
born to him who will come from the region of the dawn to free the world 
from death and decay, and under his rule the dead will rise and immortality 
commence. 

Still later, in the Bundahish we have more details and marvels about 
Zoroaster, and from it a legendary history of the great teacher may be com- 
Marveisand piled. During his early life a whole series of marvels occurred, 
miracles, mostly protecting his life from danger. His early life was blame- 
less, but it was only after he attained the age of thirty that his mission 
commenced. He appears to have emigrated from his native country to 
Iran proper, with a few followers, and miracles were worked in his progress. 
The spirit Vohu-mano (" the good mind") introduces him to Ormuzd, the su- 
preme Being ; he asks permission to put questions to Him, inquiring which 
of G-od's creatures is best, and receiving the answer, " He is the best who is 
pure of heart ; " and then receives instruction as to the names and duties 
of angels and the nature of the evil spirit Ahriman. Various miraculous 
signs are shown to him. He sees a fiery mountain and is commanded to pass 
through the fire, but is not hurt thereby. Molten metal is poured into his 
breast without his feeling pain ; and these wonders are explained to him as 
having a mystic meaning. He then received the Avesta from Ormuzd and 
was commanded to proclaim it at the court of King Yishtaspa. This belief 
in the communication between Zoroaster and Ormuzd runs through the 
whole Avesta. In every important matter he questions Ormuzd and receives 
a precise answer from him. Various statements are made that these revela- 
tions took place upon a mountain, which afterwards burst out into fiames. 
When he at last presented himself at court, the king's wise men endeavoured 
to refute him, but were compelled to own that he had beaten them in argu- 
ment ; finally the king accepted the Avesta, after the prophet had been 
accused as a sorcerer and had proved his mission by miracles. The king 
at last did nothing without consulting Zoroaster, and erected the first fire- 
temple. 

Having treated Zoroaster as having been a real historical personage, 

round whom many mythical or exaggerated narratives have collected, we 

Contrary will quote a few sentences showing the contrary opinion held 

opinions. 1^^ ^^^ ^ £^^ scholars : " AH the features in Zarathustra point to 

a god : that the god may have grown up from a man, that pre-existent 



ZOROASTER AND THE ZEND-AVESTA. 347 

mythic elements may have gathered around the name of a man, born on 
earth, and by-and-by surrounded the human face with the aureole of a god, 
may of course be maintained, but only on condition that one may distinctly 
express what was the real work of Zoroaster. That he raised a new religion 
against the Yedic religion, and cast down into hell the gods of older days 
can no longer be maintained, since the gods, the ideas, and the worship of 
Mazdeism (i.e., Zoroastrianism) are shown to emanate directly from the old 
religion, and have nothing more of a reaction against it than Zend has 
against Sanskrit." (Darmesteter, S.E., vol. iv.) 

THE DOCTRINES OF ZOROASTER. 

The most special feature of Zoroaster's teaching is the dualistic principle, 

according to which Ahura Mazda (Ormuzd), the good spirit, is constantly 

antagonised by Angra Mainyu (Ahriman), the evil spirit, who is ormuzd and 

the originator of everything evil. The latter is to be ultimately ^iii"i^3,n. 

expelled from the world, and man must take an active part in the struggle, 

his conduct being regulated by the code revealed to Zoroaster by Ormuzd. 

Ormuzd and Ahriman are believed to have been co-existent, and t.„„h„^ 

' Dualism. 

opposed in the earliest period known to the Grathas ; but the 
ultimate triumph of Ormuzd indicates essential if latent inferiority in 
Ahriman. It must not be taken that other spirits were not believed in by 
Zoroaster ; but as far as one can judge, his special teaching relates to the 
supremacy and greatness of Ormuzd and his final victory. 

As regards conduct in this world, Zoroaster enforces the doctrine that 
no one can occupy a position of indifference ; he must be either on the side 
of good or of evil. The only proper course was to choose the importance 
good, and to follow it in thought, word, and deed. This was attached 
announced clearly in the first gatha ; and we must concede to 
Zoroaster the great merit of seeing the importance of the thoughts, and 
tracing evil to that source. When we remember how few of the hymns of 
the Rig- Veda refer to sin or its expiation, and how slight are the traces of 
feelings of guilt, and the necessity for obtaining forgiveness for it from the 
Deity, it will be seen that the Avesta contains distinctly an advanced 
teaching. 

Whatever may have been Zoroaster's contribution to the religious 
progress of his race, such a religion as his could only become accepted 
where there was already a large basis of positive belief, even if delation to 
that belief were erroneous ; and as there can be no doubt that the early Aryan 
Iranians were derived from the same stock as the Aryan Hindus, 
we must compare their early religion with the features found existing in 
the Avesta, in default of any document recording what was the state of 
belief upon which Zoroaster began to work. And this study leads to most 
interesting results. 

The general name for a god in the earlier portions of the Eig-Veda is 
deva (bright) ; in the Avesta the evil spirits are called daeva^ essentially 
the same word ; while in the later Eig-Veda the name means exclusively 



348 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

a good spirit, a beneficent god. In contrast to this, we find the use of an 

Comparison ^-l^-^native name to deva in the eariier parts of the Rig-Yeda, 

withvedic namely amir a. This is the same word as ahura in the Avesta, 

e igion. ^Q^j^'^g pg^^^ q£ |-]^q name Ormiizd (Ahura Mazda) and limited to a 

good sense. Yet in the later E.ig-Yeda and in Brahmanism the same name 

is exclusively applied to evil spirits. We have not space to trace fully how 

this divergence was concomitant in India with the deposition of Yaruna 

from the supreme place among the gods and the rise of Indra ; but it may 

be inferred from the Avesta that in Zoroaster's time the people of Iran were 

divided between two distinct and contrasted forms of belief — the wilder 

unsettled nomads who believed in the devas, the original spirits of the 

Ayran race, and who ill-treated and sacrificed cattle ; while the 

more settled people believed in the ahuras, the. patrons of cattle, 

and elevated the care of cattle into a sacred function. 

Zoroaster therefore appeared as a champion of the belief of the settled 
peoples, and added the epithet Mazda, the wise, to the name of the chief god 
,whom thev already believed in. He identified the old devas, still 
the settled believed in by the nomads, with powers of evil, false gods, devils, 
agriculturists. rp^^g^^ ^^ taught, were all different manifestations or helpers 
of a predominant evil principle, often called Druj, or deception, and less 
frequently Angra Mainyu, or Ahriman. This is but a concentration and 
development of the early Aryan belief in a conflict between the powers of 
nature, some benefiting and others injuring mankind. 

The frequent brief address to Ormuzd in the Yendidad is ^' the most 
blissful spirit, creator of the material world, thou Holy One," or more fully. 
Attributes of " -^ venerate the Creator, Ahura Mazda, the brilliant, radiant, 
Ormuzd. greatest, best, most beautiful, mightiest, wisest, best-formed, 
most exalted through holiness, giving profusely, granting much bliss, who 
created us, who prepares us, who maintains us, the most blissful spirit." 
Dr. Greiger lays stress on the spiritual view which is given of Ormuzd, and 
says that he is not represented as having any visible form, except where 
the sun (Mithra) is spoken of as " the body and the eye of Mazda." Anthro- 
pomorphism is rare as applied to the Supreme Being in the Avesta : and 
G-eiger looks upon all the passages as symbolical, which speak of wives and 
relatives of Ormuzd. But we cannot be blind to the extreme probability 
that such relationships would be looked upon as real by the general mass 
of the people, however definitely the leaders may have regarded them as 
symbolical. 

dreat importance is evidently attached to the " name " of Ormuzd, and 
it is interesting to compare it with the "name" of Jehovah as treated in 
The name of ^^® Old Testament Scriptures, and the 1,001 names of Allah. 
Ormuzd. These names, as given in the Ormuzd Yast are " the One of whom 
questions are asked, the Herd-giver, the Strong One, Perfect Holiness, 
Creator of all good things. Understanding, Knowledge, Well-being, and the 
Producer of well-being, Ahura (the Lord), the most Beneficent, He in whom 
there is no harm, the Unconquerable, He who makes the true account (that 



ZOROASTER AND THE ZEND-AVESTA. 349 

is of good works and sins), the All-Seeing, the Healer, Mazda (the All-wise). 
He is represented in the gathas as not to be deceived, and as looking upon 
everything as a warder with eyes radiant with holiness. How high is the 
conception of the deity reached in the gathas may be seen from the following 
extract from one of them (Yasna 44) . 

" That I ask of Thee, tell me the right, Ahura ! 
Who was the father of the pure creatures at the beginning ? 
Who has created the wa\^ of the sun, of the stars ? 
Who but Thou made it that the moon waxes and wanes ? 
This, Mazda, and other things I long to know. 
Who upholds the earth and the clouds above, 
That they fall not ? Who made the water and the plants ? 
Who gave their swiftness to the winds and the clouds ? 
Who is, O Mazda, the creator of the pious mind ? 
Who, working good, has made light as well as darkness ? 
Who, working good, has made sleep and wakefulness ? 
Who made the dawn, the mid-days, and the evenings ? " 

There is no doubt that Ormuzd is believed to have existed before any 
material thing, and to have called the world into existence by his will. He 
is specially mentioned as the creator of the holy mind, of religious truth, and 
of the prayers and offerings. Fire is also a special creation of Ormuzd, the 
importance of which we shall see later. Being omniscient and infallible, 
he rewards the good and punishes the evil both in this world and the next. 
Thus we read in the gathas : 

" Whosoever in righteousness shows to me 
The genuine good actions, to me who am Zarathushtra : 
Him they (the divine beings) grant as a reward the next world, 
Which is more desirable than all others. 
That hast thou said to me, Mazda, thou who knowest best." 

The impious are thus threatened : '' Whoso brings about that the pious 
man is defrauded, his dwelling is finally for a long time in darkness, and 
vile food and irony shall fall to his lot. Towards this region, ye vicious, 
your souls will conduct you on account of your actions." 

There have not been wanting those who see in the resemblances between 
this conception of the supreme Deity and that of the Jews a proof that the 
one was derived from the other ; but the view that they are distinct and 
unrelated finds warm advocacy. Thus Dr. Geiger says : " In this subHme 
conception of the Avesta, Ahura Mazda undoubtedly stands far above the 
deities of the Vedic pantheon. Only the Jehovah of the ancient Jews may 
be compared to him. But however obvious the similarity be- ^ ft 
tween the God of Israel and the god of the Mazdeans may be, still conception of 
I reject entirely the assumption that the Avesta people have ^ ^^ ^' 
borrowed from the Jews. Upon the Iranian soil a narrowly-confined nation 
has, independently and of itself, attained that high conception of God, 
which, with the exception of the Jews, was never attained by any Aryan, 



3 so THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

Semitic, or Turanian tribe." (Gr.) To another student, Professor G-eldner, 
Ormuzd appears as the idealised figure of an oriental king. To Professor 
Darmesteter he is the developed idea of the old Aryan '' Heaven-God," and 
many features betray his former sky nature. Thus '' he is white, bright, 
seen afar, and his body is the greatest and fairest of all bodies ; he has the 
sun for his eye, the rivers above for his spouses, the fire of lightning for 
his son ; he wears the heaven as a star-spangled garment ; he dwells in the 
infinite luminous space." 

The sevenfold arrangement of the Vedic gods which was sometimes 
made, and from which were developed the twelve adityas, was seen also 
The Amesha-i^ t^® Iranian religion, audit is a question whether it did not 
spentas. exist very early, Ormuzd becoming the most prominent and 
finally the supreme. In some parts of the Avesta mention is made of seven 
Amesha-Spentas (the blissful immortals), of whom Ahura Mazda is chief. 
The names of the others are (1) Vohu-mano, the good mind, (2) Asha-vahishta, 
the best holiness, (3) Khshathra-varya, the desirable sovereignty, (4) 
Spenta-Armati, moderate thinking and humble sense, (5) Harvatat, well- 
being, happiness, health ; (6) Amertal, long life, immortality. The abstract 
meanings of these names renders it difiicult to understand them, but there 
is no doubt that they are invoked in the Avesta as real beings who can 
answer prayer. "We find them very definitely associated with particular 
functions : Yohu-mano protects herds. Ash a is the genius of fire, Khshathra 
has the care of metals, Spenta-Armati is the guardian of the earth, while 
the last two protect the waters and plants. We may here indicate with 
some reserve Greiger's explanation of the abstract meaning of some of the 
Amesha-Spentas, as connected with these practical functions. Vohu-mano, 
the good mind, is the protector of herds because the people who accepted 
the Zoroastrian doctrine, and consequently were of good mind, were the 
cattle-rearers, as opposed to the nomads. Vohu-mano came also to be 
regarded as the guardian of all living beings. The connection of Asha, 
purity, with fire, is evident, fire being the symbol of purity. Armati (the 
Vedic goddess Aramati) is the protector of the earth, regarded as " the 
humble suffering one which bears all, nourishes all, and sustains all. In the 
Rig-Veda Aramati is devotion, or the genius of devotion. By the Indian 
commentator Sayana, Armati is regarded as wisdom, but he also defines 
the same word twice as the 'earth.' " Harvatat, health, is the, master of 
water, for the waters dispense health. Amertal, long life and immortality, 
is the genius of plants, which dispel sickness and death, especially the 
Haoma (Indian Soma) plant, which gives health and long keeps up the vital 
powers. The white Haoma gives immortality. Fire is spoken of as the 
son of Ormuzd, and Armati as his daughter. In one place (Yast xix.) we 
find all invoked as sons of Ormuzd : " I invoke the glory of the Amesha- 
Spentas, who all seven have one and the same thinking, one and the same 
doing, one and the same father and lord, Ahura Mazda." 

Another subject of great interest is the part played by the yazatas^ 
sometimes characterised as angels or spiritual genii presiding over elements 



ZOROASTER AND THE ZEND-AVESTA. 351 

or over abstract ideas. Mr. Dastur says : " In the abstract, anything that 
is excellent and worthy of praise in the moral and material uni- 
verse and that glorifies the wisdom of the Deity is a yazata. (Gr. or^spSituai' 
p. xxiv.) Mithra is one of the most significant of these, because senii. 
he can be identified with Mitra, the Vedic god of the heavenly 
light, closely associated with Yaruna. Mithra was believed to see 
and therefore know everything, and became the witness of truth and the 
preserver of oaths and good faith ; consquently he punishes those who 
break their promises. He is also the lord of wide pastures and the prince of 
the countries. The tenth yast contains many hymns to Mithra, from which 
the following extracts are made. (S. E. xxiii.) 

" Ahura Mazda spake unto Spitama Zarathushtra, saying : ' Verily, 
when I created Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, Spitama, I created 
him as worthy of sacrifice, as worthy of prayer as myself, Ahura Mazda. 
The ruffian who lies unto Mithra (or who breaks the contract) brings 
death unto the whole country, injuring as much the faithful world as a 
hundred evil-doers could do. Break not the contract, Spitama, neither 
the one that thou hadst entered into with one of the unfaithful, nor the one 
that thou hadst entered into with one of the faithful, who is one of thy 
own faith. For Mithra stands for both the faithful and the unfaithful.' " 

'' We sacrifice unto Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, who is truth- 
speaking, a chief in assemblies, with a thousand ears, well-shapen, with ten 
thousand eyes, high, with full knowledge, strong, sleepless, and ever awake. 

" Who upholds the columns of the lofty house and makes its pillars solid ; 
who gives herds of oxen and male children to that house in which he has 
been satisfied ; he breaks to pieces those in which he has been offended." 

On behalf of Mithra, loud claims are put forth for a sacrifice, invoking 
him in his own name. He is prayed to for riches, strength, and victory, 
good conscience and bliss, wisdom and the knowledge that gives happiness. 
In one place he is a warlike courageous youth, who drives in a chariot with 
four white horses through the heavens, and also into battle ; who becomes a 
j^azata of war. See the account of Mithraism, later, p. 363. 

Vayu, another Yedic deity, -is the storm yazata in the Avesta, and is 
appealed to by Ormuzd to grant him power to smite Ahriman. He is in- 
voked as a strong warlike helper in every danger. Among other 
important yazatas are that of Fire, the messenger of the gods, 
sent down as lightning and sun-fire to the earth ; that of the waters, Ardvi- 
sura Anahita, Tistrya the rain-bestower, Verethragna the fiend smiter, and 
the Sun and Moon, etc. Many of these are identical in name and epithets 
with Yedic gods or spirits, and in reading the yasts we seem to hear again 
the strains of the Rig-Yeda. 

" He who offers up a sacrifice unto the undying, shining, swift-horsed 
sun, to withstand darkness, to withstand the daevas bom of darkness, 
to withstand the robbers and bandits, to withstand death that creeps in 
unseen, offers it up to Ahura Mazda, offers it up to the Amesha-Spentas, 
offers it up to his own soul. 



352 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

" We sacrifice unto Tistrya, the bright and glorious star, for whom 
long the standing waters, and the running spring- waters, the stream-waters 
and the rain-waters : 

" When will the bright and glorious Tistrya rise up for us ? When 
will the springs with a flow and overflow of waters, thick as a horse's 
shoulder, run to the beautiful places and fields, and to the pastures, even to 
the roots of the plants, that they may grow with a powerful growth ? " 

The spirit or god Sraosha must also be mentioned ; his name signifies 

obedience, especially to the Holy Word. He it was who first tied together 

the haresma, the consecrated sacrificial branches : he first sane: 

Srd<osli3i 

the sacred hymns ; three times a day he descends on the world 
to smite Ahriman. Hence he has been termed the priest-god ; the holy 
prayers are the weapons with which he smites. He requires a man to rise 
early that he may perform the due rites ; he pities the poor and needy and 
guards the sanctity of the covenants. Again Ashi or piety, moral order, 
the daughter of Ormuzd and sister of Sraosha, Mithra and others, bestows 
the human intellect, defends matrimony, and cares activel}^ for the house. 
She confers power and riches, and gives beauty to maidens. 

Another spirit is named Geush-urvan, " Soul of the Bull " ; in the 
gathas we find this spirit complaining before Ormuzd of the oppressions 
The soul of and dangers inflicted on him by enemies. Besides those named 
the buiL j^any other spirits are invoked, such as the holy doctrine, the 
Holy Word, the genius of justice, etc. Here we see how prone Zoroastrian- 
ism was to personify abstract ideas, just as the Vedic religion personified 
material objects or forces. 

We now come to the obverse side of the picture — the powers of evil, 
and their relations to Ormuzd and the forces of goodness. It has already 
The powers been stated how prominently the Avesta asserts dualism in the 
of eva government of the world ; but there are not wanting those who 
consider that Zoroastrianism is not more dualistic than Christianity, and 
point to the fact that no attempt is made to account for the origin of either 
spirit, while the temporary character of the power of the evil one is dis- 
tinctly asserted. (West, S. E., vol. xviii.) Haug says that Zoroaster held the 
grand idea of the unity and indivisibility of the supreme Being, and sought 
to reconcile the existence of imperfections and evils with the goodness and 
justice of God by supposing two primeval causes which, though different, 
were united. But it is surely simpler to take the plain statements of the 
gathas, that two powerful beings opposed and counteracted each other, but 
that the good Being is the stronger and will ultimately conquer, as ex- 
pressing the essence of the creed of Zoroaster. If one reads the gathas 
naturally, without prepossessions, it will appear that Ahriman is imagined 
to have existed from the beginning. 

Ahriman, the prince of the demons, is the opposite and counterpart of 
Ormuzd in all characters. He dwells in infinite darkness, and is all dark- 
ness, falsehood and wickedness, and around him all evil spirits 
collect. Any good man is his enemy, and he is represented as 



ZOROASTER AND THE ZEND-AVESTA. 353 

being enraged at the birth of Zoroaster. The evil spirits are the daevas, 
(devas) male, and the druj (female). There are six principal The daevas 
evil spirits corresponding to the Amesha-Spenta : thus (1) and druj. 
Akomano, evil mind; (2) Andra (Indra), destructive fire; (3) Saru, the 
tyrant, opposed the first three of the Amesha-Spentas. 

The first section of the Vendidad exhibits in detail the way in which 
Ahriman counterworked the beneficent creation of Ormuzd. His first 
creation was the serpent in the river, and winter, followed by the cattle-fly, 
corn-carrying ants, the mosquito, demon-nymphs and wizards, etc. ; and also 
the sinful lusts, unbelief, pride, unnatural sins, the burying and burning of 
corpses, the oppression of foreign rulers, and excessive heat, each following 
a beneficial creation of Ormuzd. Ahriman was also represented as the 
killer of the first bull, the poisoner of plants, the causer of smoke, of sin, and 
of death. 

Some of the associate spirits of evil can be identified with Vedic spirits ; 
such are the Yatus, wizard demons. The Pairikas are demon-nymphs who 
keep off the rain-floods. The Drvants or Dregvants are head- The Yatus, 
long-running fiends. The Varenya daevas are the fiends in the i^^^^ts, etc. 
heavens. Bushyasta sends people to sleep at dawn, and makes them 
forget to say their prayers. We cannot go into the details relating to all 
these. 

We must note how in the Yasts Zoroaster appears as the typical and 
best human being, who first antagonised Ahriman. Thus, we read in Yast 
13, " We worship the piety and the Fravashi (see p. 354) spirit zoroaster 
of the holy Zarathustra, who first thought, spoke, and did what is magnified, 
good, who was the first priest, the first warrior, the first plougher of the 
ground, who first knew and taught ; who first possessed the bull, and holiness, 
the word and obedience to the word, and dominion, and all the good things 
made by Mazda ; who first in the material world proclaimed the word that 
destroys the daevas, the law of Ahura ; who was strong, giving all the good 
things of life, the first bearer of the law among the nations ; for whom the 
Amesha-Spentas longed, in one accord with the sun, in the fulness of faith 
of a devoted heart ; they longed for him, as the lord and master of the 
world, as the praiser of the most great, most good, and most fair Asha ; in 
whose birth and growth the waters and the plants rejoiced ; and whose 
birth and growth all the creatMres of the good creations cried out, " Hail ! " 
(S.E. vol. xxiii.) Here we see, as if in process, the deification of a human 
being. 

The conflict between good and evil was represented as universal in its 
extent. Every power or being or material thing was engaged on one side 
or the other. All animals and plants belong to one or the other. The universal 
or are forced into their service. Sometimes the gods and fiends conflict 
are seen under the guise of dogs, snakes, otters, frogs, etc. ; and it was 
held a crime to kill the creatures of Ormuzd, while a man might atone for 
evil by killing the creatures of Ahriman. Darmesteter, speculating on this 
aspect of the Avesta, says, " Persia was on the brink of zoolatry." 

A A 



354 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

Of course mankind were shared between Ormuzd and Ahriman. The 

servant of Ahriman and of Asha (fire) offers sacrifice to them with libations 

The s:ood ^^ haoma juice (the Vedic Soma) , the great heaUng and invigo- 

andthe rating plant, which when drunk by the faithful benefits the 

gods ; sacrifices of consecrated meat and libations of holy water. 

He aids Ormuzd and the holy spirits by every good thought, word, and 

deed, and by increasing the number of and protecting the creatures of 

Ormuzd. The priest, or Atharvan, who drives away fiends and diseases by 

his spells : the warrior who destroys the impious, the husbandman who 

produces good harvests, are all workers for Ormuzd, and those who do the 

contrary, for Ahriman. The former will have a seat near Ormuzd in 

heaven, and at the end of time the dead will rise and live happily on the 

earth, which will then be free from all evil. 

In this connection we may note the belief in the existence of a spirit 
{Fravaslii) distinct from the body originally, separated from it by death, and 

The believed to be simply the spirit of ancestors ; but this developed 
Fravashis. i^^to a belief in Fravashis as the immortal principle or counter- 
part of any being, whether gods, animals, plants, or physical objects. They 
are spoken of in Yast xiii. as "the awful and overpowering Fravashis," bring- 
ing help and joy to the faithful, helping in the maintenance of all creations. 
Because of the help they give in the perpetual conflict between good and 
evil, the Fravashis are worshipped and invoked on all occasions. They are 
praised as " the mightiest of drivers, the lightest of those driving for- 
wards, the slowest of the retiring, the safest of all bridges, the least erring of 
all weapons and arms, and never turning their backs"; they are correspond- 
ingly dreadful to the foe. They are, however, said to ask for help thus : 
" Who will praise us ? Who will offer us a sacrifice ? Who will meditate 
upon us ? Who will bless us ? Who will receive us with meat and clothes 
in his hand, and with a prayer worthy of bliss ? " High above all other 
Fravashis is the Fravashi of Ahura Mazda. 

There is no doubt that the Avesta teaches the doctrine of immortahty, 
and a coming world which is '* better than the good." The idea of a bridge 
conducting men thither has been common to many religions. The 
' early Avesta represents it as a chinvat bridge, or bridge of retribu- 
tion, at which justice is administered. The good go to the abode of light 
and glory where Ormuzd reigns and is praised in hymns. The evil, the 
false priests, and idol- worshippers go for all eternity to the habitation of 
the devils, in eternal night, scorned by the demons. Yast xxii. gives a 
Future detailed description of the fate of the good and of the evil. A 
rewards and good man's spirit, remaining near the head of the body, tastes 
' during the three nights succeeding the death of the body as much 
happiness as the whole living world can taste. He passes into the most 
blissful region and is met by his own conscience in the shape of a beautiful 
heavenly maiden who recites to him all his good deeds, and then conducts 
him through the Paradises of Oood Thought, Grood Worth, Good Deed, and 
Endless Light. The evil man correspondingly suffers for three nights as 



ZOROASTER AND THE ZEND-AVESTA, 



355 



much as the whole living world can suffer, and then is brought through a 
foul region into the hills of Evil Thought, Evil Word, and Evil Deed, and 
finally into endless darkness. Later this vision is amplified. 

In one passage of the gathas we find mention of a final dissolution of 
creation, when the final distribution of rewards and punishments will take 
place ; but the general tenor of the Avesta is to look for a re- The final 
generation of the earth, with a resurrection of the bodies of the <iis^^J*i°°^ 
dead, to join their souls. Many hold that this view of the resur- renovation, 
rection was original in Zoroastrianism and that it was adopted from the 
Persians by the Jews. The end of the world is to be preceded by the 
appearance of three great prophets, all regarded as supernatural sons of 
Zarathushtra, the last one (Astvat-erta), being named the victorious Saviour,, 
embodied piety, overcoming all torments of men and demons. He is to- 
renew the world, he makes the living immortal and awakens the dead from 
their sleep, brings death, old age and decay to an end, and grants to the 
pious eternal life and happiness. One last decisive struggle takes place 
between the powers of light and darkness, and Astvat-erta, with the aid of 
the good spirits, vanquishes the demons, and extirpates evil. Then comes 
the peaceful and happy reign of Ormuzd and all the good, no longer dis- 
turbed by an}' evil-disposed being. 





PAKSEE SUN-WOKSHIP. 

CHAPTER XI. 

Cl)f ZoionsUmx BoofesJ— iMi'tftrai'sim, 

The Avesta— Country of its origin— Date of the Avesta— The Gathas— People to whom addressed— 
The Vendidad— The most pleasing and displeasing things— Impurity of corpses— Exposure of 
dead — Law of contracts and assaults— The Vispered and Yasna— The liturgies— The early rites 
of Mazdaism— Rise of the Magi— Loss of Zoroastrian books— The Pahlavi texts— The Bundahish 
— The Shayast la-Shayast— The Dadistan-i-Dinik— The Spirit of Wisdom — Mithraism— Mithraic 
monuments — Antagonism of Christians — Mithraic ceremonies. 



THE AVESTA. 

"TjlE-OM tlie Avesta itself it appears to be conclusively proved that it 
-L originated in Eastern Iran, east of the central desert of Persia, the 
land of the Syr-Daria, nearly all the places mentioned in it being situated 

Country of therein, with the exception of E-agha, near its western boundary. 

its origin. Babylon is the only famous western city mentioned. A passage 
especially noted is this, in which the Aryan country is described as the first 
created and best land. " As the first of the lands and as the best dwelling- 
place, I, Ahura-Mazda (Ormuzd) created the Aryana-vaija (the country) 
situated on the good Datya. Thereupon Angra Mainyu (Ahriman) , who is 
full of death, counter-created the water serpents and a winter produced by the 
demons. (Gr.) This Aryan country was very possibly in Upper Ferghana. 



THE ZOROASTRIAN BOOKS. 357 



The Avesta itself testifies to its own date in the following way. It 
does not mention any town which was famous in the Median ©ate of the 
and Achemenian period except Raglia ; nor does it mention the Avesta. 
names of later nations or empires. It only knows Aryans, not Persian s^ 
Parthians, or Medes as such. It does not even contain any reference to the 
battles between the Medes and the Babylonians, still less to the conquests of 
Alexander the Great. And this is the more significant as it alludes to many 
external events, battles, inroads of foreigners, the hostility of the Aryans to 
non- Aryans, and of the settled agriculturists to the nomad tribes. The tribal 
grouping was in full force, and only specially powerful kings were able to 
unite the tribes into kingdoms. It is much more natural to regard all this as 
a sign of great antiquity, especially when coupled with the primitive type 
of the Avesta language. And it is not safe to dismiss portions of the 
narrative as purely mythical because all trace of some of the names men- 
tioned has vanished. Herodotus's statement that the Medes were anciently 
called Aryans, supports this view of the antiquity of the record which deals 
solely with Aryans, before the Medes had become a distinct people. 

Let us take the gathas, or hymns of the Avesta, contained in the Yasna^ 
and study them for traces of the people among whom they were composed. 
In them Zoroaster speaks directly. The king Vishtaspa is de- 
scribed as his pious friend in his great work, wishful to announce 
it ; and in many ways the gathas address or speak of contemporary persons 
and events. The religion itself is in process of formation, and its followers 
are subject to persecution. No doubt mythology is intermingled ; but if 
everything which contains mythological interpretations or descriptions 
were adjudged to contain no historical fact, very much more than the Avesta 
would have to be sacrificed. 

One important fact intimating the great age of the gathas, and also 
showing the connection of the Aryan people they describe with the Aryans of 
the Rig- Veda, is the high importance attributed to the cow, show- The people 
ing special attention to its breeding and rearing. Thus they were to whom 
in the pastoral state which succeeds a nomad life, and becoming 
more settled than mere keepers of sheep and goats, which can be readily 
transferred from place to place. We are expressly told in the gathas that 
the cow is the giver of permanent homes, and the especial care of the active 
labourer, and also leads to the development of agriculture. In the Ven- 
didad, in contrast to this, agriculture has become of equal importance with 
cattle-breeding. In the gathas antagonism is represented as occurring be- 
tween the nomads and the agriculturists, and the former oppose the teach- 
ing of Zoroaster. In fact the nomads plundered the settled people then as 
now, and naturally disliked the moral teacher of their more civilised 
brethren. We find Zoroaster assigned as the special protector of the cow, 
and the announcer to man that the cow is created for the industrious and 
the active. In the later parts of the Avesta we find the religion of Zoroaster 
firmly established and an order of priests (Atharvans), but the people are 
still peasants and shepherds, and their daily life is intimately connected 



358 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

witli their religion, the annual feasts being specially related to the agri- 
•cultural and pastoral life. The people do not yet seem to have used salt. 
Glass, coined money, and iron were unknown ; the bronze age still ruled. 
One passage, which has been alleged to refer to Grautama, and to show the 
date of the Avesta to be later than his time, is not at all conclusive, and the 
name is rather an old Iranian form ; also the name Gautama occurs in the 
Hig-Veda. It was in fact an early Aryan name. 

The Vendidad is specially the Zoroastrian book of purification ; but the 
£rst two sections belong to the older literature. The first section at once 
The touches a natural chord by representing Ahura-Mazda (Ormuzd) 
■Vendidad. g^g teUing Zoroaster that he has made every country dear to its 
own people ; were it not so, they would all have come to the Aryan country, 
which was created best of good lands. The counter-creation of Angra 
Mainyu (Ahriman) is then described, giving rise to the ten months of winter. 
Other neighbouring countries were then created, followed by Ahriman's 
creation of special evils or plagues, including various sins, evils, and insect 
plagues. In tho second section Zoroaster asks Ormuzd who was the first 
mortal with whom he had conversed ; and he replies, '' The fair Yima, the 
^reat shepherd," who appears to have represented the founder of civilisa- 
tion. Afterwards he was told that a period of fatal winters was approach- 
ing, and he was commanded to gather into a large enclosure all kinds of 
«eeds and grains, and to make a sort of terrestrial paradise. This Yima is 
compared in some respects with Yama, the ruler of departed spirits, in the 
Hig-Veda. 

The third section gives an enumeration of five things most pleasing 

and five most displeasing to the earth. These are, (1) the place where one 

The most of the faithful with wood for the altar fire, and the sacred bundle 

^dSpieSing^^^ twigs, steps forward praying to Mithra, the lord of wide pas- 

things. tures, and Rama Svastra, the god that gives good pastures to 

cattle ; (2) the place where one of the faithful erects a house for a priest, 

with wife, children, and herds ; (3) the place where one of the faithful 

cultivates most corn, grass, and fruit ; (4) where there is most increase of 

fiocks and herds ; (5) and where they yield most manure. The unpleasing 

places relate to the corpses or other creations of Ahriman, and also the 

captive wife and children of one of the faithful. No man is allowed to 

Impurity carry a corpse alone, and every corpse, if buried, must be disin- 

of corpses, terred (for exposure) within six months. A large part of the 

Tendidad relates to the extent of defilement by corpses or portions of dead 

matter and the means of purification. Throughout all we see the guiding 

principle that purity, especially of the body, is of prime importance ; but 

impurity is believed to be the work of a demon, which especially inhabits 

a corpse, and thence passes to those who touch it. Peculiar washings and 

spells are enjoined in order to expel the impure spirit. Nowhere has this idea 

of impurity connected with the dead been more elaborately developed. The 

evil spirit is expelled from the corpse itself by the " four-eyed dog " being 

brought near and made to look at the dead. In practice this is interpreted 



THE ZOROASTRIAN BOOKS. 359 

as a dog with, two spots above the eyes. This may be compared with the 
four-eyed dogs of the Vedic god Yama, and the three-headed Cerberus, 
Avatching at the doors of hell. Wherever the corpse passed, death walked 
with it, threatening the living ; consequently no man or animal might pass 
that way till the deadly breath had been blown away by the four-eyed dog, 
the priest aiding with his spells. 

Fire, earth, and water being all holy to Zoroastrians, corpses must be 
kept as far as possible away from them and placed on the highest summits, 
where there are always corpse-eating dogs and birds, and fastened Exposure 
by the feet and hair lest the bones should be carried away. The °^ *^®^*^- 
bones must afterwards be laid in a building known as the Dokma or tower 
of silence. This principle was carried out very thoroughly, partial death 
and sickness being equally unclean. Everything proceeding from the human 
body was impure, even parings of nails and cut hair. Sickness was sent by 
Ahriman, and must be cured by washings and spells. If several healers 
offered themselves together, one healing with the knife, one with herbs, 
and one with the holy word or by spells, the latter was to be preferred. 
Hence the class of priests included the chief doctors. 

The fourth section of the Vendidad is occupied with laws about con- 
tracts and assaults ; the latter are of seven degrees, and guilt is estimated 
as very greatly increased by each repetition of the offence. Crimes ^^^ ^^ ^^^_ 
are punished not only \>y stripes, but in addition by penalties tracts and 
after death. Offences against the gods were punished more 
heavily than offences against man ; and death is the punishment of the 
man who falsely pretends to cleanse the unclean, and the man who carries 
a corpse alone, these being special offences against the gods. Repentance 
only saves the sinner from penalties after death. The burning or burial 
of the dead, the eating dead matter, and unnatural crimes were inexpiable, 
apparently punished by death as well as future torments. 

The Vispered and Yasna properly form an indivisible part of the 
Avesta ; in fact, they constitute a liturgy. The Vispered, which is very 
short, contains merely invocations and invitations to Ormuzd The vispered 
and the good genii to be present at the ceremonies about to be ^^^ Yasna. 
performed. The Yasna means literally " offering with prayers," and includes 
the gathas or hymns, to which we have already referred. These were to 
be recited by the priests alone (the laity not being present), during the 
performance of certain religious ceremonies, which in brief were the 
consecration of holy water, of the sacred twigs or Baresma, and of the juice 
of the Haoma, and the offering of the draonas, or little round cakes, on 
which pieces of cooked flesh were placed, and afterwards eaten by the 
priests. Properly it was the priest's duty to recite the entire Avesta once 
every twenty-four hours, and principally during the night, this being 
essential in order that they might keep themselves fit to perform the rites 
of purification. 

The liturgies are not of interest proportionate to their length, and 
it is difficult to £>:ive an idea of their varied character within our limits. 



36o THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

Here is a brief extract from tlie Yispered : " We honour the omniscient 
The spirit Ahura-Mazda. We honour the light of the sun. We 
liturgies. }ionour the sun, the Amesha-Spentas. We honour the perfect 
Mantras. We honour the brilHant works of purity. We honour the 
assemblies, of which fire is the cause. We honour pure and benevolent 
prosperity and intelligence." Again, " Apply your feet, hands, will, 
Mazdeans, disciples of Zarathustra, to the practice of the good works 
prescribed by law and justice, to the avoidance of bad actions, contrary 
to law, and unjust ; give to those who lack." 

The Yasna largely consists of lists of those in whose honour the various 
consecrated objects are offered, or to whose praise the priests are chanting. 
Thus : " With this Baresma and holy water I honour the pure spirits 
of the months, pure spirits of the pure world. I honour the new 
moon, pure spirits of the pure world." Frequently various points in the 
history or achievements of the spirits are alluded to. Then the features 
of Ormuzd's rule are spoken of : '' Reign undisputed over the waters, over 
the trees, over all that is good and of pure origin. Make the just man 
powerful, and the wicked powerless and weak." A long account of the 
origin and history of Haoma is put into the mouth of Zoroaster, and 
prayer is offered to him as a person, in extravagant terms. Paradise, 
health, long life, prosperity, conquest, safety, posterity, etc.j are among the 
gifts besought of Haoma. He is also asked to frustrate the efforts of those 
who would injure the worshipper, and to bring every calamity upon him. 

From these various indications we may picture to ourselves the 
Zoroastrian religion as practised centuries before the Christian era, and long 
The early ^^^^^ ^^ time of Zoroaster. It is to be noted that the Avesta 
rites of contains no mention of temples ; and the sacred fire was kept 
up on altars in the open air on elevated places, at* most sur- 
rounded by a simple wall. No image or representation of the gods or 
genii was made ; fire alone was sufficient to symbolise them, kept up 
perpetually in great stone or copper basins, fed with the choicest wood. 
The priests (atharvans) taught the holy law, recited the sacred texts and 
invocations, prepared the Haoma, washed and kept the sacred vessels, and 
presided at ceremonies of penance and purification. They were expected 
to know the Avesta by heart, and had charge of the instruction and 
initiation, of novices and students. It appears that they were accustomed 
to go from place to place in the exercise of their sacred functions; and 
some of them were medically skilled, but performed many cures by sacred 
formulas. The holy days which the religion prescribed were sufficiently 
numerous, including the 1st, 8th, 18th, and 23rd of each month, sacred 
to Ormuzd, the 3rd and 5th to the Amesha Spentas, and every day had 
its special spirit or deity. The new year's festival to Ormuzd, and that 
of the autumnal equinox to Mithra, were among the principal festivals \ 
and the dead in general were celebrated on the last ten days of the year. 
The contaminations that made men impure, as we have already detailed 
them, gave much work to the priests in purification. 



THE ZOROASTRIAN BOOKS. 361 

By the time of Darius, Chaldsean and Semitic image-worship had 
influenced the worshippers of Ormuzd to a limited extent. Darius placed 
a symbolical picture of the god on his inscriptions ; Artaxerxes Rise of the 
II. erected statues and a temple to Anahita, at Ecbatana. ^^^^• 
How the Magians became the priests of the Avesta religion we have no 
clear account. They appear to have been a tribe or caste of the Medes, 
and probably they were the inheritors of the primitive Ar^^an tradition, 
who accepted the Zoroastrian development of it, and acquired great influence 
in the Persian empire, becoming not only teachers of religion, and priests, 
but also political administrators and advisers ; and they appear to have 
become combined or amalgamated with the priestly families of old Persia. 
The Sacred fire was carried before the kings by Magians, and the king's 
sons were instructed by them in the religion of Zoroaster. It is doubtful 
whether at this time they occupied themselves with soothsaying, pro- 
phecy, the interpretation of dreams, etc. ; it is probable that these offices 
were performed by the Chaldsean priests. The Greek historians represent 
that no one could sacrifice in Persia without a Magian. They offered 
sacrifices at high places, first praying to fire (or rather, looking towards the 
sacred fire). They sacrificed animals, striking them down with a club ; 
but no part of the flesh was set apart for the deity, the soul of the animal 
only being required. " As far west as Cappadocia,'* says Strabo, " there 
were enclosed places, in the midst of which was an altar heaped up with 
ashes. On this the Magians kept up the unquenchable fire. Each day 
they went and sang for an hour before the fire, holding in their hands 
a bundle of twigs." The Magian religion extended even to the cities of 
Lydia, where Pausanias observed their worship. 

The exposure of corpses was but partially practised by the ancient 
Persians, and may have been restricted to the priests. Certainly the 
kings were buried : but under the Sassanian monarchy, the dead were 
exposed according to the modern custom. 

There can be little doubt that the Avesta anciently consisted of many 

more books than we have at present. Various traditions speak of their 

number (twenty-one) and contents, and the efforts made to loss of 

preserve them. Alexander the G-reat, in a drunken frolic, burnt zoroastrian 

... books, 

the palace at Persepolis, which contained one of the two then 

existing complete copies of these books, and the other was said to have 
been taken away by the Greeks. The attempts of the Sassanian kings 
of Persia to collect and preserve the Zoroastrian books were rendered 
futile by the destroying fury of the Mohammedans, and those who refused 
to adopt the faith of the conquerors emigrated to India, and settled chiefly 
on western shores. They preserved some portions of the Avesta, together 
with translations, commentaries, and original works in the Pahlavi lan- 
guage and character, which prevailed in Persia from the third to the 
tenth century a.d. In these Pahlavi texts we have much of The Pahiavi 
the middle period of Mazdaism, " with a strange mixture of *®^*^- 
old and new materials," says Dr. West, " and exhibiting the usual symptom 



362 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

of declining powers, a strong insistence upon complex forms and minute 
details." 

The Bnndahisli is one of these texts which, gives an account of cosmo- 
gony and legendary history, describing creation under the good and evil 

The influences of Ormuzd and Ahriman, with their conflicts, and 
Bundahish. coming down to early Persian kings and to Zoroaster, with 
a brief account of later Persian history. There are many references which 
indicate that this is a translation with commentary from an Avesta 
original. The Bahman Yast is a remarkable prophetical book, in which 
Ormuzd is said to give to Zarathustra a narrative of the future history 
of his religion. 

The Shayast La-Shay ast is a work about "the proper and the im- 
proper," or laws and customs about sin and impurity. The nature and 
^^g^®®^ ^^ different breaches of propriety, the kinds of good 

XX16 ldXlH<]y^O^Su. ITT r» T T r» 

works and those who can or cannot perform them, the mode of 
atoning for sins, various kinds of worship, and an infinite number of detailed 
rules are given, showing no elevation of mind, but a pedantic reliance on 
outward formal purification. 

The Dadistan-i-Dinik, by Manuskihar, a high priest of the Parsees, was 

written in the ninth centurj^, and represents the doctrines and practice of 

^j^g the modern Parsees.' The title signifies "Religious Opinions or 

Dadistan-i- Decisions." The purpose of the creation of men is defined as " for 

progress and goodness," which men are bound to promote. Man 
is bound to glorify and praise the all-good Creator. "A righteous man is 
the creature by whom is accepted that occupation which is provided for 
him, and is fully watchful in the world as to his not being deceived by the 
rapacious fiend." The evil happening to the good in this world to so large 
an extent is attributed to the demons and evil men ; but for this they 
receive more reward in the spiritual existence, and by it they are kept from 
evil and improper actions. Explanations are given as to the exposure of the 
dead, the knowledge by the soul of the fate of the body, the future of the 
evil and the good. A brilliant picture is given of heaven, and a very dark 
one of hell. The sacred thread-girdle is declared to be a sign of the service 
of the sacred beings, a token of sin ended, and a presage of beneficence. 
The sacred ceremonial is pleasing to Ormuzd, because it entirely fulfils 
his commands, and produces propitiation of good spirits, the increase 
of digestiveness, the growth of plants, the prosperity of the world, and 
the proper progress of living beings. The proper mode of celebrating the 
ceremonial is described ; but there is little in it that adds to the essen- 
tials already described, and nothing that is of a very lofty or original 
. character. Another Pahlavi book, " Opinions of the Spirit of 
of Wisdom " is of interest for its expressing the belief that the 

" innate wisdom " of Ormuzd, a distinct personality created by 
Ormuzd, produced both the material and spirit worlds, and can appear in a 
personal form and give instructions, such as those recorded in the work 
itself. Another similar book is called by its author " The Doubt-dispelling 



MITHRAISM. 363 



Explanation," and defends and expounds the dualism of Mazdaism, assert- 
ing that other religions can only account for the origin of evil by degrading 
the character of the supreme Being, or by supposing a corrupting influence 
to be at work, which is really an evil spirit. He makes references to, and 
attacks the inconsistencies he finds in Mohammedan, Jewish, Christian, and 
Manicha?an doctrine. 

MlTHEAmM. 

The recurrence of the name of Mithra in the preceding chapters, from 
page 171 onwards, will already have been noted ; and we must now give a 
brief account of the obscure cultus which has been termed Mithraism, which 
some assert to have been the most widespread religious system in the Roman 
empire for some centuries after the rise of Christianity, having been even 
brought into this country by the Eoman soldiery (see J. M. Robertson in 
''Religious Systems of the World," 1890, pp. 225-248). In the Veda, 
Mithra is twin-god with Varuna ; in Zoroaster, he is lord of wide pastures, 
created by Ahura-Mazda ; he was still lord of the heavenly light, and so 
became specially the sun-god, god of light and truth, of moral goodness and 
purity, punishing the Mithra-Druj, 'him who lies to Mithra'; hence also he 
is a judge in hell. (S.E., iv. xxiii.) Rawlinson says that Darius Hystaspes 
placed the emblems of Ahura-Mazda and of Mithra in equally conspicuous 
positions on the sculptured tablet above his tomb (b.c. 485) ; and his example 
was followed by later monarchs. The name Mithradates " given by Mithra," 
so often borne by Eastern monarchs, is another testimony to the influence of 
Mithra. He came to be regarded as a sort of intermediate between Ormuzd 
and Ahriman, a mediator eternally young, preserving mankind from the 
evil one, and performing a mysterious sacrifice, through which the good will 
triumph ; and in some aspects Mithra was regarded as a female deity, and 
there are many Mithraic monuments on which the symbols of two Mithraic 
deities appear, male and female. The Grseco-Roman bas-relief ^o^^^®^*^- 
of Mithras slaying a bull, in the British Museum, indicates one form of the 
symbolism associated with this god, and connected with the idea of sacrifice 
and purification ; and in other associations a ram was slain to Mithra. We 
learn from Origen that the Mithraic mysteries included a complex represen- 
tation of the movements of the stars and planets, and of the disembodied 
human soul among them. 

Much of the difficulty of comprehending Mithraism really is due to its 
opposition and proscription by early Christianity, and to the secrecy with which 
its worship was carried on, largely in caves. There are many Antagonism 
remains of Mithraic altars cut out in rocks, and he was even ^^ ^^"^*^^^" 
named " Mithras out of the rock." The rites were probably to a large 
extent derived from those of Zoroastrianism. At the vernal equinox, the 
deity appears to have been symbolically mourned as dead, a stone image 
being laid by night on a bier to represent the dead god ; and Justin Martyr 
and Tertullian describe initiation and other ceremonies of the worshippers 
of Mithra, which they regarded as imitations of the Christian sacraments. 



364 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



We can see in the light of the G-reek myth of Persephone, that this was no 
imitation, but an early and widespread symbolism of the early death of 
Nature, and the restored life of spring-time. Initiation was an elaborate 
ordeal, including trial by water, by fire, by cold, by hunger, by thirst, by 
mthraic scourging, etc. ; and the worshippers were divided into different 
ceremonies, grades, called after different birds and other animals. Tertullian 
says that the soldier of Mithra was offered a crown, which it was his place 
to refuse, saying Mithra was his crown. Mithraism seems to have had 
considerable popularity among the later Roman soldiery, and to have been 
acknowledged by the emperors, so that there are many military inscriptions ^ 
"Deo Solilnvicto Mithrse," — "to the invincible sun-god, Mithra." The most 
usual representation of him depicts a young man in Oriental costume kneel- 
ing with one knee on a prostrate bull, grasping the head and pulling it back 
with his left hand, while with the right he plunges his sword into its neck. 
A dog, a snake, and a scorpion drink the blood flowing from the bull, and 
the sun and moon occupy the two sides of the relief. 

There is much curious speculation and fact bearing on Mithra wor- 
ship, but the study cannot yet be said to be placed on a basis of certainty ; 
and to say that Christianity borrowed largely from Mithraism, is quite 
unproved. 





FIEE TEMPLE OP PAKSEES, BAKU. 

CHAPTER XII. 

iMoirern paiseeism. 

The Parsees — Their persecutions— Their principles— A Parsee catechism— The priesthood — Devotions 
of the laity— Festivals— Ceremonial rites— Deathbed forms— The towers of silence — Ceremonies 
of departed souls— Family life. 

THE PAESEES. 

A PEOPLE within a people, like the Jews in England, the Parsees have 
attained and maintained an influence and wealth far beyond their 
numerical proportion. Their persistence is in its way as strong a testimony 
to the power of heredity as any. The people survive by their commercial 
ability ; their religion survives with them, like Judaism with 
the Jews. Persecution was long their fate, both in Persia and of the 
India; the difficulties of their struggle for existence have fixed 
their striking characteristics in a mould more tenacious of life. May we not 
say that they have largely preserved a pure faith in one supreme beneficent 
God, Ormuzd, and believe them when they repudiate the designation fire- 
worshippers, and reject idolatry in all forms ? Fire they revere, fire is the 
symbol of their god, and they do not treat fire lightly in any circumstances ; 



366 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

indeed, they are tlie only people who universally refrain from tobacco- 
Their smoking, as offending their religious principles. But they are 

principles, equally fixed in the determination not to defile any of the works 
of Ormuzd, whether earth, water, animals, or plants ; and their practices of 
cleanliness and frequent personal ablution must have contributed greatly 
to their maintenance in health. The greatest number of them is to be 
found in Bombay ; they are numerous in Surat, Ahmedabad, and other 
cities of Gujerat ; and they are to be found in many other cities under 
British Indian rule. Their total number is about 82,000, including 8,000 in 
Persia (Yezd, etc.). Their name is derived from their original province, 
Pars, or Fars, from which Persia is named. 

The Parsees, or Gruebres, of Yezd have still thirty-four fire temples 
great and small, but possess very few books ; and till lately were in a very 
degraded condition and in great poverty, being most unjustly treated by 
their Mahometan neighbours ; their condition has, however, been mitigated 
by the persistent efforts of the Parsees of Bombay and of the British 
ministry in Persia. At Baku, on the Caspian, they still have fire temples. 

Till recently the pure faith was only preserved by a few of the Parsee 
priests ; and the average priest was little but a reciter of portions of the 

A Parsee sacred books and formulas by rote, without understanding the 

catechism, language in which they were written. Of late years a catechism 
of instruction has been prepared for the instruction of Parsee children, 
from which we learn that they are taught that there is one Grod, Ormuzd, 
and that Zartusht (Zoroaster) is his true prophet ; that the religion of the 
Avesta was communicated to him by Grod, and that it is true beyond doubt; 
that God is good, and that good deeds are enjoined. All evil and wicked- 
ness are strictly forbidden. Morality is confined within three words, pure- 
thought, pure-word, pure-deed ; truth is particularly enjoined. Evil deeds 
will bring punishment after death in hell, and judgment is believed to take 
place on the fourth day after death, determining whether the deceased goes 
to heaven or hell. But a future resurrection is held out as certain, when 
God only can save any one. It is also enjoined upon believers that they 
turn their face towards some luminous object while engaged in prayer 
and worship, which must be of frequent occurrence in the day. Angels 
are believed in, who aid mankind in various ways, and superintend various 
parts of creation. Prayers are addressed to these spirits. Prayer is made 
that the evil may become virtuous and be pardoned by the mercy of 
Ormuzd. There is no propitiation of the evil spirits, or prayer to them. 

The priesthood is handed down by inheritance from father to son, 
although priests may become laymen. The high priests, or dasturs, are the 

The priest- especial religious authorities, imposing penances and declaring 
hood. doctrine. The ordinary priests, or mobeds, and the lower priests, 
or herbads, complete the religious orders of the Parsees. They have a coun- 
cil, or Panch^^at, composed of six dasturs and twelve mobeds, which settles 
all the joint affairs of the Parsee community. At present the condition of 
the Parsee priesthood is one of progress ; two colleges, representing the two 



MODERN PARSEEISM. 367 



sects of the Parsees (marked bj comparatively unimportant differences), 
have been established, under able teachers ; and learned works of consider- 
able value bearing on the history and ancient texts of their religion have 
been produced by Parsees who have studied at German universities and 
write English with fluency. The Parsee community does not make offerings 
to the priests and to the temples the chief or only meritorious work ; but 
its charitable institutions are numerous, and a Parsee beggar is unknown. 

As to the devotional practices of the laity, a man who is very religious 
will say praj^ers many times a day, albeit in the Avesta language, which he 
does not understand. Prayer may be said on rising from sleep, Devotions 
after bathing, and after every operation of life, before and after °^ *^® ^^^*y- 
meals, and before going to bed. Among the strangest and most repulsive 
of Parsee practices, to western notion, is the habit of rubbing nirang (cow's 
urine) over face and hands, as a specific against devas or evil spirits, a 
prayer or incantation being recited at the same time. Devotions at the 
Parsee fire altars are quite optional, and they may be performed 
at any time by the worshippers, who usually give something to 
the priests. There is, however, a considerable attendance at the festivals, 
about once a week, and at special seasons, such as the six days' festival in 
the middle of winter, celebrating the six periods of creation, that at the 
spring equinox in honour of agriculture, that to Mithra, etc. On the tenth 
day of the eighth month there is a festival to Fravardin, who presides over 
the souls of the departed, when special ceremonies for the dead are per- 
formed, the towers of silence are visited, and pra^^ers said for them in the 
small temples in the grounds ; these are in addition to annual celebrations 
for the dead in each house. New Year's Day is both a day of rehgious 
festival and social intercourse, when the fire-temples are visited and prayers 
said, looking towards the altar of sacred fire. Visits to friends, with cere- 
monial hand-joining, follow, and alms are given to the poor. 

The Parsee infant, born on a ground floor, to which he is again brought 
as soon as he is dead, has his nativity cast on the seventh day by a Brahman 
or Parsee astrologer-priest ; at seven years old he is purified with ceremonial 
nirang, and invested with the sacred girdle of seventy-two threads, "*®^- 
representing the seventy-two chapters of the Yasna. As the priest blesses 
the child, he throws upon its head portions of fruits, spices, and perfumes. 
This is the ceremony of the liu^ii. Marriages are carefully arranged by the 
astrologer, but are celebrated with a religious ceremony, in which the 
couple are tied together by a silken cord gradually wound round them, while 
a benediction is pronounced in Zend and Sanskrit. It is in their funerals 
that the Parsees are most peculiar. A dying Parsee will be Deathbed 
attended by a priest, who repeats to him consolatory texts from forms, 
the Avesta, gives him the sacred Haoma juice to drink, and prays for the 
forgiveness of his sins. The body is then taken to a ground-floor room 
from which everything has been removed, laid upon stones, washed in warm 
water, dressed in clean white clothes, and laid upon an iron bier. The 
priest, in the presence of the corpse, gives an exhortation to the relatives 



MODERN PARSEEISM. 369 

to live pure and holy lives, so that they may meet the deceased again in 
paradise. This exhortation consists of the first gatha of Zoroaster. A 
dog is brought in to look at the deceased, this being known as the sag-did 
or dog's gaze. This used to be looked upon as a means of judging, by the 
dog's instinct, whether life was really extinct ; but it is now explained as 
securing the passage of the soul over the Chinvat bridge, over which only 
the pious pass to heaven. The carriage of the body to the towers of silence 
is committed to a special class of Parsees called Nessusalar, or The towers 
unclean, from the work they perform. The towers of silence in ofsuence. 
Bombay are constructed on the top of Malabar Hill, a great home of vultures. 
Built of stone, they rise about twenty-five feet, with only a small entrance 
below. On arrival at the appointed tower, prayers are said at the neigh- 
bouring fire-altar. The body is then exposed on a stone platform within 
the tower, so that all fluids pass into a well, into which also the bones left 
by the vultures are swept. During the three days after death a ceremonies 
priest constantly prays before a burning fire fed with sandal- of departed 
wood near the spot where the dead body was laid, the soul not 
being believed to leave this world during that period. On the fourth day 
after death there is a further ceremony for the soul of the departed. Con- 
tributions to charities are made in memory of the deceased, and successive 
annual, muktad^ or ceremonies of departed souls, keep them in remem- 
brance. 

The well-to-do perform a ceremony every day of the first year after a 
death ; and the last ten days of their year are specially set apart for the 
muktad. One of the rooms of the house is specially cleaned and set apart, 
and every morning choice flowers and fruits are placed there, and prayers 
are offered in it by the relatives, not only for the dead but for themselves 
for forgiveness of their past sins. 
, Parsees keep their heads covered day and night, having imbibed an 

idea that it is sinful to be uncovered. Parsee women occupy a much 

hifirher position than amonsj Hindus and Mohammedans ; and in „ „ ,.^ 

° ^ , , n . , , . Family life, 

recent years women nave been admitted to meals 111 common 

with the men. The family life, especially of the well-to-do, has much in 
it that is admirable. The education of women has made great progress 
among them in recent years. Much superstition still exists about the sig- 
nificance of particular days, every day having some special thing for which 
it is best suited ; some days for beginning a journey, others for choosing a 
new house, others for soliciting a bride, etc. 

The largest tower of silence in Bombay is about ninety feet in diameter, 
or 300 feet in circumference, the outer (circular) walls being built of very 
hard stone, faced with white plaster. Inside the tower is a circular plat- 
form extending to its full circumference, formed of large stone slabs, divided 
into three rows of exposed receptacles for the bodies of the dead, diminish- 
ing towards the interior, the exterior row being used for men, the middle 
for women, and the inner for children. Each receptacle is separated from 
the others by ridges about an inch high ; and channels are cut for the pur- 

B B 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



pose of conveymg all liquids into a deep hollow, or well, in the centre of 
the tower.' " When the corpse has been completely stripped of its flesh by 
the vultures, which is generally accomplished within one hour at the outside, 
and when the bones of the denuded skeleton are perfectly dried up by the 
powerful heat of a tropical sun, they are thrown into this pit, where they 
crumble into dust." There are also four drains leading from the pit to the 
exterior, opening into four wells. " At the mouth of each drain charcoal and 
sandstones are placed for purifying the fluid before it enters the ground, 
thus observing one of the tenets of the Zoroastrian religion, that " the 
mother earth shall not be defiled." The wells have a permeable bottom, 
which is covered with sand to a height of five or seven feet. 

The foundation-laying and the consecration of anew tower is an occasion 
of great ceremony. After the ground has been inarked out and limited 
Foundation with a thread carried round a large number of nails arranged in 
se^ratioiTof ^ circle, prayers are offered to Sravsha, the guardian deity of the 
towers, souls of the dead, to Ormuzd, and to Spenta Armati, the guar- 
dian deity of earth, to departed souls, and to the seven Amesha-Spentas. 
These prayers, acknowledging that it is wrong to contaminate the earth with 
the bodies of the dead, pray that the enclosed space, and no more, may be 
occupied for depositing the bodies of departed souls. At the consecration of 
a dokhena, a trench is dug all round it, and then in the centre of the tower 
two priests perform the Yasna and Yendidad prayers and ceremonies in 
honour of Sravsha for three consecutive mornings and nights. On the 
fourth morning there is a prayer in honour of Ormuzd ; and afterwards 
there are similar prayers to those at the foundation. Other services outside 
the tower follow, during and after which thousands of Parsees visit the 
tower, which is afterwards closed to everybody. Sometimes the towers are 
erected by public subscription, but private persons frequently bear the sole 
expense, it being considered a specially meritorious act to build one. , 

Thus, in the midst of antagonistic creeds, persists the religion associated 
with the name of Zoroaster, a standing revelation to us of the ideas and wor- 
ship of long-distant ages. Reverence and worship for the great Ormuzd, the 
supreme Being, principally typified b}^ the wondrous fire, dread of the evil 
spirit and anxiety to avoid the evils he can bring, and practical charity 
chiefiy characterise this most interesting survival from the past. Learned 
modern Parsees maintain and teach that invocations to spirits other than 
the supreme God do not belong to the religion as originally established by 
Zoroaster, and that they may all be dispensed with, retaining the belief in 
one God and in purity of thought, word, and deed. They hold also that all 
their ritual and ceremonies may be altered according to the spiritual state 
and needs of the community. 

[For the best account of the modern Parsees and their present religious state, see ** History of 
tlie Parsees," by Dosabhai Framji Karaka, C.S.I., late member of the Bombay Legislative Council. 
Macmillan, 1884.1 




IDEAL ASSEMBLAGE OF THE GODS ON MODNT OLYMPU 



BOOK IV. 

EUROPEAN ARYAN RELiaiONS. 



CHAPTER I. 
€t)t ginrient (Bvttk Religion: Cfte (SoUsi^ 

Long study of classics— Nature- and ancestor- worship— Early simplicity— Local g-ods — Foreign 
influences— Succession of gods— Kronos —Personification of nature— Growth of myths — Early 
cosmogony— Local, tribal, or civic gods— Zeus— Hera— Pallas- Athene— Themis— Apollo— Delphi 
—Aphrodite— DemetSr— Hephaistos— Hestia— Ares — Hermes — Dionysos — Poseidon— Hades, or 
Pluto— Minor divinities— Characters of gods. 

WHEN we come to the Aryan religions of Europe, we enter at first upon 
a domain which has been more thoroughly traversed and discussed 
than any we have previously described. For hundreds of years classical 
students have been engaged in making out the meaning of the ^ong study 
Greek and Latin authors, and reconstructing and explaining their o^ classics, 
systems, histories, and philosophies. It cannot be said that either Gre?ce 
or Rome possessed Scriptures like the Vedas, though the Homeric hymns, 
the works of Hesiod, and various lost writings approached to this cha- 
racter ; and there certainly is no special set of sacred books to which the 



372 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 




Greeks and Romans appealed as of divine authority. Both on account 
of the literature being well known and accessible, and on account of its 

great bulk, we shall not here attempt any- 
thing like a full treatment of this subject, but 
shall rather seek to indicate the main ideas, 
and very briefly describe the personages of 
the Greek and Roman deities and the beliefs 
generally associated with them. 

In Greek and Roman, as in Indian, re- 
ligion we find a combination of nature-per- 
Natur and sonilication, nature-worship, with 
ancestor- that of deified heroes and ancestors. 
wors ip. r^Y^^ original Pelasgians appear to 
have had no temples, and to have worshipped 
principally upon the tops of mountains. 
When they attained the conception of a su- 
preme deity cannot be ascertained; but the 
earliest aspect of the Zeus, or supreme God, is that of the heaven, earth, or 
sky, just like Dyaus of the Yeda. They also worshipped the same god 
under the title Father Zeus, Zeus pater (later developed into the Latin 
Early Diespiter and Jupiter). This conception was retained, together 
simplicity. ^\>0q^ an open-air altar, long .after the Greek cities were crowded 
with images and temples. St. Paul detected a relic of the old religion at 
Athens in the altar to '* the unknown god," and it was no uncommon thing 
to see in Greece altars to the ''pure," "great," and "merciful" gods 
unnamed, inspired by an old feeling which neither named nor represented 
the gods in word or by symbol. 

As the primitive Pelasgians branched and migrated, they imagined 
new local gods or phases of divine beings, possibly learning about them from 
people whom they conquered or enslaved. Later they mingled 
with the Phoenician voyagers, and 
saw their images of Astarte and Melcar, 
which latter they changed to Melicertes, and 
adapted to their own ideas. The Greeks who 
Foreign coloiiised the coasts of Asia Minor 
influences, found plenty of material already 
there for the development of local or patron 
deities ; some they adopted directly, to others 
they gave the attributes of their own national 
heroes. 

Whether it marks a series of changes of 

divinities or not, we find that the great god 

Succession Zeus rests on a past history, traced 

of gods. ]3y the poet Hesiod from Chaos, 

after whom arose Gaia, the earth, with Tartarus, the infernal region, below. 

Gaia was the parent of Ouranos, the Heaven ; and from their intermarriage 



Local gods. 




HEPHAISTOS. 



THE ANCIENT GREEK RELIGION: THE GODS. 



373 




HADES (PLDTO). 



arose the twelve Titans, the Cyclopes and three hundred-handed beings. 
Ouranos was not at all satisfied to see his offspring, including Oceanus, 
Hyperion, Kronos (The Creator), Themis 
(Law), etc., multiplying, and concealed them 
in cavities of the earth. Finally 
Kronos disabled and dethroned Ou- •^°^°^- 
ranos, whose lasfc offspring, Aphrodite, rose 
from the sea-foam opposite the island Ky- 
thera, and thence went to Cyprus; in both 
of which islands her worship was probably 
derived from that of the Phoenician Astarte. 
Each Titan was credited with a numerous 
offspring ; very remarkable is the facility with 
which gods were multipHed by the Greeks. 
The children of Kronos, however, became 
most powerful, and included Hestia (Vesta), 
Demeter, and Here (Juno), Hades (Pluto), 
Poseidon, and Zeus, the latter destined to supplant his father. But Kronos, 
foreseeing destruction by one of his children, had swallowed the first five, 
and retained them still alive within himself. The birth of Zeus was con- 
cealed from him, a stone enveloped in swaddling clothes being substituted, 
and duly swallowed. Later, Zeus made his father eject the stone and the 
children; the stone being preserved and venerated near the temple of 
Delphi. And this is but a sample of an extraordinary number of myths 
which the Greeks related and beheved about their gods. 

What the sentiments properly termed religious had to do with the 
growth of Greek polytheism it is difacult to determine. The oldest names 
of the gods describe the elementary facts of nature. It probably personifica- 
can never be settled how far the old tionof 
Greeks consciously personified the facts 
and forces of nature, and how far early modes of 
expression, not at all fictitious in intention, came 
to signify personal beings, which gradually became 
dissociated from the natural facts they represented. 
Early human beings, seeing the heavenly bodies, 
lightning, rain, trees, etc., probably imagined them 
to have life and consciousness like themselves, and 
saw in the rising, the course, and the setting of the 
sun facts in the history of the sun-being, which 
those who had fancy interpreted in their own fashion. 
Many myths undoubtedly sprang up in the attempt 
to explain part of the ritual. By the effect of na- 
tural selection, those beliefs which gave most plea- 
sure, satisfied the instinct for the marvellous, or best 
appealed to feelings alrea^ly in existence, persisted, and were firmly believed 
in even after higher thoughts had been awakened. Some of these legends 




374 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

are very gross, and can only have persisted because religion is always 
conservative. Then the imaginative minds set to work to give fuller and 
more artistic representations, to fill in details, to supply explanations of 
what seemed incongruous in the older myths ; and often an old epithet of one 

Growth of heing would give rise to a totally new one, and to a secondary 
myths, story or myth. And there can be little doubt that the sun sup- 
plied the source for many of these myths. As Sir Gr. W. Cox says : "In 
the thought of these early ages the sun was the child of night or darkness ; 
the dawn came before he was born, and died as he rose in the heavens. He 
strangled the serpents of the night ; he went forth like a bridegroom out 
of his chamber, and like a giant to run his course. He had to do battle 
with clouds and storms. . . . Sometimes he was the lord of heaven and 
of light, irresistible in his divine strength ; sometimes he toiled for others, 
not for himself, in a hard, unwilling servitude. His light and heat might 
give life, or destroy it. His chariot might scorch the regions over which it 
passed. . . . He would have many brides in many lands ; and his off- 
spring would assume aspects beautiful, strange, or horrible. His course 
might be brilliant and beneficent, or gloomy, sullen, and capricious." Thus 
we may see how it is to the creative and imaginative men among the 
early Greeks that we owe the growth of that marvellous mass of myth 
which is involved in their entire history. From the idea of the sun looking 
down on the earth, and producing a teeming harvest or countless progeny, 
the transition is easy to the sun-god marrying the earth-goddess, and be- 
coming by her the parent of a vast family of beings ; and by a further 
liter alising of language, we have Zeus depicted as inspired by passions 
and lusts, having many wives, or assuming many forms to woo reluctant 
brides. And the deceased heroes of the race, no longer seen by their rela- 
tives, are imagined as becoming acquainted with the heavenly beings, being 
advanced by them to positions of honour, and finally, it may be, are identi- 
fied with personalities, of whom it may be represented that they were mere 
temporary earthly embodiments. 

We may pause here to refer to the cosmogony or history of the world 

as represented in the early Greek poems. The Hebrew belief that God 

Early formed man out of the dust of the earth is parallel with the 

cosmogony. Q-reek belief that man originated from the earth, untamed like 
the beasts, and was only gradually civilised by the gods and heroes who 
taught him useful arts, agriculture, house-building, etc. A tradition as 
old, or older, makes men the children of trees. Then came a period of 
degeneracy, and all the world was destroyed by a flood, from which only 
Deucalion and his wife Pyrrha were saved, in consequence of their piety, 
in an ark, in which they floated for nine da^^s and nights, till it rested on 
the summits of Parnassus. From the bones (ie., stones) of their mother 
earth, cast over their shoulders, sprang men and women. It was by a dis- 
placement of this view that men came to be regarded as made by the gods, 
and as having passed through successive periods known as the Golden, the 
Silver, the Brazen, and the Iron Ages. The first age (when Kronos or 



THE ANCIENT GREEK RELIGION: THE GODS. 375 

Saturn was supreme) was one of unmixed bliss, all things growing freely ; 
men were pure, happy, and long-lived, did no evil, and had no wars. In 
the Silver Age, when Zeus came into power, men were feebler and shorter- 
lived, fought with one another, and were not properly reverent to the gods. 
Consequently, they were banished to Hades, where they wandered rest- 
lessly, regretting their lost pleasures. The men of the Brazen Age were a 
new strong race, cruel and warlike, using brazen (or rather, bronze) tools 
and arms. The gods at length sent them also to Hades, and they were 
followed by the men of the Iron Age, who had to toil hard to gain food, and 
who also became sinful. These then were all drowned but Deucalion and 
Pyrrha, who became the father of Hellen, from whom the Hellenic people 
derived their origin. But this was by no means the only cosmogony of the 
Greeks, for which we must refer to separate works. In fact, every tribe or 
town may be said to have had a share in a cosmogony, at least, sd far as 
concerned their own locality. As Mr. Grote says, "Every association of 
men traced back their union to some common progenitor, either -^^^^^ tribal 
their common god or some semi-divine person closely allied to _ or 
him. A series of names of ancestors, with adventures ascribed ^^^^ ^^ ^' 
to them, constituted for the Greeks their pre-historic past connected with 
the gods. The names in this genealogy were largely their own names, or 
those of local objects, rivers, mountains, etc., embodied as persons, and 
introduced as acting or suffering. The personage from whom the com- 
munity derived their name was sometimes the son of the local god, or 
sometimes a man sprung from the earth, thought of as a goddess." We 
must now refer to the principal gods and their characteristics as accepted 
in the greatest period of Greece ; but we have not space to describe even 
such a great hero-god as Herakles (Hercules), whose labours and significance 
as the patron god of the Dorians are well-known, or Theseus, the patron 
god of Athens. 

Zeus was the ruler of earth and heaven, the god producing storms, 
darkness, and rain ; he controlled the phenomena of nature and the recur- 
rence of seasons ; kingly power was derived from him, and he 
upheld princes and rulers, and all the institutions of the State. 
As father of men, he watched over them, rewarding good deeds, such as 
charity, truth, and integrity ; while he punished cruelty, false swearing, 
and want of hospitality. Zeus also, as father of the gods, saw that each of 
the gods performed his duty, settled their quarrels, and punished their 
defaults. His special home was on the cloud-capped top of Mount Olympus, 
in a palace of gold, silver, and ivory, built by Hephaistos (Vulcan), who had 
also built palaces for the other gods lower down. 

In Greek art Zeus was represented as a man of noble appearance, 
serious and benign, with high forehead, thick hair, and flowing beard. An 
eagle, a bundle of thunderbolts, lightning, and a wreath of oak-leaves are 
his accompanying symbols. At one of the earliest places where he was wor- 
shipped, — Dodona, in Epirus, — he was chiefly adored as the sender of water 
or rain. There his voice was believed to be heard in the rustlings of an 



376 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



oak, interpreted by his priests. The worship at Dodona became inferior to 
that at Olympia, in EUs, where there was a magnificent statue of Zeus of 




HERA AND IRIS. 



ivory and gold, forty feet high, counted as one of the seven wonders. The 
appropriate sacrifices to Zeus were white bulls, cows, and goats. 

Zeus appears as a polygamist, seven of his wives being immortals. His 
first wife, Metis (representing prudence and wisdom), was devoured by him 
in the belief that her offspring would depose him. After this he himself 
gave birth to Athene, his head being cloven for that purpose by Hephaistos. 
His remaining goddess wives were Themis (goddess of Justice), Eurynome, 
Demeter, Mnemosyne (goddess of Memory and mother of the nine Muses), 
Leto, mother of Apollo and Artemis (Diana), and Hera (Juno) whose position 
became highest, so that she was regarded as queen of heaven. 

Zeus was not only allied to numerous goddesses, but he visited 
mortal women under various disguises ; Antiope, Leda, Europa, Kallisto, 





Alkmene, Semele, lo, and Danae are among these ; and the children of Leda 
(Castor and Pollux), Europa (Minos, Ehadamanthus), Alkmene (Herakles or 



THE ANCIENT GREEK RELIGION: THE GODS. 



377 



Hercules), are world-famed types of heroes. No doubt the fables of Zeus 
becoming the father of earthly kings and heroes represent part of the 
process of their deification, so that much of the Greek mythology is 
resolvable into ancestor- worship. 

Hera was generally regarded as the one truly married wife of Zeus (also 
his sister), and so became the protectress of married women. She was also 
figured as specially faithful to her husband, and thence was the 
representative of wifely virtue and the sanctity of the marriage 
bond. Jealous of any immorality, she was a strict censor of the misdoings 
of gods and men ; and she is represented as vain of her beauty and jealous 
of any indignity. She became 
the mother of Ares (Mars), He- 
phaistos, and Hebe, and was the 
special guardian of the Greek 
people. She is figured seated 
on a throne, with a sceptre in 
one hand and a pomegranate 
in the other, as a calm, beauti- 
ful, dignified matron, wearing a 
tunic and mantle. Her princi- 
pal temples were at Argos and 
Samos ; and on the first day 
of each month a ewe lamb 
and a sow were sacrificed to 
her. 

Pallas-Athene, whom we 
have already described as issu- 
ing from Zeus's head, pauag. 
was bom fully armed, Athene, 
and she is the goddess of wis- 
dom, protecting the State, law 
and order, the patroness of 
learning, science, art, and all 
arts and inventions. She is the 
type of chastity and purity. An 
aegis or shield was given to her 
by Zeus, which she whirled 
swiftly around her; in its centre was the awful Medusa's head, which 
changed all who looked at it into stone. Athene, among other arts, presided 
especially over spinning and weaving, in which she excelled. In statues, 
etc., she appears as a fully clad woman, serious, thoughtful, and earnest, 
with beautiful oval face and abundant hair, somewhat masculine on the 
whole. As a war goddess in defence of the Greeks, of cities, and of innocent 
victims, she wears a helmet with a large plume, a golden staff, and her 
famous shield. While very generally worshipped throughout Greece, she 
was specially the goddess of the Athenians, who built the great temple of 




378 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

the Parthenon to the virgin goddess, whose great statue by Phidias was 
enshrined there. The olive-tree was specially sacred to Athene, and rams, 
bulls, and cows were offered to her. The great Panathenaic festival was 
held in her honour. 

Themis, the goddess of law and justice, presided over popular assemblies 

and guarded the rights of hospitality ; even Zeus is represented as taking 

counsel with her. Her statues represent her with the scales of 

^"^ * justice in her right hand, indicating her impartiality, which is 
further secured by her eyes being bandaged, so that no individual influence 
or prejudice should influence her. The sword in her right hand indicates 
the majesty and sovereignty of the law. 

Together with Zeus and Athene, Apollo may be named as constituting 
the greatest triad of the Greek gods ; and in many ways Apollo, though 
described as a son of Zeus and deriving his power from him, is 
^° °' the god whose character and worship had the greatest influence 
upon the Greeks. There is no doubt that among the later Greek poets and 
philosophers Apollo was identified with Helios, the sun-god, although in 
Homer and for some centuries afterwards the two are quite distinct ; but 
the epithet Phoebus, the shining one, is even in Homer applied to Apollo. 
It has been strongly held by some that Apollo was originally the sun-god, 
and that it was a process of development which made Helios a subordinate 
deity. We must not attempt to decide whence his worship was brought to 
Greece, whether from Egypt, the East, or the Hyperboreans ; in fact, if 
sun-worship is a natural product, there is no necessity to regard it any- 
where as imported. The settled tradition was, that he was born of Leto in 
the island of Delos, though several other places claimed his birth. Not long 
after his birth he suddenly appeared as a full-grown youth of divine strength 
and beauty, demanded a lyre and a bow, and announced that he would 
thenceforth make known to mortals the will of Zeus ; whereupon he at 
once ascended to Olympus. 

Apollo is described as the punisher and destroyer of the wicked and 
insolent, as the god of medicine and warder-off of plagues and epidemics 
(father of Asclepios, the god of the healing art), as the god of prophecy, 
song, and music, as the protector of flocks and herds, and the founder of 
cities and leader of colonists, no colony being founded without consulting 
his oracle. Many of these characteristics are explicable in reference either 
to the sun as the great light of the earth, or to the heavenly illumination 
given to the spirit of man. We can see how, like the fierce sun of summer, 
he could be a bringer of pestilence and death, or like the genial orb, 
he could give pasture to preserve the flocks. The rising sun awaking 
nature to life and rousing the birds to sing, gave foundation to Apollo's 
being the god of music, and hence of poetry. Prophecy was his, for nothing 
escaped his all-seeing eye. Not long after his ascent to Olympus, he again 
came back to earth and travelled through many countries, seeking a place 
in which to establish his oracle. It was fixed at Delphi, after he had 
destroyed the dragon Python (whence the epithet Pythian Apollo) ; but this 



THE ANCIENT GREEK RELIGION: THE GODS. 379 

was not his only oracle, though by far the most famous one. It actually 
became the national Greek oracle, which was even consulted by foreigners, 
Romans, Lydians, and others ; and no Greek would undertake an important 
enterprise without consulting the oracle, whose priestess, as interpreted by 
the priests, gave utterances of world-famed dubiousness. No doubt the 
highest aspect of Apollo was that in which he appears as the pardoner of 
sin after repentance and the protector of those who expiated their crimes by 
long years of suffering. No evil deed escaped him, and hence expiatory 
offerings were often made to him. 

The extraordinary abundance and often beautifully idyllic character of 
myths and stories about Apollo show how his nature had become part of the 
Greek mind and spirit. In sculpture and in the poets he is represented as 
gifted with eternal youth, joyous, and perfectly beautiful. His deep blue 
eyes, somewhat low but broad forehead, golden or bright chestnut hair 
falling in wavy locks, well suited this ideal. Laurel-crowned, wearing a 
purple robe, and carrying a silver bow, he looks the perfection of manly 
beauty. The celebrated Apollo in the Belvedere of the Vatican is 
a naked statue seven feet high copied from one at Delphi. Among the 
appropriate surroundings or implements of Apollo are the bow and quiver, 
the lyre and plectrum, the raven, the shepherd's crook, the tripod, and the 
laurel. Wolves and hawks were sacrificed to him. 

The Delphian temple was one of the most famous and magnificent of 
all Greek temples ; its foundation dated before historic record, and it was 
for centuries the recipient of vast offerings from kings. States, 
and private persons who sought its counsel. The Pythian games 
were held at Delphi every fourth year, in honour of his victory over the 
Python ; and two annual festivals celebrated the god's supposed departure 
at the beginning of winter to the Hyperborean region, and his return at the 
beginning of summer. Athens, Sparta, Delos, Thebes, etc., all had their 
distinctive festivals for Apollo. 

In many ways the idea of Apollo represents an elevated aspect of 
Greek religion, having so much distinct moral teaching ; for Apollo could 
only be rightly approached by those of pure heart who had duly examined 
themselves, and who practised self-control, though without any austerity. 
It is held that the Delphian oracle maintained a really high standard of 
moral and political conduct for several hundred years. Apollo is certainly 
one of the highest ideals of the Greek mind. 

Artemis is the twin and correlative of Apollo, the goddess of night and 
of the moon, of hunting and of chastity. In several of her functions she 
resembles Apollo, as in her relieving the sufferings of mortals, and 
her power of sending plagues and destruction. She devotes her- 
self passionately to the chase, and always carries a bow and quiver and is 
attended by huntress-nymphs. Under this form she is especially termed 
the Arcadian Artemis, her temples being more numerous in Arcadia than in 
other parts of Greece. She especially protected the young, both children and 
animals. All her priests and priestesses were required to live chaste lives. 



38o THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

Artemis is represented as a head taller than her nymphs, slender and 
youthful, beautiful in feature but not gentle in expression, her figure grace- 
ful but somewhat masculine. Her hair is loosely knotted at the back of 
her head, and her short robe, not reaching to the knees, gives her abundant 
freedom for hunting. Of the many existing statues of Artemis, the most 
famous is in the Louvre, in which she is depicted rescuing a hunted deer 
from its pursuers. The bow, quiver, and spear belong to her equipment ; 
and the hind, dog, and wild boar are specially sacred to her. In Thrace 
dogs were sacrificed to Artemis. 

Another form of Artemis was named the Tauric or Brauronian, from 
the statue of her at Brauron in Attica, said to have been brought by Orestes 
from Taurica (the Crimea), where human sacrifices, especially of strangers, 
were offered to her. This is probably connected with bear-worship. The 
little Athenian girls imitated bears in her honour. These sacrifices, what- 
ever their origin, were kept up both in Attica and Sparta till the days of 
Lycurgus. Afterwards at Sparta boys were cruelly scourged at her altar. 
Stags and goats were sacrificed to her. 

The Ephesian Artemis was very distinct, being in fact identical with 
the old Chaldsean divinity Mitra (or Anaitis), the goddess at once of love and 
of the light of heaven. It was owing to this latter character that the Asiatic 
Grreeks adapted this deity to the name of Artemis ; but she retained her 
other character, also exercising sway in the land of Hades and permitting 
departed spirits to visit this world sometimes for counsel or for warning. 
Contrar}^ to any Greek custom, her priests were eunuchs, and she was 
represented with many breasts. Her magnificent temple at Ephesus, often 
termed that of Diana (see Acts xix.), was one of the seven wonders of the 
world, being 425 feet long by 220 wide, having 127 columns, each 60 feet 
high, a great ebony statue of the goddess with a crown of turrets on the 
head, the body pillar-like and sculptured with rows of animals, and count- 
less other rich treasures, statues, and paintings. It was destroyed by fire 
in 356 B.C. by Herostratus ; but afterwards rebuilt, burnt by the Goths in 
262 A.D., and utterly destroyed by the end of the fourth century. 

The moon-goddess Selene became identified with Artemis. Hecate 
was a moon-goddess of the Thracians, at one time identified with Selene, 
at another with Persephone (see later). 

There is abundant evidence that the worship of Aphrodite was origin- 
ally derived from that of the Phoenician Astarte. But she became thoroughly 
Hellenised, and in Homer takes a natural place as daughter of 
Zeus and Dione, a sea-nymph ; while we have already referred to 
Hesiod's account of her origin from Ouranos, her rising from the sea-foam, 
and her landing at Cyprus. In the popular creed of the Greeks, Aphrodite 
represented love, excited it in human beings, and by her special power ruled 
all creatures. In the Greek mind love and beauty were associated ; and thus 
Aphrodite is perfectly beautiful and the goddess of beauty, which she could 
grant to her votaries. She was married to Hephaistos (Vulcan), but was 
unfaithful with Ares (Mars) and others ; these traditions representing the 



THE ANCIENT GREEK RELIGION: THE GODS. 



381 



gradual decay of Grreek morals, which at last made Aphrodite the patroness 
of courtesans. Her magic girdle was held capable of inspiring love for any 
one who wore it. Her principal festivals were held in spring, among flowers 
and sweet scents ; some of them were undoubtedly of a licentious character. 
Eros (Cupid) is generally represented as her son and chief companion. 

Aphrodite is variously represented in ancient art as clothed, half 
clothed, or nude, as bathing, or as armed (the latter at Cythera, Corinth, 
and Sparta). In every respect she is depicted as possessing the most perfect 
beauty of form and expres- 
sion. The finest existing 
statues of her are those of 
Melos (Milo) in the Louvre, 
of Capua at Naples, and of 
the Medici at Florence. The 
principal sacrifices made to 
Aphrodite were incense and 
garlands of flowers ; but 
sometimes various animals 
were offered. The dove, 
swan, swallow, and spar- 
row were sacred to her. 

Demeter is another 
great goddess, intimately 
associated with 
the natural opera- 
tions of agriculture, sowing 
and reaping. In this wa}' 
she was associated with 
subterranean working ; and 
many stories about her re- 
late to the periodic death 
and quietude of nature and 
the recurring spring-time 
and harvest. She was the 
daughter of Kronos and 
Rhea, and became one of 
the wives of Zeus, to whom 
she bore Persephone and 

Dionysos. The great myth about Demeter and Persephone relates to the 
carrying off of the latter to the subterranean regions by Pluto, to whom 
Zeus had promised her. Demeter travelled far to seek her, but on finding out 
the truth abandoned Olympus and came to dwell among men, blessing those 
who received her kindly, and punishing those who repelled her. At last, 
however, unable to recover her daughter, she produced a famine on earth. 
Zeus, failing otherwise to reclaim her to Olympus, or restore fertility to the 
earth, sent Hermes to fetch back Persephone, and arranged that she should 



Demeter. 




382 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

spend only a part of the year (namely the winter) in the subterranean 
regions. Thus Demeter was conciliated. We may see in this story a 
representation of the concealment or dormancy of the reproductive powers 
of the earth during the winter season. Some of the later Greek philo- 
sophers interpreted the disappearance and return of Persephone as referring 
to the burial and resurrection of man. She was looked upon not onl}^ 
as a goddess of agricultural fertility, but also of marriage, and as a law- 
giver and friend of peace. She was worshipped in Crete, Delos, Attica, 
and especially in Sicily. The worship was carried out by secret rites at 
the Eleusinian mysteries every five j^ears, of which nothing certain is 
known, except that they were conducted by torchlight and with great 
solemnity. 

Demeter is depicted as of noble stature and bearing and matronly 
appearance ; her hair was golden-yellow falling in curling locks. Sometimes 
she is represented sitting in a chariot drawn by winged horses ; sometimes 
she is standing, with a sheaf or a bunch of poppies in one hand and a lighted 
torch in the other. She is always fully clad, and wears a garland of ears 
of corn or a simple riband round her hair. The appropriate offerings to 
her were figs, pine, fruits, etc. Her temples, known as Megara, were often 
in groves near towns. 

Hephaistos (Yulcan), son of Zeus and Hera, was the god of fire, as a 
natural phenomenon and as useful in the arts. He was fabled to possess a 

workshop with an anvil and twenty pairs of bellows in Olympus ; 

there he made arms, utensils, etc., of marvellous workmanship ; 
yet in the court of the gods he was the object of laughter, being lame, 
deformed, and slow. Various volcanic islands were also termed his work- 
shops. He gave skill to human artists, and taught them to make their tools 
and other products. He was also reputed, like Athene, to have great healing 
powers. He was depicted as a man of powerful muscular frame, bearded, 
and wearing a small cap, his right arm raised to strike the anvil with a 
hammer, while with the left he is turning a thunderbolt which he is forging 
for Jove. In several temples he was jointly worshipped with Athene. He 
was specially worshipped at Lemnos. 

Hestia (Vesta) was a goddess of fire, being a daughter of Kronos and 
E^hea, and especially the patroness of the domestic hearth and home life. 

Her worship became distinct from that of Zeus rather late ; she 

is not mentioned in Homer. As represented at the house and 
temple altar fire, she shares in the sacrifices of all the gods. To her the 
first and last libations of the sacrificial meal were poured out. Her fire 
was always kept burning, or if extinguished it was again kindled by friction 
or from the sun's rays. As the goddess of the hearth, she also became the 
goddess of house-building ; she was worshipped, not in special temples, but 
in the prytaneum or city hall, the city hearth, so to speak ; there the city 
entertained its benefactors, and thence colonists took a portion of the fire to 
their new abode. 

Ares, the god of war, son of Zeus and Hera, is represented as rejoicing 



THE ANCIENT GREEK RELIGION: THE GODS. 383 

in tlie actual business of war, its tumult and carnage, wild and destructive 
and bloodthirsty. His worship flourished in Thrace, and is re- ^_^ 
puted to have reached Greece from the north. He does not fight 
always on the same side, nor is he uniformly victorious. He is represented 
as youthful, athletic, and muscular, carrying a great sword, with a shield. 
He had comparatively few temples ; but it is related that human sacrifices 
were offered to him at Sparta. 

Hermes (Mercury), the messenger and herald of the gods, was the son 
of Zeus and Maia, one of the Pleiades ; but there are traces of his being 
modified from an early Pelasgian nature divinity, the god of 
festivity and bestower of flocks and herds. As messenger of the 
gods, he is the ideal skilful and eloquent speaker ; and hence the tongues 
of sacrificed animals were offered to him. He was prudent and cunning, 
sagacious and shrewd, the promoter of social intercourse, and the reputed 
inventor of the alphabet, numbers, astronomy, weights and measures, etc. 
He was charioteer and cupbearer to Zeus, the imparter of dreams to men, 
the giver of sleep, the conductor of the spirits of the dead to the lower 
world, the maker of treaties, the helper of commerce, the god of words, 
and protector of travellers. He watched over the rearing of children, and 
encouraged gymnastic exercises ; as the giver of gain, he was regarded as 
the author of any stroke of good luck, and as presiding over the dice-box. 
He was said to have performed many acts of mischief and dexterity, and 
even to be the god of thieves. 

Hermes is represented in art as young and handsome, without beard, 
often in the attitude of running. He may wear a travelling hat with little 
wings, a herald's staff (caduceus) with entwined serpents, and wings at the 
top, and golden sandals. He was worshipped anciently in Arcadia, whence 
his worship spread to Athens and throughout Greece. Little images of him, 
known as Hermse (being busts upon pillars of stone), were set up at cross 
roads and in streets and apparently before the door of each house. Lambs 
and kids were among his special offerings, with incense, honey, and cakes. 
The palm-tree and the tortoise were sacred to him. 

Dionysos, the god of wine, son of Zeus and Semele (called Bacchus in 
late Greek and Roman times), was related to have accidentally discovered 
the making of wine from the juice of the grape. The exhilara- Dionysos, 
tion produced by drinking it caused both Dionysos and his com- or Bacchus, 
panions to burst into song, joyful exclamations, and dancing. The god 
extended the gift to all mankind, that they might have more enjoyment, 
and forget care and sori'ow. Consequently he journeyed through the world, 
planting the vine and instructing people how to make wine. Lycurgus, 
king of Thrace, disapproved of his wild revels, and banished him from his 
kingdom. Midas, king of Phrygia, was one of his most noted worshippers. 
The stories about Dionysos are extremely numerous, and many give accounts 
of the riotous exploits of his followers. But other accounts of him elevate 
his character. From being associated with the vine, he becomes the pro- 
tector of trees in general ; the wine-giver is an inspired being and a source 



3^4 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



of inspiration, and reveals the future by oracles ; at the same time he heals 
diseases by revealing remedies in dreams. Thus he is accounted a pro- 




moter of peace and the well-being of States. His worship probably had a 
Phoenician origin. Later he was regarded as the patron of the drama. 



THE ANCIENT GREEK RELIGION: THE GODS. 385 

Bacchus is represented in early times as a grave manly figure, bearded 
and robed like an oriental monarch ; but later he appears as a beautiful but 
effeminate youth, his long curling hair adorned with vine or ivy leaves, his 
expression pleased and gentle. He carries in one hand a drinking-cup with 
two handles, in the other a thyrsus, or pole terminated with vine-leaves, a 
fir-cone, or other ornament. Human sacrifices are said to have been offered 
to him in early times ; later, rams and goats were offered. Tigers, panthers, 
and dolphins were among his sacred animals. His attendant women are 
usually known as Bacchantes, and they are generally represented in violent 
enthusiasm or madness, with dishevelled hair. 

Poseidon (Neptune), son of Kronos and Ehea, was the god of the sea, 
especially of the Mediterranean, and took the place of the older Oceanus. 
His most distinctive attribute was that of causing and quieting 
storms ; and hence mariners poured oat a libation to him before 
beginning a voyage, and made offerings on their safe return. He is re- 
presented as riding in a chariot drawn by sea-horses, at whose approach the 
waves. became smooth. Hence he is greatly famed as the creator and tamer 
of horses, and the originator of horse races. He was the patron of fisher- 
men, and had the power of sending great inundations and horrible sea- 
monsters on States which displeased him. 

Poseidon is depicted in varying forms, a good deal resembling Zeus, 
without benignity, the hair usually disorderly, the figure massive, the eyes 
bright. His special symbol was the trident, a three-pointed fork with 
which he could stir up or allay storms and shake the earth. As signifying 
the contest between sea and land, he is fabled to have disputed the posses- 
sion of several countries with other gods. He was accompanied by a crowd 
of minor divinities and attendants, including his wife Amphitrite, the 
Tritons, Nereids, dolphins, etc. He was specially worshipped in Pelo- 
ponnesus and the coast towns of Greece. Black and white bulls were his 
appropriate sacrifices. We can only briefly refer to his wonderful palace 
beneath the waters, of which marvellous descriptions were given. 

Hades, or Pluto, son of Kronos and Rhea, and monarch of the land of 
shades, is connected with a very important part of our study, the question 
of the future life : we shall therefore postpone details about his Hades, or 
kingdom, merely noting that it was inhabited not only by the ^i^*^- 
shades or spirits of deceased mortals, but also by dethroned deities. The 
name of this god was habitually left unmentioned ; and those who invoked 
him stnick the earth with their hands, and averted their faces when they 
sacrificed. According to Homer, he was the most detested of all the gods. 
He is depicted as very much like Zeus in feature, but stern and gloomy- 
looking, his hair and beard being black. His wife Persephone is seated 
beside him, and he holds a staff with which he drives the shades into the 
lower world. He was worshipped, though with fear, throughout Greece ; 
and his sacrifices, consisting of black sheep, whose blood was allowed to run 
into a trench, were offered at night. Even his priests wore black robes. 
At a comparatively late period Pluto, as god of the lower world, was 

c c 



386 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



regarded as giver of all things dug out of the earth, and hence of the 

precious metals ; so he became confounded with Plutus (wealth), originally 

quite a distinct divinity. 

We have not space to describe a crowd of minor divinities, many of 

them important in the Greek way of looking at things, and connected with 
Minor distinctive circumstances or events pertaining to human life, 
divinities, s^^ch are the Fates, the Furies, the Grorgons, the Nereids, the . 

Sirens, Nemesis, Thanatos (Death), Hebe, the Muses, the Graces, etc. 

In the Greek religion, the gods "are very generally represented with 

human characteristics, though 
Characters usually heightened 
of gods. aj^(j ennobled; they 
required food and sleep, and 
married and had children. In 
passions they were like men, 
and frequently committed the 
same evil deeds as men. They 
are represented as punishing 
evil-doers, although in most 
cases the heaviest punishment is 
for neglecting to worship them. 
Their visits to and friendships 
for human beings are frequent ; 
and the children of gods and 
mortals were heroes or demi- 
gods. If we invert this process, 
it will be seen that many gods 
have been imagined as a mode 
of accounting for the courage 
or prowess of real heroes. Of 
course, in addition to mortal 
powers, the Greek gods were 
gifted with all kinds of super- 
natural faculties, and many of 
these represent natural phe- 
nomena. In fact, while ac- 
knowledging that many attri- 




HEAD OF THE BELVEDEBE APOLLO. 



butes and achievements of deities are derived from those of heroes, and 
that some gods are deified heroes, we must admit that a great number of 
individual gods and of their attributes represent departments of nature and 
nature's workings, as idealised by the most imaginative and highly cultured 
people that ever lived. 



[Sir G. W. Cox, " Mythology of the Aryan Nations " ; Grote, Curtius, 
of Greece; Berens, "Myths and Legends of Greece and Rome"; A, 
Heligion."] 



and Duncker's Histories 
Myth, Eitual, and 




TEMPLE OF POSEIDON AT P^STUM. 



CHAPTEE 11. 
(greek ^aen'fices, ^rie^ts;, Cemples anli jTis^tihale?, aiiU iMoralsJ* 

Sacrifice— Votive ofFerings— Kinds of sacrifices— Description— Slight consciousness of sin— The 
priests— State aspect of religion— Duties of priests— Their position— Private temples— A Greek 
festival— Wealth of temples— Early temples— The Greek styles— Sculpture — Altars— Oracles— 
The Delphian Oracle— Various beliefs- The great festivals— Religious origin and purpose- 
Rise of the drama— Marriage— Death and the future life— Funeral rites— Moral state of the 
Greeks. 

IN presenting a picture of Greek religion, we are in the presence of diffi- 
culties of a kind more liable to mislead than in the case of any other 
people. "Worship and ideas about the gods not only changed considerably 
from one age to another, but they varied largely from place to place, from 
State to State at the same time, no doubt in dependence upon the original 
ideas about lo cal deities, but also in accordance with the great fertility of 
the Greek mind. Thus it would be impossible, without more space than we 
can give, to present a clear idea of the religious observances of any one 
State or city. T herefore what we say must be understood to be generalised 
to a considerable extent, and perhaps inapplicable to special localities. 

Inasmuch as sacrifice is the essential element of religious acts in such 
a religion as the Greek, we will begin the account of the practical side of 
it with this subject. The Greek, as far back as we know any- 
thing about him, offered gifts to his gods, in gratitude for their 
protection, to obtain their favour, either generally or in some particular 
instance, or to expiate some offence or appease the anger of the gods. The 
gratitude of individuals and of States led to the building of temples, the 



3^^ 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



donation of statues, the offering of garlands, locks of hair, costly garments, 
vases, cups, candelabras, pictures, arms, etc. After successful wars a tenth 
Votive P^^^ C)f ^^® spoil was often dedicated to the gods. On recovery 
oflFerings. from illness votive tablets and presents were given to temples of 
Asclepios. Persons who had escaped from shipwreck dedicated to Poseidon 
the dress which they had worn when in danger ; and many other presents 
of gratitude for escape or for prosperity are recorded in Greek authors, show- 
ing that the Greek religion was real, and founded not merely on fear, but 
also on a sense of humble dependence on Divine protection and on the 

acknowledgment of gratitude 
for benefits received. Fre- 
quently the finest of flocks 
and herds or the firstfruits 
of agricultural produce were 
thus offered. 

No doubt the early Greek 
gods, like dead human be- 
Kindsof ings, were con- 
sacrifices, ceived as needing 
food, or capable of deriving 
pleasure from it ; and early 
sacrifices consisted largely of 
grains, either cooked or un- 
cooked, and fruits ; though 
with the increase of flocks 
these gained a predominant 
place among the offerings. 
The gods of the seas, rivers, 
etc., were fed by offerings 
thrown into the water, and 
the offerings to gods of the 
subterranean regions were 
buried. Ordinarily, when 
the deity is looked upon as 
benign, the meal offered is 
one which the god and his 
worshippers can share at the 
same time ; and often ordinary meals were sanctified by invoking the gods 
to be present. Even in St. Paul's day most of the meat sold for ordinary 
food had been dedicated to the gods, small parts having been specially 
assigned to the god. It was an appropriate accompaniment of sacrifice 
to drink wine, part of which was poured on the altar or on the ground 
for the gods (compare the Soma and Haoma offerings of the Hindus and 
Parsis), to listen to music, or to dance. The entire sacrifice, by burning, 
of the animal offered was rare, though it is difficult to ascertain how 
extensively it once prevailed. "We cannot here discuss the relation of 




HEAD OF ZEUS (fKOM OTKICOLl). 



GREEK SACRIFICES, PRIESTS, TEMPLES, ETC 



389 



special animal sacrifices to the totem system and totem worship by clans ; 
but there can be little doubt that many special features of the early Greek 
sacrifices are due to it. The Greek religion, as accepted nationally, repre- 
sents the combination of the beliefs of many diverse tribes, maritime, 
mountainous, pastoral, agricultural ; and the discordant or strange features 
sometimes seen in the characters and sacrifices appropriate to the several 
gods are attributable to this combination. 

In Homer we find that the legs were burnt, enclosed in fat, together 
with part of the intestines, 
and the worshippers Description 
consumed the rest, of sacrifices. 
The smoke from the burning 
victims was believed to be 
pecuHarly pleasing to the 
gods, and the greater the 
number of animals sacrificed 
the more meritorious was it. 
Hence States and wealthy 
individuals would frequently 
sacrifice " hecatombs " (not 
necessarily meaning a hun- 
dred victims) ; and such sacri- 
fices were much in vogue at 
Athens. The head of a victim 
was usually sprinkled with 
roasted barley-meal mingled 
with salt, and adorned with 
garlands ; a portion of hair 
from its head was thrown into 
the fire before it was killed. 
The head of the animal was 
drawn upwards when the 
offering was to one of the 
Olympian gods, and down- 
wards if to the gods of the 
lower regions, or to deceased 
heroes. While the flesh was 
burning, wine and incense were cast upon it. At the time of sacrificing, 
opportunity was taken to judge whether the god was propitious, for, if not, 
he would certainly give signs recognisable by the priests ; these being de- 
rived from the movements of the still warm intestines, the phenomena 
of the altar fire, etc. The singing or chanting of hymns in praise of 
the gods or recounting their actions was a frequent accompaniment of the 
sacrifices ; but few of those have come down to us. In general, the longer 
hymns are narratives of the principal stories current relating to the gods. 
Few of them can properly be compared with the " scriptures " we have 




THE lAKNEbi- UiLliA, 



390 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



already noticed. "We may quote, however, the hymn to Athene, as trans- 
lated by Chapman. 



" Pallas Athene only I begin 
To give my song, that makes war's terrible 

din; 
Is Patroness of cities, and with Mars 
Marshalled in all the care and cure of wars ; 
And in everted cities fights and cries, 



But never doth herself set down or rise 
Before a city, but at both times she 
All injured people sets on foot and free. 

Give, with thy war's force, fortune then 
to me; 

And with thy wisdom's force, felicity." 




The remainder of 
the hymns are just as 

Slight ^^^^ ^^ ^^ 
consciousnesslittle *' de- 

''^^^' votional" as 
this specimen ; and 
taken by themselves 
they would indicate a 
race comparatively 
little conscious of " sin " 
as understood in mo- 
dern times. To have 
displeased the gods 
was grievous, but the 
gods were not supposed 
to be governed by any 
inexorable standard of 
right and wrong ; they 
could be appeased and 
persuaded, and even 
grievous faults could 
be, as it were, paid for 
or expiated by a pro- 
portionate animal sac- 
rifice. The "- The- 
ogony " and the 
" Works and Days " of 
Hesiod are two of the 
most important poems 
which have come down 
to us, giving accounts 

of the gods and their doings, portions of which probably were chanted in 

their services. 

That there were priests in ancient Greece, and that they exercised 

important functions and filled important positions in the Greek States, is 

The priests. ^^^^®^* ^^^^ ^ ^^"^1 slight study of Greek literature ; but it is 
' difficult to realise their precise status without a knowledge of the 



THE BELVEDERE APOLLO. 



GREEK SACRIFICES, PRIESTS, TEMPLES, ETC. 



391 



entire social and political condition of the Greeks. The priests did not 
constitute a distinct and ordained order; there was no fixed or regular 
principle about the priesthood. Religion was above all an affair of the 
community, whose first business it was to fulfil the duties of the State 
towards the gods. Such duties must be performed for all by certain ap- 
pointed persons, or by the head of 
the State, whether king or general. 
In early Greece we find that the 
king frequently sacrificed on behalf 
of the people ; and when kings 
ceased to reign, the priestly func- 
tions were given to elected leaders 
or magistrates, such as the archon 
hasileus at Athens. Where this 
course fell into abeyance, we find 
the priest as the elected or here- 
ditary minister of a temple, charged 
to fulfil all the due rites of the 
worship there celebrated, and paid 
from the temple revenues or by the 
gifts of worshippers. Subordinate 
bodies, such as the phratrice^ had 
common, religious duties which 
were discharged by chosen mem- 
bers. The State kept watch over 
any infraction of duty towards the 
gods by private persons, and each 
family discharged its private re- 
ligious duties through its head. 
The priesthood of certain gods be- 
came hereditary in particular fami- 
lies on account, sometimes, of the 
supposed hereditary transmission of 
prophetical power, or of the know- 
ledge of certain traditional rites. 
Some priests were merely appointed 
for a term of years ; in some cases 
the succession was to brothers, and 
to the sons of the eldest brother ; 
sometimes the priesthood was pur- 
chased, or was granted for special services. 

In Greece we have the spectacle of a people, with strong religious 
feelings, in whom the public or State aspect of religion permanently pre- 
dominated over the ecclesiastical. The priesthood did not become state aspect 
the ruling power ; art, literature, and politics used religion as part of reUgion. 
of their inheritance, without placing their consciences in commission to an 




APHRODITE (mELOS). 
(Commonly termed the Venus of MUo.) 



392 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



order of priests. Although the priests claimed and gained the benefit of 
protection from the gods they served, they were by no means exempt from 
criticism, and they were not in general allowed to control the funds of the 
temples. The tenure of the priesthood by unworthy persons was jealously 
guarded against, and persons of high birth were preferred. 

The priest of a temple had specially to superintend the ritual of his 
temple, to protect it from improper intruders, and to see that the sacrifices 

Duties of were properly 
priests, performed. He 
was also charged with all, 
or nearly all, the interpre- 
tation of the will of the 
gods, and, especially in re- 
gard to the sacrifices, he 
had to note all signs in- 
dicating the approval or 
disapproval of the gods. 
In this he had the aid of 
skilled soothsayers, who 
noted the manner in which 
the victim approached the 
altar, and whether he made 
sounds or not ; the colour 
and smoothness of the in- 
testines, the appearances of 
the flame and smoke of the 
altar, etc. It was specially 
important, too, that no ir- 
reverent or frivolous words 
should be uttered by the 
bystanders. The flight of 
birds and the phenomena 
of the heavens were also 
observed for the purposes 
of drawing omens. The 
diviners who interpreted 
dreams and told fortunes, 
though they enjoyed con- 
AKEs (MAKsj. sidcrablc favour in Greece, ' 

had no regular connection with the temples or the priests. Within their 
temples the priests had great authority, being able to excommunicate those 
who broke their regulations, and invoking curses on them before which the 
stoutest-hearted G-reek quailed. Such offences were stigmatised as impiety, 
and often heavily punished by fines or boycotting. 

Notwithstanding the limitations we have mentioned, a Greek priest 
had no mean position, especially in virtue of his office as interpreter and 




GREEK SACRIFICES, PRIESTS, TEMPLES, ETC 



393 



representative of the god. The priests could solve the State's difficulties 
when disaster or pestilence occurred, and in the case of the Position of 
greater oracles which were consulted by all Greece, they occupied priests, 
a position which no great man in a single State could attain. At public 
festivals they occupied special seats of honour, and sometimes appeared 
decked with the costume and attributes of the god they served. Con- 
sequently the position was sought after by 
the wealthy, who in their turn could gratify 
the people by splendid ceremonies and costly 
festivals. Naturally such persons tended to 
gather about them assistants to perform the 
more laborious or irksome portions of their 
duty, such as revealers of the mysteries to 
the uninitiated, torch-bearers, proclaimers of 
rites, bearers of sacred water, etc. ; and not 
a few slaves were attached to the temples to 
perform menial offices. Each temple had its 
appropriate series of services, according to 
the character of the god and the State. 

But public, national, or State temples 
were not the only ones in which the services 
of priests were required. They private 
were not infrequently founded by temples, 
private persons or societies, and endowed 
with estates to keep up a succession of priests 
and services. They might be founded in 
honour of success in an enterprise, in honour 
of a deceased friend or relative, in obedience 
to dreams or oracles. Xenophon, for in- 
stance, devoted a tenth of certain spoil of 
war to buy an estate in Lakonia, on which 
he built a temple to the Ephesian Artemis, 
surrounded by a forest full of wild animals, 
let to a tenant who had to give one-tenth 
of the produce to a festival in honour of 
Artemis, and also to keep the temple in re- 
pair. In other cases rites for the dead were 
associated with a temple, and periodical 
gatherings of a family were enjoined, which hestia. 

remind us of Chinese ancestral worship. There were also numerous 
religious corporations or associations devoted to the worship of some 
particular divinity, holding assemblies, building temples, choosing priests, 
making regulations enforced by fines. Really these assemblies formed 
limited churches, governed by the church assembly. Many of these were 
founded in large cities for the worship of gods not worshipped by that 
particular city. 




394 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



The most complete account of the ritual of a Greek festival is given in 
an inscription from Andania in Messenia. The twin gods known as Kabiri 




A Greek 
festival. 



OFFERING SACEIFICE TO THE GODS (AFTER FLAXMAN;. 

were there celebrated, together with Demeter, Apollo, Hermes, and a local 
nymph, by a body of priests and priestesses chosen by lot out of 
the tribes of the city, who had to swear to conduct the ritual in 
accordance with prescribed form. They had the custody of the sacred 
books and the chest in which they were kept. Strict regulations are laid 
down as to the dress of the priests and priestesses, limiting the cost, pre- 
scribing the absence of paint and of gold ornaments. The procession 
included a leader, the priest of the deities, the president of the games, the 
sacriiicers and flute-players ; then sacred virgins, priestesses, and priests. 
The victims were also led in procession ; they included a large number of 
lambs, a sow for Demeter, a two-year-old pig to the Kabiri, a ram to Hermes, 
etc., and all victims were to be without blemish. After the sacrifices, the 
portions not given to the gods were eaten by the priests, priestesses, and 
virgins, the musicians and other assistants. 
Complete provision was made for a market to 
supply the crowds gathered to the festival, and 
for the judgment of offenders during its con- 
tinuance, as well as for public warm baths. All 
brawlers and sacrilegious persons were sternly 
denounced ; and there is every sign that in the 
best period of Greece public opinion was strongly 
against any unseemly conduct at the festivals. 

The wealth of temples became very great 

from the accumulated offerings of devout wor- 

weaithof shippers and States. As a temple 

temples, g^ew in fame, it attracted wealthy 

°^^^^^^* foreigners and even foreign kings to its worship. 

The place being sacred, money was often deposited there, and invested 

either in loans or in property. The State undertook the management of 




GREEK SACRIFICES, PRIESTS, TEMPI ES, ETC. 



395 




all the property of the civic temples, issuing commissions from time to time, 
or regularly appointing officers to supervise the temple accounts. Apart 
from property which could be dealt 
with, the temples became very rich in 
votive offerings, and as these varied ex- 
tremely with the taste of the giver or 
of his time, the temple was in fact a 
museum of art ; and wherever it has 
been possible to explore the site of an 
ancient temple, it has yielded many 
treasures and much valuable informa- 
tion, especially in the form of dedicatory 
inscriptions. 

We must now briefly refer to the 
Greek temples, which succeeded the 
early open-air altars on hills Early 
and in sacred enclosures. *e^pies. 

We see a strange likeness to the fetish enclosures of the African negro in 
the placing of the images of gods and heroes in hollow trees as a habita- 
tion in early times. Then, as architecture developed, the sacred image was 
covered and protected in dark buildings only lighted from the door, or by 
lamps. This period of the history of Greek temples is almost entirely 
prehistoric, for the Greeks in early times had so far progressed as to build 
fine temples of the well-known oblong form, almost always adorned with 
a row or rows of columns in various styles or arrangements. Certain types, 
associated with or invented by a particular state or tribe, became peculiar to 
certain gods, probably from having been early used for their temples. Thus 
the Doric style was used in the temples of Zeus and Ares ; the The Greek 
Ionic, in those of Apollo, Artemis and Dionysos ; the Corinthian, styles. 
of Hestia. Most of the chief temples, besides the porch with columns, had 
a vestibule, a large cella or habitation of the god 
or gods, in which the statues of the gods were 
placed, facing the entrance, and a chamber in the 
rear, often used as a treasury. When the temple 
was a famous oracle, the cella was kept closed to 
all but priests and the initiated, and its violation 
by others brought the severest punishments. The 
temples afforded the Greeks the utmost scope for 
their sculpture, in the capitals, friezes, 
pediments, etc. ; and while no light was 
admitted into the cella from the sides, it was 
frequently partly open above. The entire series 
of legends about the gods was represented in 
sculpture, and the highest skill and costliest ma- asclepios (^sculapius). 

terials were lavished on the statues of the gods, which are in reality only 
to be distinguished from the " idols " of other religions in the greater 



Sculpture. 




396 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



beauty and imaginative power they displayed. This is not degrading the 
beautiful images of the gods ; for few so-called idols have ever been imag- 
ined to be anything in themselves, apart from the spirit of a god believed 
to reside in, or to visit them ; yet the rudest image made by a savage may 
represent as true an act of devotion and submission of himself to the unseen 

powers as the most magnifi- 
cent Greek statue. Who can 
assign relative merits in this 
the most difficult of all fields ? 
But as we have shown the 
savage as not destitute of 
genuine religion, so do we de- 
monstrate the same fact for 
the Greek, whom St. Paul re- 
cognised as "very attentive to 
religion." Among the most 
notable Greek temples were 
those of Zeus at Olympia, of 
Athene Parthenos (known as 
the Parthenon), and Theseus 
at Athens, of Zeus at -^gina, 
Artemis at Ephesus, Athene 
at Syracuse, the Erechtheum 
and Propyleum at Athens. 
The Spartans were conspicuous 
for their lack of grand temples. 
We must not omit to note that 
the porch of every temple had 
a font containing holy water, 
consecrated by dipping into it 
a burning torch from the altar. 
With this water, all those who 
entered to take part in the 
sacrifices were sprinkled. 

The altar was an indis- 
pensable part of the temple, 
and indeed existed 
before there were 
temples. The early Greek 
word for altar signifies any 
elevation, and then came to 
mean any elevation used for worship. Originally it was always in the open 
air ; but when temples were built, the altar for burnt sacrifices continued in 
the open in front of the temple, while a smaller altar was placed in front of 
the statues of the gods in the cella. They might be made of earth, turf, 
or stones, and might be built anywhere on occasion, especially during war ; 




THE FARNESE HERCULES. 



GREEK SACRIFICES, PRIESTS, TEMPLES, ETC. 



397 



but in the temples they were built of regular masonry, raised several feet, 
either of a round or of an oblong shape. They were decked with flowers 
and ornamented with appropriate sculpture, and either bore the name of the 
god or gods to whom they were devoted, or some representation of them. 
The inner altars were used for kneel- 
ing in prayer, and for the offering of 
incense and other non-living sacri- 
fices. Altars were universally held 
to be places of refuge for criminals 
or unfortunate persons ; the altars 
had horns, of which refugees took 
hold. Solemn oaths were also taken 
at altars. Some altars, as that of 
Zeus at Olympia, on which offerings 
of hundreds of animals were made, 
were of great size. The gods of the 
lower world, however, had no altars, 
the blood of the sacrifices made to 
them being received in ditches or 
trenches. 

No part of the Greek religion 
was more devoutly believed in than 
the oracular utterances de- 
livered at many shrines. 
The gods were believed to make 
communications to mankind through 
some medium, an inspired priestess 
or priest, or by dreams or signs. 
There were comparatively few 
oracles of Zeus, who was supposed 
to be too far from men's affairs to 
enter into close relations with them. 
Thus his will was revealed through 
Apollo and other gods, and even 
through heroes. Oracles of Zeus 
were given at Olympia from the in- 
spection of victims, and at Dodona 
from sounds produced by the wind 
in a grove of trees. 

The oracle of Apollo at Delphi 
so far outgrew all others in fame 



Oracles. 




PALLAS-ATHENE. 



that it has become the typical example. Here, in the innermost sanctuary, 
in front of the statue of Apollo, was an altar fire always burning. The DeipMan 
and in the centre was a small opening in the ground, from which oracle. 
at times an intoxicating or sulphureous smoke arose. Over this was placed 
a tripod, upon which the prophetess, known as Pytliia, took her seat. The 



398 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

smoke ascending produced a kind of delirium in the prophetess, who, while 
it lasted, uttered various sounds which were believed to contain revelations 
from Apollo. These being taken down by the priests were interpreted by 
them to the people, being often given in hexameters, and conveyed in lan- 
guage that admitted of more than one interpretation. Many oracles, how- 
ever, were quite direct and plain, so that the modern meaning attached to 
^' oracular utterances " is not quite just to the originals. The oracle was 
believed to give answers to every one of pure heart, but no answer could be 
obtained by a criminal until he had atoned for his crime. At first oracles 
were only given once a year ; later, certain days were set apart every month, 
when the oracle could be consulted on payment of a fee, and sacrifice of a 
goat, an ox, or a sheep. The Pythia prepared for her function by fasting for 
three days, bathing, and sacrificing laurel leaves and barley flour to Apollo. 
The priests of this oracle belonged to certain noble families of Delphi, and 
were appointed for life. No doubt the credit of the oracle was principally due 
to them ; they were of high birth, and had the most advantageous oppor- 
tunities for gaining education and worldly wisdom, especially as Delphi 
was visited by embassies from every Greek city, as well as others ; and there 
are grounds for believing that for a long period they were actuated by lofty 
ideas and constituted a means of elevation and of religious conservation. 
^' In the earliest time we can trace the influence of the oracles discouraging 
the relentless blood-feud, distinguishing classes of murder, and allowing 
purification and expiation in certain ' cases. They make the sanctity of 
oaths between man and man a special duty ; Apollo regards even hesita- 
tion to keep a pledge as already a sin. They are the centre of unions or 
amphictyonies which bind their members to observe certain duties, and show 
mercy to their fellow-members; and Delphi, as the oracle of an amphictyony 
including great part of Greece, had an important share in promoting the 
ideal unity of the whole country," {Ency, Brit., "Oracle"). During the great 
struggle for supremacy between Athens and Sparta the Delphic oracle 
showed an increasing partiality towards Sparta, and gradually the Athen- 
ians and their allies lost their respect for it ; but it continued to be con- 
sulted down to the time of the emperor Julian. 

At an early time the spirits of the dead were believed to appear and 
give counsel ; later the inquirer went to sleep over the grave of a hero, who 
Various appeared to him in a dream. At the oracle of Amphiaraus near 
beliefs. Oropus, where the hero had risen from the earth to become a 
god, the inquirer slept in the temple on the skin of a ram which he had 
sacrificed, after abstaining from food for twenty-four hours. Oracles were 
also at one time believed to be given by Mother Earth, being the abode of 
the dead, who could still give counsel to their descendants. The conception 
that Themis and Apollo gave oracles at Delphi appears to have been later 
than this. 

In addition to regular or occasional religious worship at the temples, 
the Greeks had a religious bond and influence of a yet more powerful 
nature, in the pnblic festivals kept by every State of any importance, or by 



400 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS, 

numerous States in common. So far as their origin can be discerned, tliey 

, are shared between celebrations of ancestral lieroes and of the 
The great 
festivals, seasons or their successive phenomena, usually associated with a 

.. . god or gods whose worship was specially appropriate to the season. 

origin and There is evidence, however, that their number and splendour 
purpose. i;ncj.eased during the early historic period, and at last we find the 
Greeks of Tarentum keeping more festivals than working days. At Athens 
in the height of its prosperity fifty or sixty days were kept free from all 
business by magisterial order. The chief of these were the greater and 
the lesser Dionysiac, the Eleusinian, the Panathenaic, and the Thesmo- 
phorian. Thebes celebrated the Daphnephoria every ninth year. But the 
most influential of all the great meetings of the Grreeks were the four 
pan-hellenic festivals, known as the Olympic, the Pythian, Nemean, and 
Isthmian games. Whatever the origin of the Olympian festival might be, 
it was lost in obscurity, and at a very early date the games had assumed 
such importance that during their celebration all warfare was stayed for a 
month, and the territory of Elis was regarded as sacred for the time being. 
One great part of the festival consisted of sacrifices to the gods by the 
Eleans, by the conquerors in the games, by representatives of other States, 
and by private persons. "We cannot here refer to the contests of strength 
and artistic skill which formed so celebrated a part of the festival, but note 
that they expressed the strong Greek feeling that men honoured Zeus best 
by the harmonious discipline of both body and mind ; and consequently it 
is not surprising that the Olympic festival continued long after the Greeks 
had succumbed to E,ome, the last being held in a.d. 393. The German 
excavations at Olympia in 1875-81 have made known the elaborate nature 
of the buildings and appliances, of the sculptures and works of art which 
existed in connection with these great games. The honours given to victors 
on their return home show how deeply these contests affected the national 
sentiment; some extolled their lot as divine. It is even recorded that 
altars were built and sacrifices offered to some victors. 

The Pythian games and numerous other festivals were of special 
interest from their including poetic recitations, often original, and from their 

Rise of the connection with the rise of the drama. As Dr. Donaldson says, 
drama. -^^ ^^^g u Greek Theatre " : " The susceptible Athenian, whose 
land was the dwelling-place of gods and ancestral heroes, to whom the 
clear blue sky, the swift-winged breezes, the river fountains, the ^gean 
gay with its countless smiles, and the teeming earth from which he believed 
his ancestors were immediately created, were alike instinct with an awe- 
pervading spirit of divinity ; the Athenian, who loved the beautiful, but 
loved it because it was divine, who looked upon all that genius could invent, 
or art execute, as but the less unworthy offering to his pantheism ; and 
considered all his festivals and all his amusements as only a means of with- 
drawing the soul from the world's business, and turning it to the love and 
worship of God, — how could he keep back from the object of his adoration 
the fairest and best of his works ? " The dramatic features in the stories of 



GREEK SACRIFICES, PRIESTS, TEMPLES, ETC. 



401 



the gods and heroes suggested most natural subjects for dramatic represen- 
tation, and these were most conspicuous in the festivals of Apollo at Delphi, 




INTKiaOK Oi 
An restored by I'luJ. il. MuUvi. 

of Demeter and Persephone at Eleusis, and of Dionysos at Eleusis and 
Delphi. The Eleusinian mysteries were the most famous and popular 'of 

D D 



402 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 




THE MUSES CALLIOPE, CLiO, EBATO, EUXiiKPE, MELPOMENE. 



all, and were specially marked by magnificence and by the secrecy of some 
rites, to wliicli is owing our ignorance about them. Their importance does 

not seem to have de- 
pended upon any dog- 
matic instruction, but 
they were believed to 
educate the people in 
reverence for the deity. 
Silence, excitement, and 
rapt devotion were typi- 
cal of the spectators, and 
the fasting, long cere- 
monies, and night wan- 
derings which preceded 
the actual mysteries, heightened their effect. The touching and kissing of 
holy things, the hearing and repeating of traditional songs, the dramatic 
representation of incidents in the lives of the gods, appear to have formed 
important parts of the ceremonial. The worship of Dionysos had similar 
variations to that of the sun-god. His sufferings and misfortunes were 
dramatically bewailed, and his gifts of light and wine, etc., were celebrated 
with rites which, at first licentious, remained so, because of the conservatism 
of ritual. "We cannot further follow this most interesting topic, and simply 
remark that we find in Grreece, as in India, that everything, especially every 
invention, every art, every faculty, was under the patronage of, and inti- 
mately connected with, the popular religion. "We must acknowledge that 
the Greeks, in their best periods, were true to their religious beliefs, and 
carried them out most thoroughly. 

"We cannot trace the stages by which marriage came to be placed 
under religious sanctions : but we may believe that this process 
was almost simultaneous with the growth of belief in the relation 
of the gods to human conduct, and the necessity of pleasing them if good 

fortune were to attend 
a man. Cecrops was 
fabled to have instituted 
marriage in Athens, as 
well as the worship of 
the gods. Marriages 
between very near kin 
took place in early 
Grreece,* and dislike to 
such marriages was the 
growth of a later age, 
though it never pro- 
ceeded so far as among 



Marriage. 




'IHE MUSES — POLYHYMNIA, TEBPSICHOKE, IHALIA, AND UKANI*^. 



Jews and Christians. Celibacy was decidedly frowned upon, and sometimes 
punished by Greek law ; and one reason for marriage was that a succession 



GREEK SACRIFICES, FRIES! S, TEMFLES, ETC, 



403 



of descend §.nts miglit be kept up by every man, as worshippers or ministers 
of the godhead and of the family gods ; indeed, they practically worshipped 





THE GIIACES AGLAIA, THALIA, EUPHROSYNE. 



THE FURIES TISIPHONE, MEG^RA, ALECTO. 



their ancestors. In connection with marriages (which did not take place 
till an adult age was reached), sacrifices or offerings were made to the gods 
presiding over marriage (Hera, Artemis, the Fates, and sometimes others), 
by the father of the bride ; and after the marriage the husband offered a 
sacrifice. There was no religious ceremony which constituted the marriage ; 
and wives occupied a comparatively low place in Greek estimation. 

Death and the events succeeding it occupied a prominent place in the 
Greek mind. From Homer we gather that at death the spirit, occupying a 
shadowy outline of the body, was driven by Hades into his do- Death and the 
minions in the lower world (Erebus) ; and we read that the shades ^^*^e life- 
occupied themselves in regretting lost pleasures, or past changes of fortune, 
but were only half conscious, except when roused by drinking the blood of 
sacrifices offered to them by living friends. The heroes enjoyed a more happy 
state, but longed for their former life. It 
was not tiU Egyptian ideas had influenced 
the Greeks that a doctrine of future re- 
wards and punishments according to ac- 
tions was taught. Hermes became recog- 
nised as the guide of mortals to the lower 
regions, where Hades received them hos- 
pitably ; so that his kingdom ceased to be 
regarded as one of gloom. Three rivers 
had to be crossed by all, namely, Acheron 
(sorrow), Cocytus (lamentation), and Styx 
(intense darkness), the latter flowing nine 
times round Erebus. It was necessary to 
be ferried over the Styx by a grim boat- 
man named Charon, who would take none '"^ ^ates-clotho, lachesis, atropos. 
but those who had received funeral rites, and brought with them a coin as 
toll ; otherwise they must wander restlessly for a hundred years on the banks 




404 



THE WORLUS RELIGIONS. 



of the river. On the other side of the Styx was the seat of Minos, who 
received confessions from and judged all shades, and announced their sen- 
tences, whether of happiness or misery. Cerberus, the three-headed dog, 
guarded his tribunal, and allowed no shade to emerge when once within the 
portals. The happy passed first into the palace of Hades and Persephone 
and received their greeting, and then set out for the Elysian fields, full of 
all delights, where they occupied themselves with their favourite pursuits, 
the hunter resuming his bow and arrows, the musician his lyre, the soldier 
his arms. According to the doctrine associated with the name of Pythagoras, 
after the shades had remained in Elysium for a thousand years, they re- 
turned to earth to occupy fresh bodies. 

Those who had been condemned as guilty were conducted from Minos 
to the great judgment hall of Ehadamanthus, who announced in detail the 




TEMPLE OE ARTEMIS (DIANA), EPHESUS. 

punishments which each would receive in Tartarus, a gloomy region far 
below Hades. The Furies then seized the culprits, scourged them with 
whips, and hurled them down into Tartarus. 

Naturally we find these ideas influencing the funeral rites of the Greeks. 
The greatest horror was felt at the idea of not receiving burial, and any 
passer who found a corpse felt it his duty at least to throw some 
'earth upon it. Indeed, the deceased were regarded as having 
both a legal and moral right to burial. Burning was also in vogue among 
the Greeks, but probably not so much as burial in historic times. The body 
was anointed and decked with flowers and dressed in white ; an obolus was 
put in its mouth for Charon, and a honey-cake by its side for Cerberus. 
When the body was laid out, painted vases were placed by the side of the 
bed, and afterwards buried with it. In early times, sacrifices (and some- 



GREEK SACRIFICES, PRIESTS, TEMPLES, ETC. 405 

times captives) were offered previous to tlie burial ; but these had ceased in 
Plato's time. The coffins for burial were usually of earthenware or baked 
clay. There were no specially consecrated grounds for burial, convenience 
and sometimes beauty of situation being the chief considerations. Those 
who had taken part in the funeral required purification before they could 
enter the temples. Sacrifices were offered on the third, ninth, and thirtieth 
days after the funeral, the latter ending the mourning. On certain days 
the tombs, which were often very handsome, were decked with flowers, and 
offerings of flowers and sometimes of food were made to the deceased. 

We may now briefly endeavour to comprehend the moral state pro- 
duced by, or co-existent with, the Greek religion. In the Homeric poems 
the cardinal virtue of truth does not appear to be in great jyjorai state 
esteem. " To deceive an enemy is meritorious, to deceive a of the 
stranger innocent, to deceive even a friend perfectly unobjection- 
able, if any object is to be gained." (M.) Most of the leading characters in the 
niad and Odyssey do not hesitate to lie, and the same is the case with the 
gods. " Zeus deceives both gods and men, the other gods deceive Zeus." 
The one check on deceit is the presence of the gods, who, if adjured by an 
oath, will certainly punish falsehood. Apollo and Menelaus are truthful 
characters, but even they have their defects. Might was practically right, 
and while Homer describes persons guilty of manslaughter or murder as 
going into exile or paying pecuniary compensation, it is not till after the 
Homeric period that a guilty person requires purification by special religious 
ceremonies. It would be easy to show that courage was really defective 
in the Homeric times, and could not readily be produced even by appeals 
to the gods. The sad condition of orphans, widows, and old people is 
graphically depicted in Homer, and the possession of women by the stronger 
and the conqueror is an acknowledged fact. The Homeric world, far from 
representing an early age of pure morality, is one of still rudimentary 
moral and religious ideas. The gods are but larger copies of men, and 
the best, if high in comparison with some conceptions of gods, are low 
when compared with the highest. The best character among the gods, 
Pallas-Athene, is, as Mr. Hayman, in his " Odyssey," says, without ten- 
derness or tie of any sort, never owns obligation, is pitiless, unscrupulous 
in partisanship, and full of dissimulation ; she whispers base motives of the 
good, beats down the strong, and mocks the weak, while true to a comrade 
or friend. Practically, the power of the chiefs, or of the aristocratic caste, 
was supreme in the Homeric and Hesiodic times, and their morals were on 
the whole selfish, and the common people followed their example. So there 
was every chance for the religious pretenders or believers who attributed 
troubles to the displeasure of the gods, and brought forward their prescrip- 
tions for appeasing or persuading them. Thus religion not based on morals 
grew in strength, and in time, and by the aid of importations from Egypt, 
the East, and Thrace became full of excitements and orgies, sensuality and 
immorality. At the same time, and even down to the time of Herodotus, 
there lingered in parts of Greece horrible customs of human sacrifice. 



4o6 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

The age of the tyrants was to some extent favourable to morals, for the 
tyrants put down excesses of immorality and prepared the way for wide- 
spread improvements such as those introduced by Solon and Pisistratus. 
In some minds a higher morality arose ; poets and philosophers began to 
doubt the old mythologies, and to rest in a general belief in the Deity, in 
divine virtue and justice, confessing themselves unable to reconcile this 
belief with the facts of life. Theognis says that no man works with a sure 
knowledge whether the result will be good or evil ; and the general view 
of the moralists of the time was that although Providence rewarded virtue, 
the reward was often withheld, and it was therefore best to follow the 
stream, and to gratify the passions of love and revenge. The lower orders 
thus had no elevating influence to raise them. It was held to be a shame 
to remain sober among men who were drunk. Romantic friendships were 
however not uncommon, and women were perhaps better esteemed and 
treated than in the Homeric days. Avarice and selfishness were common, 
and pleasure was universally sought. In most places old age was little 
honoured, though Lycurgus's ordinance to honour the old stands out in 
marked contrast. Honesty was largely honoured in the breach, and from 
the times of Herodotus to that of Cicero we hear of Grreek untruthful- 
ness and want of fidelity to their word. At the same time there was much 
kindly care of and affection for the young, and honourable justice. 

The great period of Athens was warlike, and led to a greater ferocity, 
cruelty, and unscrupulousness of feeling. Oaths and promises were less 
kept than ever ; party and state were everything. The ideal of woman- 
hood was lowered ; but there was a greater kindliness towards slaves. Many 
of the richer Athenians, however, set all morality at defiance, and their 
example was suf&cient to start and maintain a degradation of morality 
which led to the ruin of Greece. When the old mythology was undermined 
there was not enough that was solid in the Greek religion to keep morals 
pure. While the oracles were respected and managed by impartial priests 
who represented the best ideas current, the moral standard was much better 
than at a later period when they had become partial and subservient to 
state factions, and when the best minds of Greece were engaged in politics, 
art, poetry and philosophy. The philosophers were raising their heads, it 
is true, and seeking for the true good, and many of them gave systematic 
instruction in conduct ; but meanwhile the people were going to ruin, and 
the philosophers had little as yet to communicate. 

_ [Mahaffy, " Social Life in Greece," " Greek Life and Thought." (M.) C. T. Newton, " Greek 
Religion illustrated by Inscriptions," Nineteenth Century, vols. iii. and iv. Articles, " Mysteries," 
" Priest," " Sacrifices," " Temple," " Encyclopaedia Britannica," Grote's, Curtius's, and Duncker's 
" Histories of Greece. "] 



CHAPTER 111. 

Socrates— His mode of life— His discharge of religious duties— His sign or daemon — Socrates not 
really a sceptic— Socrates and the Deity — His views of Providence — Socrates a teacher of 
morals— His ardour for knowledge — His personal appearance— Socrates toefore his judges — 
His condemnation— The death penalty — Socrates on the future life— His death— Plato— His 
view of the body as evil— Virtue the highest good— Morals and the State— Views of the Deity- 
Aristotle— The Megarians — The Cynics — The Cyrenaics— Epicurus — The Stoics— Morals— Greeks 
in other lands— Polybius. 

BEFORE Socrates, Greek pliilosophers like Thales, Pythagoras, Hera- 
clitus, Democritus, and Protagoras had vainly tried to get at the 
secret of the universe and the true basis of conduct, and Protagoras had 
arrived at the conclusion that the human consciousness is the only standard of 
what is and what is not. It was reserved for Socrates the Athenian ^ 

S O CTSLuQ s 

{circ. 470-399 b.c.) to start a new era by exhaustively showing 
how little men really knew, especially about divine government. He re- 
jected all the popular mythology, which represented the gods as having 
committed actions which would be disgraceful in the worst of men. But 
he was no despiser of the gods ; in fact, his friends claimed that he was " so 
pious that he did nothing without taking counsel of the gods ; so just that 
he never did an injury to any man, whilst he was the benefactor of his 
associates ; so temperate that he never preferred pleasure to right ; so wise 
that in judging of good and evil he was never at fault. His self-control 
was absolute ; his powers of endurance were unfailing ; he had so schooled 
himself to moderation that his scanty means satisfied all his wants. To 
want nothing, he said, is divine ; to want as little as possible is the nearest 
possible approach to the divine life ; " and he practised what he taught, yet 
knew how to enjoy himself heartily. Like almost all the greatest teachers 
and reformers we have written of, his teaching was mainly conversational, 
and he left no books ; but like them, also, his memory impressed itself upon 
his pupils and friends, so that we have more than one striking record and 
picture of the greatest soul among the Greeks. 

Highly educated in Greek learning and a sculptor in early life, Socrates 
soon gave up statuary for his pubhc mission, believing that he had a divine 
commission to convict other men of their ignorance, and so help His mode 
them to improve. His wife, Xanthippe, led him an unhappy life of life, 
with her shrewish temper, and his sons appear to have been unworthy of 
him. He showed bravery as a soldier at Potidaea and elsewhere, and on 
several important occasions he manifested great public spirit and courage 
in withstanding popular and aristocratic sentiment or commands. But most 
of his life was spent in his sacred duty, that of showing men their ignorance 
and helping them to choose right paths in practical morality. As Xenophon 



4o8 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



represents him, lie caused many to turn from evil ways by inducing tliem 
to seek after ^virtue. In every way lie could discover to be beneficial, lie 
disciplined botb bis mind and Ms body, and be refused all payments for bis 
instruction. We sball perbaps best elucidate bis character, so far as it 
relates to morals and religion, by referring to tbe accusation brought against 
him in B.C. 399, that he was guilty, first, of denying the gods recognised by 
the State and introducing new divinities, and secondly of corrupting the 
young. In answer to this, Xenophon alleges that he was fre- 
of'reiigious quently seen sacrificing both at his own house and on the public 
\ u les. altars ; and it appears that he accepted the established beliefs so 
far as they did not plainly conflict with his conscience, especially where 
they dealt with matters of which the gods seemed to have reserved all real 
knowledge to themselves. It was on human conduct and knowledge that he 
concentrated his attention. Yet he incurred opposition as being an inno- 
vator, for he sought to expunge from 
popular belief the fictions of the poets ; 
and he avowed that he derived guid- 
ance from an inward " divinity," or 
'' divine sign," often spoken of as the 
" dsemon " of Socrates, and sometimes 
as an intelligent spiritual companion or 
guardian spirit. But it is not correct 
to say that he regarded himself as 
possessed by a divinity or a guardian 
spirit. " According to Xenophon," says 
Dr. Henry Jackson [Encyclopcedia Bri- 
His sign or tannica^ 9th ed.), " the sign 
daemon, ^^^g ^ warning, either to do 
or not to do, which it would be folly 
to neglect, not superseding ordinary 
prudence, but dealing with those un- 
certainties in respect of which other men found guidance in oracles and 
tokens ; Socrates believed in it profoundly, and never disobeyed it. Accord- 
ing to Plato, the sign was a ' voice ' which warned Socrates to refrain from 
some act which he contemplated ; he heard it frequently and on the most 
trifling occasions ; the phenomenon dated from his early years, and was, so 
far as he knew, peculiar to himself" It has been suggested, with consider- 
able plausibility, by Mr. Jackson, that the rational suggestions of his own 
brain, exceptionally valuable in consequence of his accuracy and intelligence, 
appeared to be heard by him as a voice speaking to him ; others see in the 
" divine sign " the voice of conscience and instinct combined ; while some 
may regard it as a direct Divine voice. This difficulty we cannot solve ; 
but Xenophon uses this phenomenon to show that Socrates had a personal 
sign which was parallel to the divination of the other Greeks by birds and 
voices and sacrifices. But Socrates declared those bereft of their senses who 
had recourse to divination with a view to solving questions upon which the 
gods had given men power to decide themselves. 



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JH^^iS 


k 


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^^H^H^HHlra^vl ^iC^^^'^i^^tJ^^^^I 


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^ ■ 



SOCRATES. 



SOCRATES, PLATO, AND OTHER GREEK PHILOSOPHERS. 409 

Socrates, seeming to his contemporaries to be a sceptic, was the most 
genuine believer of his time, so far as he thought he had grounds for belief. 
When the Delphian oracle pronounced him the wisest of men, gocratesnot 
he sought to discover some one wiser than himself, and succeeded reaUy a 
only in finding people who thought the}^ knew, whereas they were ^^^^ ^^* 
self-deluded. Still Socrates felt that he did not possess the wisdom with 
which he was credited, for, said he, God only is wise, and the oracle only 
meant to say, " He is the wisest who, like Socrates, knows that his wisdom is in 
truth worth nothing." About the Deity Socrates would put for- socrates and 
ward little that was dogmatic. He believed in a Supreme Being *^® ^®^*y- 
who was an intelligent and beneficent Creator of all things, and he prayed 
to the gods to grant him good gifts, believing that they best knew what was 
good. He gave as proofs of the existence of " the divine," the providential 
order of nature, the universality of the belief in it, and the revelations and 
warnings given to men by signs and oracles. He appealed very strongly 
to the argument from design, proclaiming that the evident purpose of vast 
numbers of things showed that they were produced by intelligence. The 
arguments of Socrates on these subjects have been made familiar to genera- 
tions of schoolboys in Xenophon's "Memorabilia." We will quote part of one 
of his central arguments from Mr. Levien's translation. 

" It did not, however, satisfy the Deity to take an interest in man's 
body only, but, what is the most important point of all. He also implanted 
in him that most excellent essence — his soul. But in the first His views of 
place, of what other animal does the mind comprehend the fact Providence, 
of the existence of the gods as the organisers of so stupendous and excellent 
a system ? and what other race except that of men offers service to the 
gods ? or what intelligence exists more adapted than that of man to make 
provision against cold and heat, or hunger and thirst, or to alleviate disease, 
or to practise feats of strength, or to labour for instruction, or more capable 
of remembering what it may have heard or seen or learned ? For is it not 
clearly manifest to you that men pass their lives like gods as compared 
with other creatures, and excel them in the nature both of their minds 
and bodies ? For neither could a creature endowed with the body of an 
ox and the feelings of a man accomplish its wishes ; nor do such animals as 
possess hands, but are devoid of intelligence, obtain any benefit thereby. 
But do you, who enjoy both these stupendous advantages, think that the 
gods have no regard for you ? " Again, '' You must not imagine that while 
your vision is capable of ranging over a distance of many furlongs, the eye 
of the Deity is unable to survey the universe at a glance. Nor should you 
suppose that while your mind can contemplate things that are taking place 
at home and in Egypt and Sicily, the Divine Intelligence is insufficient 
to regard all things simultaneously. ... So with regard to the gods, 
you should make the experiment whether, if you cultivate them, they will 
not vouchsafe to you their guidance in matters which are unrevealed to 
mankind in general ; and you may thus recognise the fact that the nature 
of the Deity is so stupendously constituted as to be able to see all things 



4IO THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

at once, and to hear all things, and to be present everywhere, and to take 
cognisance of everything at the same time." 

It will at once be evident that we here have a style and matter of 
teaching never reached by any of the religions we have previously spoken 
of, and perhaps only approached by that of Zoroaster. To speak of 
Socrates simply as the greatest of the heathens does him injustice, unless 
it is clearly understood that the term heathen simply means a non-Christian. 
We cannot but rank him as one of the greatest of men, pre-eminent as an 
original thinker and independent character, and as a teacher of divine 
things. 

He was equally eminent as a moral teacher. Far from being a cor- 
rupter of youth, we have abundant testimony that he was a corrector of 
young men's morals, and always tried to raise them, to inspire 

teacher of in them a sense of duty, of responsibility for the use of their 
intellect and conscience, and to lead them to spend their lives 
usefully and nobly. His moral teachings, if followed out, would have saved 
many a king or state or parliament, in presumably more enlightened times, 
from disaster. He did not believe in appointing men who succumbed to 
gluttony, crime, sensuality, and other vices to posts of difficulty and danger ; 
in committing the education of children or the care of property to in- 
temperate men. He regarded temperance (in the broad sense) as the 
foundation of virtue, and any one who accepted money readily from others 
as setting up masters over himself and binding himself to a most degrading 
slavery ; rather he preferred to live more humbly than a slave. He rejoiced 
especially in having estimable friends ; and if he knew of any good thing, 
he thought it a great joy to impart it to them. To him justice and every 
kind of virtue was wisdom, and he had a belief, too sanguine, that those 
who recognised this would never prefer to do any but just and virtuous 
actions. For a man not to know himself, and to imagine he knew things 
of which he was ignorant, he considered to be a very near approach to 
insanity. And therefore he did his utmost to cure that kind of insanity, and 
to lead men not merely to like abstract goodness or intelligence or know- 
ledge, but to be good inwardly and to gain acquirements which were of 
practical value. But this man who, chief among his fellows, sought to raise 
and benefit youth, was charged with being a corrupting influence. 

" In Socrates," says Professor Sidgwick, " for the first time, we find 
the combination of a genuine ardour for knowledge, and a paramount 

His ardour ^^^^^^^^ ^^ conduct." By his dialectic art he brought home their 
for ignorance to those who talked with him, and then hammered 
o"w e ge. -j^Q^Q -j^^g conviction that their ignorance of the good and evil in 
human life was the source of all practical error. He was above all practical, 
for " he knew no good, that was not good for something in particular ; " 
he taught that good is self-consistent, that the beautiful is also profitable 
and useful, and the virtuous also agreeable, in every instance. He demanded 
that every man should know what he was doing and why, should act on 
consistent principles, and should carry them out firmly and vigorously. 



SOCRATES, PLATO, AND OTHER GREEK PHILOSOPHERS. 411 

This most trying of all demands, persistently enforced by criticism of those 
who acted contrariwise, was at last sufficient to bring about his ruin. 

The great teacher was not of gainly or prepossessing appearance. 
Short, thick-necked, with prominent eyes, broad, upturned nostrils, large 
mouth and thick lips, he in fact embodied the opposite of beauty go^rates' 
of form. He lived meanly that he might carry out his mission, personal 
and took a sort of delight in making himself out to be the dullest ^pp®^^^^° • 
person, or the most ignoble, or the most vile, and thus blunted the force 
of any shafts that might be levelled against him. He was willing to be 
of no account, to be despised, to be misjudged, in order that he might win 
those who could rise by his teaching. And he was willing to die rather 
than give up truth and conscience or curry favour with his judges. 

When brought before a dikastery (consisting of between 500 and 600 
citizens), to answer a charge of which the penalty sought was death, 
Socrates delivered in his defence the noble speech of which we 
have the substance in the " Apology " of Plato. The accusers, before Ms 
he said, had hardly uttered a word of truth, and had been most ""^ ^^^' 
shameless. He condescended so far as to expound his course of life and the 
reasons for it, as we have already partially detailed them. He would use 
no arts to secure an acquittal, but relied on truth alone. " For if, men of 
Athens, by force of persuasion and entreaty, I could overpower your oaths, 
then I should be teaching you to believe that there are no gods, and 
convict myself, in my own defence, of not believing in them. But that 
is not the case ; for I do believe that there are gods, and in a far higher 
sense than that in which any of my accusers believe in them. And to you 
and to God I commit my cause, to be determined by you as is best for you 
and me." He had refrained from preparing a set defence, believing that 
his just and blameless life were the best defence, and also because his 
divine sign had forbidden him. If he were condemned, he would be 
condemned unjustly, which would disgrace his judges, but not him ; rather 
it would gain him sympathy and praise. He even seems to have thought 
that the fit end of his life, as divinely determined, had come. In any case 
he would not beseech his inferiors to let him live. 

The die was cast, and by a majority of five Socrates was adjudged 
guilty. He disdained now to suggest any less penalty than the extreme 
one, a penalty which the majority would gladly have mitigated. His con- 
Rather, he loftily expressed his belief that, inasmuch as he had demnation. 
been engaged for many years in conferring the greatest benefits on Athens 
and its people, he deserved a public maintenance in the Prytaneum at the 
cost of the State. At last, in compliance with his friends' entreaties, he 
proposed that he should be fined the small sum of thirty minse. 

The conclusion of the " Apology," after his condemnation to death had 
been pronounced, is one of the most affecting and sublime of all speeches. 
" The difficulty, my friends," he says, " is not in avoiding death. The death 
but in avoiding unrighteousness ; for that runs faster than penalty, 
death." Hh acaisers were condemned by the truth to suffer tM penalty of 



412 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

villainy and wrong. He supposed that these things were fated; and he 
thought that they were well. There was great reason to hope that death 
is a good ; it was either a state of nothingness or a migration of the soul 
from this world to another. Even considered as a perfect, peaceful sleep, 
he said, " to die is gain, for eternity is then only a single night. But if 
death is the journey to another place, and there, as men say, all the dead 
are, what good, my friends and judges, can be greater than this? . . . 
Above all, I shall then be able to continue my search into true and false 
knowledge ; and I shall find out who is wise, and who pretends to be wise 
and is not. ... In another world they do not put a man to death for 
asking questions, assuredly not. For besides being happier in that world 
than in this, they will be immortal, if what is said is true. Wherefore, 
judges, be of good cheer about death, and know of a certainty that no evil 
can happen to a good man, either in life or after death. He and his are 
not neglected by the gods ; nor has my own approaching end happened by 
mere chance. But I see clearly that to die and be released was better for 
me. ... I am not angry with my condemners, or with my accusers ; 
they have done me no harm, although they did not mean to do me any 
good ; and for this I may gently blame them. . . . The hour of 
departure has arrived, and we go our ways — I to die and you to live. 
Which is better, God only knows." 

Having refused to take advantage of an opportunity which his friends 
had provided for his escape, especially because he will not break the laws of 
Socrates ^^® State under which he has lived peaceably so long, on the last 
on the day of his life Socrates is represented, in Plato's dialogue en- 
titled "Phsedo," as having delivered his opinions on the future life. 
He disapproves of suicide ; ^' a man should wait, and not take his own hfe 
until God summons him." Yet he acknowledges that he ought to be 
grieved at death, if he were not persuaded that he was going to gods who 
are wise and good, and to men departed who are better than those he would 
leave behind. By death the foolishness of the body would be cleared away, 
and those who loved wisdom and purity in this life would be pure and hold 
converse with other pure souls, and know the light of truth. The impure 
souls at death have to pay the penalty of their evil life, and he supposes that 
they wander among tombs and sepulchres, till finally they are born again in 
another body, probably of a fierce or evil animal. He believes indeed that the 
soul exists before the body, as proved he thinks by the apparent reminiscences 
of previous states. Hence that which pre-existed cannot be destroyed by 
the mere death of the body. The lesson is drawn that the greatest care 
should be taken of the soul, and that the danger of neglect is truly awful. 
There is no release or salvation from evil except the attainment of the 
highest virtue or wisdom. He accepts the essence of the current doctrine of 
Hades and Tartarus, and of the sentences of reward and punishment there 
awarded. Those who have duly purified themselves with philosophy 
" live henceforth altogether without the body in mansions fairer than these, 
which may not be described, and of which the time would fail me to tell." 



SOCRATES, PLATO, AND OTHER GREEK PHILOSOPHERS. 413 

He does not venture to say that his description is exactly true, but he thinks 
something of the kind is true, and the pure man who has arrayed the soul 
in her own proper jewels — temperance, justice, courage, nobility, and truth — 
is ready to journey to the other world. He would not have his friends 
sorrow at his hard lot, or say at his burial, " Thus we lay out Socrates," 
or " Thus we follow him to the grave or bury him ; " they must say to them- 
selves that they are burying his body only. 

But their sorrow was not taken away by his words ; they felt as if 
they were being bereaved of a father, and that they should spend the 
rest of their lives as orphans. The jailer coming in to tell him that the 
appointed time for drinking the cup of hemlock had come, called him the 
noblest and gentlest and best of all who ever came there, and burst into 
tears. '' Then," said Socrates, " I may and must ask the gods to prosper 
my journey from this to that other world — even so — and so be 
it according to my prayer." Then he drank the poison quite 
cheerfully and readily. As the poison was taking effect, he said, " Crito, I 
owe a cock to Asclepios ; will you remember to pay the debt ? " '' The debt 
shall be paid," answered Crito. Possibly the philosopher meant that he was 
now restored by death to health, and would make the usual offering to 
the god of health. 

Thus died the man whom Plato terms the wisest, greatest, and best man 
he had ever known. Truly he, being dead, yet speaketh. The life and 
death of Socrates did not indeed produce a new religion in Greece, but as 
represented by Plato and Xenophon, he became the true founder of most 
of the greatest philosophies of life and mind, and the influence of his life 
and death can never die. Of no man can it more truly be said that he lived 
up to the light he had, gained all the light he could, conquered human evil 
and the fear of death, and fearlessly trusted the Divine, 

Having thus given in outline an account of Socrates and his teaching, 
we can give much less space to Plato, whose significance as a religious 
teacher is far less than his importance as a philosopher. As the pupil and 
friend of Socrates, he is of the utmost value as a recorder, more or less 
literal, of his teachings. His life (427-347 B.C.) is of less special 
note because he lived very quietly and unobtrusively, teaching 
in the grove named after Academus, whence his school is known as the 
Academy, and in his own garden. In dealing with those portions of his 
extensive writings which belong most clearly to our subject, we must begin 
with the moral teachings, for with him religion and morals are one. Plato, 
seeing that earthly life can never be free from evil, says that ^.^ ^^^ ^^ 
we must flee away as quickly as possible to God, by making the body as 
ourselves like Him through virtue and wisdom. The body is an 
evil, the grave of the higher life ; unrighteousness, arising in the soul, allies 
itself to the lower elements of the body, and develops all kinds of evil. 
Every man must seek the highest good, which is virtue. The virtue, the 
virtuous man alone is free. Only he who takes hold on the Eternal ^^^^^est good, 
can be truly satisfied. True philosophy is one with perfect morality. Virtue 



414 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



is its own reward, as vice is its own punishment. Virtue is rewarded in 
tlie life to come, and vice punished. The just man must do only good, 
even to his enemies ; but the State, Plato held, might use untruth as a 
means of government. He also held views about marriage which were by 
no means lofty ; he considered the question merely as a means of providing 
healthy youths to build up the State. Still he sought the elevation of 
women, both physically, mentally, and morally, and especially by making 
them share the training and pursuits of men to a considerable extent. In 
Morals and regard to another evil of the Greek social condition, he was little 
the state. ^^ advance of his time, for he upheld slavery, though he tried to 
improve the treatment of slaves. He had a low opinion of trade and agri- 
culture as occupations for intelligent men. His political scheme ('' Republic^^^ 
'' Politicus^'^ " Laws ") contained many elements related to morals, but they 
are too numerous to be detailed, and are seldom made to depend on his 
religious belief. The State, as an ideal, was the main object of his " Re- 
public," and to obtain and maintain good 
citizens, he described conditions of com- 
munism in property, wives and children, 
and of exposure of sickly new-born infants, 
which we may doubt whether he would 
have soberly put into practice. Modern 
anthropology has taught us that numerous 
races have approached Plato's ideal in 
some of these respects, without securing 
the advantages he desired to gain ; and we 
must remember that Plato's theoretical 
discussion justifies no one in doing for 
private ends what he imagined a State to 
ordain solely for the common good. It is 
unnecessary to occupy space in condemning 
what no civilised race is at all likely to enforce or sanction. 

Plato recognises one Eternal and Invisible God, perfectly true and 
good, the highest ideal, the Maker and Father of all. He is unchangeable 
Views of and perfect, and will never show Himself to man other than as 
the Deity, jjg j[g^ Thus he is absolutely against all mythological stories 
of the gods which fall below this ideal. God being pure and good can 
produce or originate no evil ; He does anything that can be done ; He has 
wisely adapted means to ends ; He knows everything, cares and provides 
for all in the best way, rewards virtue and punishes vice. He recognises 
also certain created gods, who represent or are the universe and the heavenly 
bodies. He uses the name Zeus for the soul of the universe, and frequently 
when he speaks of gods, he is evidently describing the Supreme Deity. He ^ 
again and again combats the popular beliefs. The gods are above pleasure 
and pain, and cannot be bribed and persuaded by prayers and offerings. 
Divine Providence looks after small as well as great things and persons, 
and all things conduce to the true welfare of those whom the gods love. 




SOCRATES, PLATO, AND OTHER GREEK PHILOSOPHERS. 415 

According to Plato the worship of God consists especially in a desire to be 
good, and the strenuous endeavour to attain the ideal. God is good, and 
man must strive to be like Him. He would maintain the old forms of 
religious worship, made pure and moral ; and he would not only reverence 
guardian spirits (daemons), but would have distinguished men reverenced as 
such after their death. He would punish atheism and other offences against 
religion, but would allow the young to be taught by myths and stories 
which he did not himself beheve, regarding such as necessary stages towards 
the truth. 

Aristotle (384-322 b.c.) is often regarded as the great practical and scien- 
tific philosopher as opposed to Plato the idealist ; but it is necessary to remem- 
ber that he was a pupil of Plato, and that much of their teaching 
is in agreement. We shall only refer to the teaching of Aristotle 
upon morals and religion, which forms but a small part of his works. He 
makes man's highest good to consist in the exercise of his reason, which he 
places above the exercise of the moral virtues. He describes the brave man 
consciously encountering death for a worthy object, because he feels that it 
is beautiful to do so ; and this illustrates his somewhat artistic conception 
of the excellence of virtue. He maintains that slavery is based on nature, 
and that certain races are intended to be subject. Women are distinctly 
inferior to men, and he objects to Plato's scheme for their education and 
elevation. 

As to the cause of all things, Aristotle is not very clear. He speaks of 
a personal mover of all things, enjoying bliss for ever, wrapt in lofty con- 
templation upon Himself. Man is too inferior to God for Him to concern 
Himself about his affairs ; and thus Aristotle can give us no light upon a 
future life, immortality. Providence, and prayer. 

The chief schools beside the Platonic, which owed their origin to the 
pupils of Socrates, were the Megarian, the Cynic, and the Cyrenaic. The 
former, of which Euclid (not the geometer) was the founder, held The 
that what is not good has no real existence, and that God sums Megarians. 
up all intelligence, reason, and goodness. The Cynics, of whom Antisthenes 
and Diogenes were the greatest, deprecated theory and glori- 
fied action and self-control. Virtuous conduct based on wisdom 
and prudence was the only thing to make men happy ; pleasure was the 
greatest evil. Their virtue being sufficient for them, they became self- 
sufficient boasters. They lived as beggars, with no property at all, and were 
more arrogant than the rich and powerful ; and in contempt for convention 
they despised much of ordinary morality. The Cyrenaics, re- The 
presented first by Aristippus, made pleasure the chief good, but Cyrenaics. 
kept a mastery over the desires. To Aristippus no possession was more 
valuable than contentment, no disease worse than avarice ; he valued free- 
dom above everything. He cared nothing for the popular notions about 
the gods. Epicureanism was the natural successor of the Cyrenaic philo- 
sophy, as Stoicism was of the Cynic. 

Epicurus has too often been referred to as the type of the sensualist. 



4i6 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



Epicurus. 



Tlie Stoics. 



but he was far from being so. While he regarded pleasure as the need and 
end of every one, he lived a sparing and quiet life, preferring 
pleasures of the mind to those of the body, and making virtue his- 
aim because it conferred the most permanent and truest pleasure. He 
however places the family at a discount. "The sage," he says, "will not 
marry and beget children, nor will he take part in State affairs. He will 
not form hard and fast judgments ; he will not believe all sinners to be 
equally depraved, nor all sages equally wise." He gathered around him a 
society of intimates, who lived in simple community, eating barley bread 
and drinking chiefly water. A remarkable degree of attachment subsisted 
between him and his pupils, who were exceedingly numerous. After his 
death statues were erected in his honour at Athens, where he lived for 
thirty-six years. Epicurus does not figure as a religious teacher. He does 
not deny the existence of the gods, but believes that human affairs are 
beneath their ken, and that they do not interfere even in the grand phe- 
nomena of nature. His philosophy found a remark- 
able exponent in the Roman Lucretius, and had 
great influence at Eome for centuries. 

The Stoics, with Zeno at their head, took up 
the Cynic views of self-control as the means of re- 
generating the soul of man, and urged 
the discovery of the laws governing the 
world as indicating man's best path to perfect happi- 
ness. The whole world was under a Divine order or 
Providence, of which all the gods were but tem- 
porary or local manifestations. Passion was neces- 
sarily wrong, giving an erroneous judgment of what 
is desirable or to be shunned. Pain was not to 
disquiet a man, and all the causes that disturb man's 
spirit were not to ruffle the sage. Yet conformity to 
nature was their motto ; and if desire, passion, and 
pain are not part of nature, what is ? So the Stoics were as little consistent 
as many other schools ; but they had a multitude of adherents. And well 
it might be so, for their views gave consolation to many an unfortunate or 
downtrodden man, by giving him a kingdom within himself, where no 
tyrant could control his thoughts or hinder him from having serene dehghts. 
Pyrrho, the Sceptic, is perhaps most interesting 'to us, since he taught 
what is practically a philosophy of feeling, the cultivation of good feel- 
ings, thus approaching somewhat to Christianity ; at the same time he de- 
nied that any safe criterion of intellectual judgment had ever been found, 
though he did not go so far as to say there was none. 

IJp to and beyond the Christian era, the philosophic schools of Greece 
held sway, and attracted most of the best intellect of Greece and Rome. 
There arose a sharper distinction than ever between the learned, 
and the common people whom they contemned ; and we have little 




Morals. 



to show that the latter were in any way elevated by the teachings or influ- 



SOCRATES, PLATO, AND OTHER GREEK PHILOSOPHERS. 417 

ence of the former. The morals of the people continued to degenerate, or at 
least ceased to improve, with the decay of real faith in the gods ; while the 
philosophic schools became more and more recognised and honoured by the 
great and powerful. At the same time the traditional beliefs were kept up. 
Public oaths were made in the names of many gods, and the comedians 
were styled priests of Dionysos. 

In the wider G-reece developed after the death of Alexander are many 
interesting phenomena relating to Greek religion. Thus Zeus Hades was 
imported from Sinope to Alexandria, and identified with the Greeks in 
Egyptian god Serapis. The Museum and the Library founded °*^®^ lands, 
there by the same great Ptolemy (Soter) were alike precursors of the wide 
diffusion of Greek learning which was one day to have so great an influ- 
ence on and through Christianity. We find hymns written to order for the 
Greek monarchs of Egypt, celebrating Greek feasts and lauding the kings 
as almost on a level with the gods, and expressing a commonplace view 
of the old Greek religion. Later, the Ptolemies learnt to build temples to 
the old Egyptian gods ; but Greek did not by any means fuse with Egyptian 
religion. 

AVe may conclude this chapter by an account of the views of Poly bins, 
who lived through the greater part of the second century B.C., and the irre- 
trievable subjugation of Greece by Rome. He may be taken as 
a type of the best Greeks of the time. He was devoted to truth, 
and believed in the moral government of the world, and in retributive pro- 
vidence. He hated meanness and lack of self-respect. But he had no 
great inspiration to regenerate his people ; and his teaching of the lessons 
of history, while of much interest, roused no enthusiasm. Whether from 
a decay that was inevitable or not, in Greece religion and national life were 
dead. 

[Xenophon's " Memorabilia " ; Plato's works (Jowett's translation) ; Grote's " History of Greece," 
vols. iv. and vii. ; Zeller's "Socrates and the Socratic Schools" and "Plato and the Older Academy."] 



Polybius. 





MONUMENTS ON THE APPIAN WAY NEAR ROME. 



CHAPTER ly. 

€f)t aaomau aseligion* 

Early Roman religion— Origin— Tlie Latins— Etruscan religion— Jupiter— Festivals— Juno— Mars- 
Janus— Minerva— Vesta— Flora— Vertumnus— Pales— Terminus— Comus and Libitina— Other 
gods— Prophetic nymphs— The Greek gods Romanised— The Penates or household gods— The 
Lares— The Manes— The Lemures— The Genii— Roman temples -Priests— The Vestal virgins— 
The Flamens— The Pontiffs— Divination— The Augurs— Relation to the magistrates— Funeral 
ceremonies— The calendar of festivals— Abstract deities— Essence of the religion— Keepers of 
the Sibylline books— Moral character of early Romans— Hellenism— Cybele— Bacchus— Degrada- 
tion of morals— The later republic— Decay of religion— Julius Caesar- The Empire — Imperial 
apotheosis— New beliefs— Seneca— Moral state of the empire. 

ALTHOUGH the Romans were akin in stock to the G-reeks, and were 
originally, to some extent, similar in religion, the divergences in 
political history and in personal and civic temperament were so great as 
Early Roman to develop concurrently a decidedly distinct type of religion, 
religion, rpj^^ disunion of Greece was contrasted with the gradual achieve- 
ment of unity in Italy ; the variety of Greek gods was represented in Rome 
by a compendious worship, tribal gods being retained by the combined 
people of early Rome, and later the Greek gods being either adopted de 
novo^ or identified with some of the old Italian divinities. Many of the 
deities most familiar to us by Roman names were scarcely known, and 
certainly were not worshipped at Rome during the period when the little 
city was, by slow and stern discipline, rendering certain its future conquest 
of the world. 

418 



THE R OMAN RELIGION. 419 

Yet, to begin with, the Roman and the Greek religious notions were the 
same. Nature worship, personification of natural forces, hero and ancestor 
worship, were combined in various degrees. Spirits were imagined . . 
in every natural phenomenon, and concerned in the perpetual re- 
production of creation and creatures ; but from an early time the Eomans 
viewed their religion more seriously than the G-reeks, were less gay and 
confident, more gloomy and prudent. Their worship was much more 
marked by fear and awe, and they dared not handle the persons and names 
of their gods so freely. Consequently their mythology is very deficient in 
imagination, and there is almost an entire lack of those marvellous stories in 
which Greece was so prolific. Yet Rome in its way was prohfic in regard 
to religion, for a special spirit was' designated in relation to every action, 
every place, every object ; each man, each family, each clan had its own 
guardian spirit ; and for every State or city separate gods were recognised, 
who, however, might be admitted into the Roman worship by resolution of 
the people. One feature may be taken as common to the Roman religious 
ideas, that of naming them according to their qualities, and by abstract 
terms. The Roman gods do not marry and have children, and do not walk 
about unseen among mortals. Yet they unquestionably gained a powerful 
hold on the minds of the people who reverenced them, and we owe to them 
the most significant word Religion. 

That Alba was a more primitive rehgious and national centre than 
Rome was borne witness to even during the time of Rome's greatness by the 
continuation of the Latin festival on the Alban mount, when an ^^^ ^^^^^^ 
ox was sacrificed to Jupiter as the god of the Latins, and cattle, 
milk, and cheese were contributed by various communities to a joint 
festival. It is impossible now to trace accurately the constituents which 
combined to form the Roman religion, but at least three tribes took part in 
it very early, and the oldest religious bodies consisted of a number divisible 
by thi-ee ; and the earliest festivals, derived from times before the existence 
of towns, show the people as being pastoral and agricultural. We will not 
recite the familiar legend of Romulus, but we may note that it was on the 
Palatine Hill that various supernatural events connected with the founding of 
Rome were believed to have occurred ; and there the priest of Jupiter lived, 
there was the sanctuary of Lupercus, and the meeting-place of the Leaping 
Priests of Mars ; but there were no temples in early times. It is probable 
that the Quirinal Hill was at first the seat of a distinct community, later 
incorporated with the Palatine ; and in its stronghold or Capitol was a sanc- 
tuary of Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva, and of the goddess of Fidelity (later re- 
placed by the new Capitol and its temples). Mars and Lupercus too had their 
bodies of priests on the Quirinal. Within recent years a discovery has been 
made of pre-historic remains on the Esquiline— tombs of the most primitive 
type, going back at least to the fifth century B.C. ; this, then, was doubtless 
the seat of a third settlement. 

At a later period, but still early as regards authentic history, the Romans 
incorporated much that had been Etruscan, or identified the gods they 



420 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

already had with. Etruscan gods. We will not attempt to discuss the racial 
Etruscan connection of the Etruscans ; but there is little in their religious 
religion, remains to negative their being Aryans like the E-omans. They 
recognised two classes of gods — those who directly managed the affairs of the 
world (Dii consentes), and others who were nameless — but controlled the rest. 
The former included Tinia (identified with Jupiter by the E-omans), Uni 
(Juno), Meurfa (Minerva) ; but we find that their functions differed in some 
respects from those of the corresponding Roman gods. Jupiter was their god 
of war, though he ruled over all during peace, and caused the fertility of the 
earth. Minerva was winged as well as armed, represented Fate, and was 
symbolised by a serpent. Venus was known as Turan, Bacchus as Phuph- 
luns, Mercury as Turms, and many other G-reek gods were adopted by the 
Etruscans. They had also Janus, Saturnus, Silvanus, Mantus, Yoltumna 
among nature deities; and the Lares, Penates, etc., which figure prominently 
at Rome, appear to have been Etruscan. No doubt the reigns of the Tar- 
quins had much to do with establishing these at Rome. We have no re- 
mains of their temples, but they appear to have approached a square shape. 
Many of their tombs have, however, been preserved, and the sculptures, in- 
scriptions and paintings on them constitute our most important source of 
information as to their religious as well as other customs. Their religious rites, 
which were gloomy and fantastic, and abounded in repulsive practices, were 
described in certain lost books. Divination, from animals' entrails, from 
natural phenomena and lightning, was much practised under fixed rules. 
There were families charged with the interpretation of them, and consti- 
tuting a priesthood. The Etruscans undoubtedly had a vast influence on 
Roman religion — in augury, teleology, and even the architecture of their 
temples. 

Commencing with Jupiter, we will now give an account of the Roman 
gods, and more particularly of those which are special to the Romans. The 
word Jupiter stands for Jeu piter, Dieu piter — the first part of the 
w^ord being identical in root with divus and dyaus, heaven. 
Thus Jupiter means the heavenly father; and in keeping with this 
the Romans ascribed to him all changes in the heavens, rain, storms, 
thunder, etc., and indeed gave him a special name for each, as Jupiter 
Pluvius (Rainer), Fulgurator (Lightener), Tonans (Thunderer). He is 
termed best (optimus) and highest (maximus), Capitolinus from his dwelling 
on the Capitol, Imperator, Victor, Triumphator, etc., and he had temples 
under many of these distinctive names. His enthronement on the Capito- 
line Hill dates from the time of Tarquin ; but long afterwards he continued 
to be the object of separate worship at various other shrines. One marked 
peculiarity of Jupiter was that of revealing his will by portents, which he 
sends to all who diligently seek them, especially by signs in the heavens 
and the flight of birds. He was originally the god both of the dead and 
the living ; but, as in Greece, the former character dropped out of recogni- 
tion. Jupiter was the patron and protector of human society, guarding 
the sanctity of oaths, the rights of strangers, the unity of the State, etc. 



THE ROMAN RELIGION. 



421 



Jupiter also led the people to war as Victor ; and to him thanks and sacrifice 
were offered by the general on returning from battle. In concluding a 
treaty, the Romans took the symbols of Jupiter, a flint stone and a sceptre 




and some grass from his temple. The consuls sacrificed to Jupiter on taking 
office, and young men did the same when they put on the toga virilis — 
the man's gown. He was invoked at the beginning of every undertaking. 



422 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



The principal festivals to Jupiter were the E-oman and the Great, the 
Capitoline and the Plebeian : all of these included a feast of the magistrates 
;. and senators in the Gapitol. At these feasts seats were left for 

Jupiter, Juno and Minerva, as though they were family feasts of a 
tribe and its gods. There were numerous peculiar features attaching to the 
worship of Jupiter, which were derived from the Etruscans. The priest of 
Jupiter (called Flamen Dialis) was forbidden to touch a corpse ; and if his 
wife died, he lost his office. He was the subject of many taboos ; thus he 
must not see an army, nor leave the city for a night, nor take off his cap of 
office, nor touch a dog, etc. 

As the god of light, the colour white was sacred to Jupiter ; and white 
animals were sacrificed to him. The consuls wore white when they sacri- 
ficed to him, and his priests wore white caps. The god was represented as 

seated on an ivory throne, with 
a bundle of thunderbolts in his 
right hand and a sceptre in his 
left, an eagle standing beside 
his throne. "We need not en- 
large on the Greek aspect given 
to the god after the introduction 
of Greek learning to Rome. 

Juno, identified later with 
the Greek Hera, was originally 
very unlike the wife 
of Zeus. She was 
introduced to Rome from Etrus- 
can cities, where she was the 
goddess of the State and of 
society, and had no naturaHstic 
functions. At Rome she was 
to the female sex what Jupiter 
was to the male, and was especi- 
ally the goddess of everything 
connected with marriage, as well as of young girls ; hence she was known as 
Juno Yirginalis and Matrona, and also as Lucina, from the help she afforded 
in childbirth. A variety of other names, often associated with distinct 
shrines, were given to her. At her great festival, the Matronalia, on the 
Kalends of March, a grand procession of wives and maidens of spotless 
character was made to the temple of Lucina on the. Esquiline Hill. 

It is probable that at an early period Mars was the chief god of at least 
one of the States which combined to form Rome. He was worshipped under 
the name of Marspiter (father Mars), or Maspiter, also Mavors or 
Maurs. Mamers was his name among the Sabines. It is ques- 
tionable whether he was not at first purely an agricultural divinity, the god 
of spring, overcoming the evil effects of winter; but the necessity of war 
to preserve the fruits of agriculture no doubt aided in the transformation of 




THE ROMAN RELIGION. 



423 




Mars into the gocl of war, without his losing all his old characters. He was 
still god of heaven, giver of light, hurhng thunder and sending rain. In 
olden times, there were pro- 
pitiator}^ ceremonies to Mars, 
to ward off drought, pesti- 
lence, etc. At one festival 
a sheep and a reddish dog 
were sacrified by the ilamen 
of Mars, to avert mildew 
from the crops. In times of 
calamity a " sacred spring " 
(rer sacrum) was consecrated 
to Mars, all things born 
then being sacrificed to 
him. Like Jupiter, he gave 
oracles and portents, and 
was a god of the dead and 
of death. 

The Palatine-priests of 
Mars, for many days after 

the first of March, were accustomed to dance in armour through parts of 
Rome, singing a certain song, mentioning all the gods of the city, but 
especially referring to Mamurius or Mamers. The name Quirinus (a Sabine 
word) was also applied to Mars, as reputed father of Romulus and Remus ; 
and his sacred wolf was their foster-mother. The old goddess Bellona, 
goddess of war, was said to be sister, or daughter, or wife of Mars. As going 
to battle with his people. Mars was known as Gradivus ; as an agricultural 
god, he was termed Silvanus. In late times the attributes of the Greek 
Ares were ascribed to Mars. 

With regard to Janus, 
undoubtedly one of the old- 
est of the Roman 
divinities, there 
is much doubt, both as to 
his origin and his true 
character. He is variously 
represented as a dual-god, 
personifying the sun and 
moon, and as simply a god 
of opening and beginning, 
typified in the old begin- 
ning of the year with Jan- 
uary, and by the opening of 
the gates of Janus at the 

beginning of war, and closing them when peace prevailed. The earliest 
representations of the god were simply two-faced heads; later complete 




424 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

statues of him were made witli four faces. Such, a statue was placed 
under a double covered gateway, known as the temple of Janus : the open 
gates in war signified that the god had gone out with the people to battle. 
But Janus was also regarded as the god of the beginning of all occupations 
and actions ; and it was a marked feature of the Romans to attribute ill- 
success to an ill-beginning, necessitating recommencement. As Jupiter 
by favourable augury gave his sanction and Janus blessed the beginning, 
these two gods were invoked first in every undertaking. New Year's Day 
was the special festival of Janus, on which the people were anxious that 
every word and action should be pure and favourable. Consequently they 
gave presents to one another, abstained from cursing and quarrelling, began 
some of their work for the year, etc. His appropriate sacrifices were cakes, 
barley, incense, and wine, which were offered to him at the beginning of 
every month. His name was always invoked, and a libation was poured 
out to him before sacrificing to the other gods. Possibly Janus represents a 
very early ruler of one of the Italian tribes, who showed such powers of 
memory and foresight that he came to be credited with full knowledge both 
of the past and the fu.ture, and was deified after death. This is confirmed 
by the story that the Greek Kronos, whom they identified with Saturnus^ 
one of their own agricultural gods, took refuge, after his defeat by the 
Titans, with Janus, king of Italy, who shared his throne with him, and so 
introduced a golden age of prosperity. Saturnus had a temple at the bottom 
of the Capitoline Hill, in which the State laws and the public treasures were 
preserved. The name Saturnus is really derived from the word for sowing 
{sero^ sevi^ sahim), and probably represents the introducer of agriculture, his 
character resembling that of Demeter rather than Kronos. His wife was 
Ops, goddess of plenty, afterwards identified with Ehea, wife of Kronos. 

Minerva, the third of the early Roman triad (Jupiter, Juno, and 
Minerva — derived from the same root as mens, mind), is the impersonation of 

thou&'ht and invention, or even, according to Varro, of all ideas. She 
Minerva. . . . 

is said to have invented numbers, and was the patroness of all arts 

and trades. She specially, as a virgin goddess, protected women, to whom 
she gave skill in sewing, spinning, weaving, etc. But she was also a war 
goddess, supplying the mental qualities, — cunning, prudence, courage, and 
perseverance, — needed for success ; consequently she wore a helmet, shield, 
and coat of mail. As the inventor of musical instruments, especially of wind, 
she was of great importance to festival celebrations ; and the instruments 
used in them were purified on the last day of Minerva's festival in March. 
She was the guardian of schools ; and during her festival boys had holiday, 
and brought a special gift to their master, known as the Minerval. 

Yesta, the goddess of the hearth, an early divinity at Rome, was very like 
the Greek Hestia in attributes. She was honoured at every Roman family 
meal, together with the Penates; but her great sanctuary was be- 
tween the Capitoline and Palatine Hills, where, instead of a statue, 
there burned an eternal fire, kept up by her virgin priestesses, the Yestals. A 
great festival, the Yestalia, was celebrated in her honour on the 9th of June. 



THE ROMAN RELIGION. 425 

Numerous other gods may be mentioned as among the early objects of 
Eoman worship, principally connected with agriculture ; such as Flora, the 
goddess of flowers, represented as a beautiful girl decked with yigt^.. 
flowers, and honoured at a mirthful festival at the end of April ; Pomona. 
Pomona, the goddess of fruit-trees and representative of autumn ; Vertumnus, 
god of garden and field produce, to whom gardeners offered the 
first produce, with garlands of budding flowers ; he was also con- 
nected with various circumstances of change {verto^ I turn), the change ot 




SACRIFICING TO THE LARES, OR GODS OF THE HEARTH. 

seasons, purchase and sale, the return of rivers to their beds after floods ; 

Pales, a god of flocks and shepherds, and also of husbandry. The 

name of the Palatine Hill is connected with this god. During 

his festival, on April 21st, shepherds ignited a quantity of straw and drove 

their flocks through it, themselves following, as a purification from sin. 

Terminus, the god of boundaries and landmarks ; Consus, the god of 
secret counsel and of the infernal regions ; Silvanus, the god of plantations 
and forests ; Picus, the son of Saturnus, another divinity of the Terminus, 
woods, possessing prophetic gifts ; Comus, who presided over suvanus, etc. 
banquets and gay festivities generally ; Libitina, the goddess of funerals, are 



426 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

other peculiarly Roman divinities. The temple of Libitina at E/Ome con- 

comusand tained all necessaries for burials, and these could either be bought 

Libitma. qj, hired there. Terminus was probably an appellation of Jupiter 

in his capacity of protector of property. Picumnus and Pilumnus were two 

brother deities protecting marriage and newborn children. 

Pilumnus warded off sufferings, while Picumnus gave the infant 

health and prosperity. It does not tend to raise our idea of the Roman 

character when we learn that an altar was suffered to exist at E-ome to 

Laverna, the goddess of thieves and impostors, as well as a grove on the 

Salernian road. Robigus, the antagonist of Flora, is more intelligible. As 

he destroyed young plants by mildew, he was appropriately propitiated by 

Prophetic prayers and sacrifices. The Camense were four prophetic 

Nymphs, nymphs, analogous to the Greek Muses. Carmenta, one of them, 

was also a healing divinity, with a temple at the foot of the Capitoline Hill. 

Egeria was the nymph who is said to have taught Numa Pompilius the 

form of public worship. We shall not detail the various beliefs introduced 

into Eome from Greece in the later ages of the Republic and the early time 

^j^^ of the Empire. Ceres, Yenus, Apollo, Neptune, Diana, Yulcan, 

Greek gods Mercury, Bacchus, and other gods besides those we have men- 

' tioned were considerably recognised and worshipped in this later 

period ; and the characteristics of their Greek representatives were ascribed 

to them. 

The Penates, or household gods of the Romans, were connected with 
inner or private matters (penus), and perhaps originally were gods of the 
The hearth and kitchen. They were always spoken of as plural, and 
hou^eifoid^ two images of them were placed on the hearth, but no specific 
gods. name was given to them. In late times they were identified 
with various gods ; but they are more probably derived from primitive 
animism, resembling the early Teutonic household gods, and the Chinese 
god of the kitchen. The close connection of the Penates with domestic life 
is evident from the fact that their name became synonymous with "home." 
The old Romans used to have a morning family gathering (including the 
slaves), to offer sacrifice and prayer to the Penates. Their blessing was 
asked before meals, and after the meal part of the food was burned upon 
the hearth. Sometimes the images were brought in and set upon the table. 
On the Kalends (1st), Nones (5th or 7th), and Ides (13th or 15th) of the 
month a special family worship took place, when the images were decorated 
and crowned, and offerings of cakes, honey, wine, and incense were made to 
them ; and birthdays, marriages and safe returnings from journeys were 
similarly celebrated. There were also public or national Penates, with a 
temple at Lavinium and another at Rome, in which were two images 
of youths holding spears. 

The Lares were the ancestral spirits of the family, regarded as still 

capable of protecting it and giving its inmates prosperity. One special 

Lar, the founder of the family, was worshipped in each house, and 

'honoured by an image beside those of the Penates. A part of 



THE ROMAN RELIGION. 



427 



every meal was offered to it ; and on every important occasion the head and 
members of the household saluted these images ; and a bride's first duty 
on entering her husband's house was to sacrifice to the Lar. The name 
Zar, which is possibly Etruscan, signifies lord, king, or hero. There were 
public Lares, with temples and public worship at Rome and in all Roman 
towns ; and there were also Lares of the country, the high roads, and the sea. 
The Lares were but special instances of the Manes or spirits of the 
departed. The tendency to think of the departed as good and favourable, 




VESTALS OFFEIUNG SACIUFICE. 



led to the frequent interchange of the words ; they are also spoken of as 

the Dii Manes and worshipped with divine honours. At certain ^ „ 

'^ ^ The Manes, 

seasons sacrifices were offered to the spirits of the departed, and 

there was an annual festival to them. The Larvae, or Lemures, were the 

shades of the dead considered as unfavourable, and as wandering upon 

earth in hideous shapes, seeking to harm their relatives. On 

three nights in May the Lemuralia were observed, in order to 

propitiate the Lemurs. At midnight the head of the family went outside 

the door of the house, making signs with his hand, which were supposed to 

keep the Lemurs away. After three times washing his hands in spring- 



428 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



The GeniL 



water, lie turned round, and placed some black beans in bis moutb, wbich 
be afterwards tbrew bebind bim. It was believed tbat tbe spectres col- 
lected tbese beans. After some further ablutions, 
the father cried out nine times, " Begone, you 
spectres of the house ! " and then they were 
harmless. 

Associated in thought with the Lares and 
Penates, and sometimes confused with them, 
were the G-enii, or protecting spirits ; 
indeed, they were supposed to preside 
at the origin of, or to produce each living crea- 
ture, and to accompany it through hfe. As to 
mankind, the genius was supposed to stimulate 
each person to noble deeds, to comfort him in sor- 
row, and generally to act as guide and guardian 
angel. Some held the belief that the genius 
could change character, and now be a good and 
now an evil genius ; while another belief was, that an evil as well as a 
good genius accompanied each soul and struggled together for mastery. 
On various occasions, as birthdays, sacrifices of wine, cakes, and incense 
were offered to a man's genius ; and merry meetings were regarded as 
pleasures given to the genius. Each State and town was supposed to have 
its peculiar genius. They are generally represented as winged beings. 




While the Romans borrowed much of their architecture from the 
Greeks, they added to the elements thence derived, one of first-class 
Roman importance, namely the round arch ; yet they had not sufficient 
temples. ^Y\S\. to make with the aid of the latter graceful buildings ; and it 
was not till after the conquest of G-reece that fine temples were built by the 
Romans. Then, however, they built them on a splendid scale, and with 
some new developments, but never reached the perfection of Greece. In 
early times there were but few and small temples in Rome ; and the altar was 
the earlier and more important structure. Usually the temples were built 

facing the west, with the images of the 
god similarly placed, so that worshippers 
entering faced the east. The temples 
were also as far as possible so arranged 
that passers-by could readily look into 
them and salute the god. 

Owing to the absence or fragmentary 

nature of the remains of Roman temples, 

it is difficult to give a satisfactory account 

of them. There are no remains by which 

'"'''^''* we can certainly reconstruct the temple 

of the Capitoline Jove. The great Pantheon, with its magnificent dome, is 

the finest example of Roman originality in architecture ; but it dates from 




THE ROMAN RELIGION, 



429 




CASTOR AND POLLUX, 



the time of the early emperors, and it is not certain that it was ever used 
for public worship. 

The earliest distinct 
mention of a priest at Rome 
is in connection Roman 
with Mars — the priests, 
flamen Martialis, accom- 
panied by twelve leapers 
(the salii) who danced and 
sang at the annual festival 
of Mars. The organisation 
of early Roman worship 
seems to have included in 
some cases single priests of 
certain gods, and in others colleges of priests, often twelve in number, to 
celebrate worship on behalf of the people. The priest of Jupiter (flamen 
Dialis) with the flamen Martialis and the flamen Quirinalis, formed the chief 
trio of priests. The worship of Vesta, attended to by the six vestal virgins, 
was possibly the most sacred of all. The virgins were chosen between the 
ages of six and ten years, and were of perfect form and intelligence and 
honourable family. They were compelled to serve for thirty years, ten 
of which were the novitiate; but mostly the vestals remained The vestal 
priestesses for life. Neglect to watch and maintain the sacred virgins. 
Are being deemed a heinous offence, endangering the existence of the city, 
the priestess in fault was severely scourged. The vestals had also to 
present offerings to the goddess, to cleanse and purify the shrine, to assist 
at all the great public festivals, and to guard the supposed sacred pledge 
and guarantee of the permanence of Roman power, which was kept in the 
inmost sanctum, and the nature of which is not known. If a vestal broke 
her vow of chastity, death was the penalty, at 
first by stoning, but later by burial ahve with 
many of the ceremonies of a funeral. The 
Vestals were maintained at the public cost, 
and endowed with considerable funds, and 
they received many honours. The construc- 
tion of the House of the Vestals shows many 
arrangements suited rather to a cold climate 
than to Italy — which may be survivals from 
the practices of the Romans' ancestors. 

There were altogether fifteen flamens, who 

held office for life, unless they committed a 

breach of duty. They wore a special 

n 111 1 -1 Tlie flamens. 

woollen cloak, and a round or conical . 

cap called the apex, fastened by strings, and 

terminated by a pointed piece of olive-wood, the base of which was sur- 
rounded by a lock of wool. The flamen Dialis, though highly honoured, 




430 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

was subject to many restrictions. He might never be absent from the city 
for one night ; the legs of his bed were smeared with earth, perhaps an 
indication that he once slept on the ground; he might not touch a horse, a 
dog, a she-goat, ivy, beans, or raw flesh ; in early times he could not hold 
a magistracy, though this was relaxed later. Thus he was compelled to be 
always devoted to his duties. His wife, called flaminica^ gave essential 
service in certain ceremonies, and had a special costume. 

The priestly colleges were more important than the individual priests. 
The pontiffs (pontifices) formed an order or college to which supreme 
religious authority was given by the State. They were originally 
' five in number, including their chief, the pontifex maximus ; but 
the number was raised to nine in B.C. 300, and in 81 B.C. to fifteen. They 
were elected by different methods at different periods ; but on the whole 
they were pretty successful in retaining the right to nominate their own 
candidates when vacancies occurred. They had control over all the flamens 
of particular deities, and directed all State ceremonies. They kept the boohs 
which laid down the order of public and private worship, and they were 
bound to give information to any one who consulted them about religious 
matters. They determined the proper forms for burials and for appeasing the 
Manes. When any deficiency was observed in regulations already existing, 
they made new ones, generally, however, being guided by what was in 
accordance with established custom. Without being responsible to the 
Senate or to any court of law, they had the power of punishing any one who 
disobeyed their commands. They arranged and proclaimed the State 
calendar, contaiDing the dates of the various festivals, of new and full moon, 
etc., and thus undoubtedly we must regard them as embodying much of the 
historical and scientific knowledge of the time; in fact, they themselves 
described their sphere as " the science of things divine and human." In 
general the Pontifex Maximus was a distinguished person ; and in the later 
years of the republic he was often at the same time consul, though the 
pontifex never left Italy till the time of Crassus. Under the emperors 
their power was greatly weakened, the emperors exercising the right to 
nominate any persons pontiffs when they liked, and always appointing 
themselves chief pontiffs. 

Divination, or the ascertainment of the will of the gods, was represented 

at Home by the augurs, a word at first applied to men skilled only in 

divining by birds, but later extended very considerably. Their 
Divination. , i ' . . -^ , p f i t 

' art was Jsnown as augury or aicsptczum ; and our use oi the words 

auspicious and inauguration testifies to the deep impress which this mode 

of divination has left. According to Livy, at Rome everything was done 

according to auspices. The E-omans were distinguished from numerous 

other nations by their small regard to astrology, prophecy, and 

e augurs, ^^g^^jes (excepting under Greek influence) ; but they paid great 

attention to unusual natural events, especially unfavourable ones, which they 

termed prodigies — to thunder and lightning, the flight of birds, the feeding 

of chickens, etc. A remarkable account of divination is given by Cicero,; 



THE ROMAN RELIGION. 431 

who was himself an augur, in his two books on that subject. The regard 
given to the flight of birdi^ at Rome was founded on the belief that birds 
were the messengers of Jove ; they derived from studying them intimations 
of what they were to do or not to do. Thus, whenever it was reported by 
an augur that Jupiter thundered or lightened, the public comitia could 
not be held. 

Birds gave auguries by flight or by voice. The eagle (known especially 
as Jove's bird) and vulture were among the chief birds whose flight was 
studied, while the raven, crow, hen, and owl afforded signs by voice, a special 
meaning being given to every sound they uttered, varying according to the 
circumstances, the time of the year, etc. The feeding of special chickens, 
especially on military expeditions, was noted ; if they ate greedily, it was a 
favourable sign ; if they refused their food, and beat their wings, etc., the 
omen was unfavourable. Auspices from quadrupeds were only used in 
private divination ; a fox, wolf, dog, horse, or any quadruped unexpectedly 
crossing any one's path, gave an indication, varying according to circum- 
stances. Sneezing, stumbling, and other personal matters were also con- 
sidered to be means whereby the gods indicated their will. 

In taking the auspices, the augur flrst marked off with a wand a certain 
portion of the heavens which he was to observe for the flight of birds and 
other phenomena, and set up a tent with an opening in that direction. 
Then he watched from this observatory, amid silence and quiet, until some 
indication appeared by which he could interpret the will of the gods. 

Originally the augurs were persons appointed to assist the king or 
chief magistrate, and for a long period only patricians were eligible for 
the office. Any patrician could take private auspices. The 
chief magistrates continued to be the possessors of the right to the 
to take and declare the auspices ; but the augurs were the ™^^^^ 
continuous representatives of the art of augury ; and as they acquired 
the right of pronouncing whether the indications were favourable or un- 
favourable, they really had a veto upon all important public business. Up 
to B.C. 300 there were four augurs ; then they were increased to nine. 
Sulla added six more, and Julius Csesar made the number sixteen. New 
members were elected by the surviving augurs, till b.c. 103, when they were 
elected by popular vote, after which there were variations of law. Finally 
the emperors assumed the right of appointing augurs at pleasure. By this 
time augury had become a mere farce. 

We have little knowledge of early Roman marriage. In the later 
Republic the only form of marriage celebrated with religious rites was that 
known as confavreatio^ when a sheep was sacrificed, and the bride and 
bridegroom sat down upon its skin, spread over two chairs. Then a solemn 
prayer was pronounced, followed by another sacrifice. Many of the other 
forms observed are of great significance in anthropology. 

Roman funeral ceremonies were not specially religious in character ; 
but a coin was placed in the mouth of the corpse to pay Charon, as in 
Greece. In early times burial was in vogue ; in the later Republic burning 



432 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



took its place, and continued in general use till Christianity had gained 
Funeral cere- great influence. In early times captives and slaves were killed 
monies. ^^ j^^ funeral pile ; later, animals took their place, and gladia- 
tors fought around the burning pile. The ashes were deposited in funeral 
urns, which, in the case of rich people, were placed in fine monuments of 
different forms, which occupied long distances by the side of public roads, 
such as the Via Appia. All persons who attended a funeral were rendered 
impure, and required purifying by a priest, who sprinkled them with pure 
water from an olive or laurel branch. Tombs were held sacred, and those 
who violated them were liable to heavy punishment. The mourning and 
various ceremonies after a funeral lasted for nine days, after which another 
sacrifice was offered, and a feast was given in honour of the dead. The 
tombs were visited at certain periods, and sacrifices and gifts were offered 
to the dead. In particular there was an annual festival {Feralia) at which 
food was carried to the tombs. 

We gain considerable insight into early Roman religion from the very 
early calendar of public festivals which has come down to us. There we 
The calendar see Jupiter, Mars, and Quirinus in the leading places. Jupiter was 
of festivals, celebrated on all the days of full moon (Ides) and on various wine 
festivals and other days ; Mars on the 1st of March and the great festivals 
of March, as well as in autumn after campaigns were over. In April there 
were festivals to Tellus, the earth, to Ceres, to Pales, goddess of flocks, and 
Jupiter as protector of vines, and to Eobigus, the enemy of the crops. Cen- 
sus and Ops were celebrated in harvest time and in December, in which 
month also the Saturnalia took place as a festival of seed-sowing. In Feb- 
ruary took place the wolf festival of the shepherds (Lupercalla), and the 
boundary festival of the husbandmen. Vulcan's was almost the only handi- 
craft festival, in August ; but there was a second festival to him in May, 
the consecration of trumpets. The Neptunalia in July, the Portunalia (the 
harbour festival), and that of the Tiber in August, represented sea divini- 
ties. Yesta and the Penates were honoured in June ; the Matralia in the 
same month celebrated the goddess of birth, and the Liheralia was a festival 
of childbirth. Departed spirits were honoured on February 21st, and the 
ghosts or Lemures had a three days' festival in May. The flight of King 
Tarquin was kept in mind on February 29th, while the peoples' flight was 
noted on July 5th, though it is doubtful what event it commemorated. 
Several other festival days seem scarcely intelligible. 

The abstractness of Roman worship is one of its most noteworthy fea- 
tures. Unlike the Greeks, with their warm imaginations, they did not give 
Abstract elaborate personal histories to their gods ; they were rather names 
deities. fQj. qualities or ideals. Their festivals had reference mainly to 
practical wants and considerations. The frugal, legal, and commercial 
spirit of the people is well seen in their early religion. They were particu- 
larly interested in the departed spirits because of the benefits they thought 
they could render to the living ; and no doubt many of their gods, like 
those of the Greeks, represented deified heroes who had conferred great 




UHK hMlhiiUU 



LALIGULA Wor.SUn-l'KI> ItKKOUK TIIK STATUES Ut 



434 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

benefits on the people. In all things tlie kings or magistrates were supreme. 
The priests never acquired the supremacy the Brahmans gained in India ; 
and when the magistrates were priests also, it was rather a sign of the 
temporal power controlling the spiritual than the reverse. 

We have received no verbal ritual, no celebrated sacred book from the 
Homans ; and clearly their genius did not go in this direction. Mommsen 
Essence of the says that their religion depended only in a minor degree on fear 
religion. Qf natural forces, and consisted especially in songs of joy, in games 
and dances, and in banquets. Yet all extravagant expense was strictly for- 
bidden. " At the very core of the Latin religion," he says, •' there lay that 
profound moral impulse which leads men to bring earthly guilt and earthly 
punishment into relation with the world of the gods. . . . The execu- 
tion of the criminal was as much an expiatory sacrifice offered to the 
divinity as was the killing of an enemy in just war. . . . The profound 
and fearful idea of substitution also meets us here ; when the gods of the 
community were angry, and nobody could be laid hold of as definitely 
guilty, they might be appeased by one who voluntarily gave himself up ; 
noxious chasms in the ground were closed, and battles half lost were con- 
verted into victories, when a brave burgess threw himself as an expiatory 
offering into the abyss or upon the foe. The sacred spring was based on a 
similar view ; all the offspring, whether of cattle or of men, within a speci- 
fied period were presented to the gods," This was no doubt a sacrifice in 
view of the removal of a calamity, and at first, no doubt, all infants born 
within the assigned periods (March and April) were sacrificed. In later 
times the infants were allowed to grow up to the age of twenty, and then 
were marched out of the State, to go where they would. Thus, no doubt, 
many colonies were formed ; and the Mamertines of Sicily in particular 
derived their descent from such an exodus. 

Such a religion, in the hands of a commercial and legal people, became 
very formal. '' The gods confronted man just as a creditor confronted his 
Its formality debtor — each of them had a right to certain performances and 
andunreaiity.pg^yj^gj^^g . ^^^ ^^ ^^ number of the gods was as great as the 
number of the incidents in earthly life, and the neglect or wrong performance 
of the worship of each god revenged itself in the corresponding incident, it 
was a laborious and difficult task even to gain a knowledge of one's religious 
obligations," and the priests gained a corresponding influence. Yet the 
individual man had to discharge his religious obligations himself; and no 
doubt through this there came to be various ceremonies in which a sham or 
a literal fulfilment of an obligation at little expense was substituted for 
something more genuine. ^' They presented to the lord of the sky heads 
of onions and poppies, that he might launch his lightnings at these rather 
than at the heads of men. In payment of the offering annually demanded 
by father Tiber, thirty puppets plaited of rushes were annually thrown into 
the stream." Legality, not genuine devotion, zeal for the State and its 
progress, not for the righteousness of the individual, were the keynotes 
of Roman religion. It was on the whole a religion easy to understand ; it 



THE ROMAN RELIGION. 435 

powerfully aided the State in its growtli and^ in maintaining its stability ; 
but it did not tend to give rise to great works of imagination, of poetry, of 
art, or even to great religious books. Hence it died, while Hinduism and 
Buddhism have lived. 

Greek influence may be credited with the origin of the third college 
at Rome, of men skilled in interpreting oracles, originally the keepers and 
interpreters of the Sibylline books, which contained prophetic j, 
utterances and oracles in Greek. At first two men were charged the sibyUine 
with this function, who had two slaves skilled in Greek ; later 
there were ten and then fifteen members in this college, who consulted the 
books only by special command of the Senate. The books were destroyed 
when the temple of Capitoline Jove was burnt, in b.c. 82 ; but new ones 
were collected and compiled in later times. The Delphian Apollo was also 
consulted by the Romans in comparatively early days of the Republic ; and 
Hercules was adopted into current conceptions as a god of gain by special 
adventure or good fortune. Generals gave a tenth of their spoil, and 
merchants a tenth of their property, to Hercules at the altar in the cattle 
market, and business agreements were confirmed at the same altar. His 
altars were everywhere to be seen in the streets and on country roads. 
Castor and Pollux, Hermes as Mercury, and ^sculapius were also among 
the Greek gods early adopted by the Romans. 

We must view the moral character of the Romans by the light of the 

conquests they achieved as well as the religion they believed in. Justice 

to equals, sternness to inferiors, to women, to children, were ,, , ^ 

^ . . . . . , ' Moral cha- 

among its characters. The religion was certainly a binding force.racter of early 

but not one of affection. Morals were cherished, such at least as ^°"^^^^- 
could be seen to affect the welfare of the State ; but any questions of con- 
duct which did not affect the State or the father's rule were most probably 
decided on selfish principles; and the aristocrat and the rich man did largely 
as they liked, within the limits of State welfare. Extravagance was sternly 
repressed, however; rich men were heavily taxed ; and we may view Roman 
morals under the earlier Republic as the most advanced the world had yet 
seen in general practice. A more than Chinese rule of the father over his 
family gave him power to kill or to sell his son ; and this discipline, loveless 
and stern, carried out in State and army, enabled the Romans to conquer 
the world. 

In the third and second centuries B.C. the State religion, Hellenised, be- 
came more expensive; and in 196 b.c. a new college of three banquet masters 
was added to the other three. The priests gained more privileges, 
and were more highly endowed ; and it was rare for an estate to 
descend without a heavy sacrificial obligation as a perpetual charge. A 
tenth of a man's property was often given to religion, and with the pro- 
ceeds a public feast was given twice a month at Rome. More money was 
spent, and more pedantry was displayed in every department of religion, 
and insensibly the old beliefs were being undermined. The consuls began 
to arrange the auguries to suit their own views ; and poets and philosophers 



436 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

began to explain away the gods, leading to belief in no gods. Then super- 
stitions, conjuring, charms, and astrology from the East began to make way. 
I In B.C. 204 the Phrygian goddess Cybele, mother of the gods, 

I' " was publicly admitted among the Roman divinities, and a rough 

stone was imported as the real Mother Cybele with great rejoicing ; and her 
eunuch priests in Oriental costume marched through the streets with foreign 
music and begged from door to door. A few years afterwards Bacchus 
worship was introduced, and corrupt orgies were celebrated, lead- 
ing rapidly to widespread crime and immorality. Though many 
thousands were sentenced to death for these crimes, the evil was not sup- 
pressed. Against it the pure, well-governed life of the type of Cato the 
Elder had little chance of permanence. With him may be said to have 
disappeared that grand morality which was a reality in ancient Rome, that 
zealous industry for State and family which made Rome great. Crime, im- 
Degradation D^orality, and luxury spread, as vividly described in Mommsen 
of morals. (Book iii. chap, xiii.); and the festivals of the gods were made the 
occasion for extravagant banquets and display, women taking a more and 
more prominent part. Grand spectacles and gladiatorial games became com- 
mon. Money and pleasure were the new gods. "All shifts seemed allowable 
to attain rapidly to riches — plundering and begging, cheating on the part of 
V ^^^ contractors and swindling on the part of speculators, usurious trading in 
Ir'^^ money and in grain, even the turning of purely moral relations such as 

friendship and marriage to economic account. Marriage especially became 
on both sides a matter of mercantile speculation ; marriages for money were 
common." 

Are we reading the description of rich Rome only ? Cannot the same 
things be said to a large extent of England in the nineteenth century ; and 
if so, are we so much better than the Romans ? 

Later still, from 150 to 100 b.c, extravagance and immorality increased 
at Rome to a frightful extent. Luxury and Hellenism, with scepticism 
The later about the national gods, were almost universal among the educated 
Republic, classes, though there are signs that the uneducated were not so 
bad, at any rate in many parts of Italy outside Rome. Yet the example of 
the leaders was most evil in its effects. There was in progress a combina- 
tion of Grreek and Roman civilisation in which the old faith and the stern 
morality were largely lost. Instead there were unbelief, state-ceremonial, 
and the Greek gods, popular superstition, and the introduction of Asiatic 
and Egyptian sects. Not being original in philosophy, the Romans became 
bad imitators only ; and the schools we described in the last chapter gave 
their names if not their thoughts to those Romans who cared to think at all 
seriously on such subjects. The Stoics were the most influential, for their 
toleration of popular and State religion, their view of every phenomenon as 
Decay of i^ i^s degree divine, their honour for deceased heroes, their casu- 
reiigion. igtical morality, suited the intelligent Roman very well. Many 
said, that while the intelligent had no need of religion, the populace must 
be fed and controlled by signs and wonders ; and religious rites and grand 



THE ROMAN RELIGION. 437 

festivals were kept up more than ever. Indeed, tlie providing of expensive 
sacrifices and games came to be a qualification for magistracy, wliich none 
but tbe rich could afford. We need not detail the foreign elements which 
found their way to Rome ; it must suffice to say that they were abundant, 
varied, and not in any way an improvement on the beliefs which Eome had 
now laid aside. 

These evils grew, and were exaggerated up to the time of the Caesars. 
Julius Caesar, at least in some respects, endeavoured to stem the torrent of 
evil, making regulations against extravagance, and, to a consider- juuus 
able extent, enforced them. Morality and virtue had almost csesar. 
become unknown ; crimes of all kinds, including murder, were frequent. 
Caesar's police at least checked this open licence. As he tolerated the 
Egyptian gods in Rome, so he permitted the Jews to worship freely there, 
and so established at Rome the germ of the mighty Christian revolution. 
But the spirit of the people is shown by the introduction at the gladiatorial 
games of the practice of deciding as to the fate of the vanquished by the 
will of the spectators. Men of strength and courage were so far without a 
field for their labour, that free men were known to sell themselves to be 
gladiators. Nothing new arose in Rome itself to purify morals and religion, 
except so far as the rise of imperialism led to the adoption of measures 
needed to secure military unity. The Epicureans and Cynics extended their 
influence. 

Under the Empire some renewal of hfe came to the old religion, with 
its Greek transformation. The Emperor Augustus discerned that religion 
might be made use of to strengthen his empire ; and his super- 
stition about many things is well established. His very title 
embodied an idea of sacredness allied to divinity. He rebuilt old temples 
and restored ancient customs ; and he added three important new worships 
and temples, those of Venus Genitrix, Mars Ultor (the avenger), 
and Apollo Palatinus. The latter he particularly affected, often 
wearing the attributes of his favourite deity. He also endeavoured to 
reform public morals as to expenses, marriage, and the behaviour of women. 
He restored (in b.c. 16) the " secular games," which had previously in- 
cluded expiatory sacrifices to the deities of the lower world, Pluto and 
Proserpine, but which he replaced by Apollo and Diana. It was for this 
occasion that Horace's '' Carmen Saeculare " was composed, in magnification 
of Rome and Augustus. The Emperor was made a member of aU the 
priestly colleges, and supreme pontiff; the latter title was held by the 
Emperors up to the reign of Gratian, that is, for nearly four centuries. The 
Emperors were supreme in matters of religion. This supremacy was recog- 
nised in many quarters of the Roman Empire by the introduction of the 
Emperor's name into the old festivals, and the celebration of many new ones 
in his honour. Augustus, in the latter part of his life, built a new temple 
to Vesta adjoining his temple of Apollo ; and his own palace assumed many 
of the characters of a temple. The people, who had already acquiesced in 
the deification of Julius Caesar, made Augustus a god during his lifetime ; 



438 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

and we can trace in the history of early Roman Emperors the process by 
which many at least of the ancient gods came to be worshipped. Temples 
of Augustus, of Rome, and of the living Roman Emperor were rapidly built 
in many cities, served by priests of Augustus and of Rome. These became 
in each province the heads of the national religion, and, as such, played a 
great part in endeavouring to put down Christianity. Space does not 
permit us to follow here the history of the downfall of the Roman religion 
before the advance of Christianity. We can but note the singular accord 
between some of the teachings and behefs of Seneca (died a.d. 65) and 
several of the Christian doctrines, such as the forgiveness of injuries and 
the overcoming of evil with good ; and the lofty moral tone of the 
Emperor Marcus Aurelius (121-180), whose practical wisdom, control of 
tipdily passions, and belief in the necessity of obeying conscience, make 
him very remarkable among Roman Emperors. 

Seneca, though far from offering a bright example of moral conduct, — 
for he was the confidential adviser of the notorious Agrippina, and his 
having been the tutor of Nero does not redound to his credit as a success- 
ful inculcator of moral precepts, — must be judged in the light of his 
evil surroundings. Though he made happiness the main object of life, his 
statement of his aim is not an ignoble one : " True happiness is to be free 
from perturbations, to understand our duties toward God and man ; to 
enjoy the present, without any anxious dependence upon the future ; not 
to amuse ourselves with either hopes or fears, but to rest satisfied with 
what we have, which is abundantly sufficient; for he that is so wants 
nothing." But, he adds, there is no condition of life that excludes a wise 
man from discharging his duty : and in everything a man is to be honest 
and conscientious. Seneca has a comfortable belief in Providence, saying 
that God deals with us as a good father does by his children ; tries us, 
hardens us, fits us for himself; chastises some under the appearance of 
blessing, and blesses some when appearing to chastise them. He teaches 
that men ought to live for others, and be kind to slaves; and that the 
mind ought to rule the body. He strenuously denounced gladiatorial 
exhibitions. Marcus Aurelius, as Emperor, was an upholder of the Roman 
State religion and a persecutor of the Christians who denied it, and who 
especially denied the deity of the Roman Emperor. Yet he did many noble 
acts, and regarded mankind as a brotherhood, bound to strive for the 
common good. " No man," he says, " can do me a real injury, because no 
man can force me to misbehave myself ; nor can I find it in my heart to 
hate or be angry with one of my own nature and family." He had not 
such a particular belief in Providence as Seneca, though he thought the 
gods directed all for the best ; and neither he nor Seneca had a very confi- 
dent faith in a future life. 

[Mommsen's "Kome "; Boissier's " Eoman Eeligion from Augustus to the Antonines"; Smith's 
Dictionaries; " Encyclopaedia Britannica," under names of gods.] 



CHAPTER V. 
COe Jltligton of tt)e Cfiitong (incIuUiuff ^lauliinafaians). 

Imperfect materials— Grimm's Teutonic mythology— Animism and ancestor worship— Woden, or Odia 
— His attributes— Frig-g-, or Frig-ga— Thor, or Donar— His hammer— His worship in Norway— Tiu, 
or Ziu— Fro, or Frey — His temple at Trondheim—Freyja—Njord—iEger— Balder— His death- 
Explanations of the Balder myth— Heimdal—Bragi— Goddesses -Erda or Nerthus— Loki— Hel 
and her domain- The Teuton cosmogony— Origin of the gods— Valhalla— Its influence— The ash- 
tree Ygdrasil— The Supreme Deity— Prayer and sacrifice— Human and animal victims— Fruit and 
drink offerings —Worship in woods— The temple Tanfana— Images of the gods— Destruction of 
Irminsul— The priests— Beliefs in spirits, etc.— Ragnarok, or the end of the world— Doubtful 
points— Moral condition. 

ALTHOUGH the native religion of the Teutons, — including in that name 
Scandinavians and Anglo-Saxons, as well as Germans, — was practised 
much later than that of the Greeks and Romans, we know far less about it,. 
because the Teutons were less literary and cultivated than the imperfect 
Mediterranean peoples, and because, apparently, the northern materials, 
religion was less fully and definitely developed. Yet we have in the 
collections of old myths known as the Eddas, — the older believed to have 
been compiled in the twelfth century in the Orkney or Shetland Islands- 
by an Icelander, the younger in the thirteenth, by Snorre Sturlason, the 
Icelandic historian, — and in the writings of Are, an Icelandic priest who 
wrote in the early part of the twelfth century, in the " Historia Danica " of 
Saxo Grammaticus, written in Latin, and in various writings of Tacitus^ 
Dis, Marullinus, etc., extremely valuable materials for study. ^ 

But it remained for the nineteenth century to furnish us with a most 
important contribution to the elucidation of Teutonic religion in the 
gigantic work of Jacob Grimm (1785-1863), " Teutonic Myth- f.^^^,^ 
ology,"2 in which philosophy, folk-tales, old customs, and anti- "Teutonic^ 
quarian remains were combined with the old literature to ^^' 

reconstruct a system of ideas and practices which had long vanished from 
general recognition. He demonstrated the close affinity of speech and 
mythology between the Scandinavian and the German divisions of the 
Teuton race, the joint possession by all Teutonic languages of many terms 
relating to religious worship, and similar changes of gods into devils, of old 
festivals into Christian ones, and the remains of old beliefs about the gods 
in folk-tales and common phrases. Consequently Grimm is a great source 
from which knowledge on the subject must be drawn, although there is 
still much to be done in tracing the relations between the Teutonic and 
other Aryan mythologies. 

* See the works of Are (ed. Vi^^f iisson and F. York Powell) ; the Elder and the Younger 
Edda; Saxo's '"Historia Danica"; Jacob Grimm, "Teutonic Mythology"; Eydberg's 
" Teutonic Mythology " ; llasmus B. Anderson's " Norse Mythology." 

- First published in 1835 ; now obtainable in an excellent English translation. 

i:}9 



440 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

Mr. York Powell ascribes to the Teutons animistic and anthropomorphic 
beliefs, as well as ancestor worship. They believed that all inanimate 
AnimiRTYi flTi^i ohjects and animate beings had spirits akin to their own. The 
ancestor wizard and medicine-man flourished among them, and dreams 
were greatly regarded. Thus all the main primitive elements or 
types of religion existed among them. In addition, certain gods had 
attained prominence under cognate names in many tribes ; but each had 
more or less its own special gods and observances. Consequently we find 
many variations of the same myths, and many tales related of different 
personages in different localities ; but on the whole the general cast of the 
religion of the Teutonic peoples was the same. 

The highest deity, by general consent, among the Teutons, was 
Woden, Wodan, or Wuotan, otherwise Odin (the Norse form). The word 
Woden, or means all-powerful, all-penetrating ; Woden bestows shape and 
Odin. beauty on man and things, gives song, victory in war, the 
fertility of soil, and the highest blessings. With such a warlike people? 
he was prominently the arranger of wars and battles, and thus he was 
sometimes confused with Tiu, the god of war. He is sometimes described 
as looking down on the earth through a window, and having Frigga sitting 
by his side. He took up the heroes who fell in fight into his heavenly 
dwelling. In the North, faring to Odin, visiting Odin, meant simply dying. 

The Norse Odin is represented as one-eyed, wearing a broad hat and 
wide mantle. He has a wonderful spear,' which he lent to heroes. To him 
were attached two wolves and two ravens, following the fight and seizing 
on corpses. 

Just as in Gaulish mythology there is a god who represents several 
Greek and Eoman types, so we find Woden also as a water-spirit or god, an- 

His swering to Neptune. Others of his attributes are more like Hermes 
attributes. ^^^ Apollo. Severe pestilences spring from him, and also their 
cure. There are multitudinous details about the wanderings and journeys 
of Woden, or Odin, and his visits to giants and men. The sun is his 
eye. To him are traced up all the races of heroes and kings. The number 
of place-names in various countries compounded with his name shows the 
extent over which places were sacred to him or named after him. In 
England may be named Wednesbury and Wednesfield. The association of 
the name with Wednesday ( = Woden's-day) is another evidence of his 
importance. In Southern Germany his worship died out sooner than in the 
North, while the Gotlanders and Danes worshipped him more than the 
Swedes and Norwegians. In the Norse sagas Thor usually took precedence 
of Odin. The so-called historical Odin, the leader of the migration of the 
original Teutons or Asas from a land near the Black Sea a century before 
Christ, appears to be mythical. 

Frigg (Frigga) is the wife of Odin (distinct from Freyja, the sister of 

Freyr), and represents the inhabited earth, free, beautiful, lovable. It is 

Frigg, or doubtful which of the two gives the name to Friday. Frigg, as 

Frigga. consort of Odin, takes highest rank among the goddesses ; she 



442 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

knows the fates of men, is consulted by Odin, presides over marriages, and 

is prayed to by the childless. Balder is her son, whose fate she and Odin 

mourn together. 

Returning to the great gods, Thor, Thunar, or Donar occupies the 

chief place after Odin. He rules over clouds and rain, lightning and 
Thor, or thunder ; yet he is a fatherly god, though a punishing one, 
Donar. ^^^ frequently angry. This conception answers well to that of 

Jupiter Tonans. Inasmuch as crops are greatly influenced by rains and 

thunderstorms, the control of them is attributed to Thor ; so also Thor, like 

Odin, presides over the events of war, and receives his share of the spoils. 

Indeed, in the Norse mythology the warlike exploits of Thor greatly 

predominate over his peaceful achievements. 

Thor is represented as enormously strong, with a long red beard, fiery 

eyes, girt with a belt of strength, swinging a hammer in his hand, wearing 

„. ^ a crown of stars on his head. He rides in a chariot drawn by 

His hammer. , , 

two goats. He is terrible when angry, but naturally good-natured. 

His hammer (mjolner) can split the mountains ; the belt of strength re- 
doubles his divine strength; he always wears an iron gauntlet when 
wielding the hammer. Longfellow, in his " Tales of a Wayside Inn," has 
vigorously represented some of the characteristics of Thor : — 

" The light thou beholdest 
Stream through the heavens, 
In flashes of crimson, 
Is but my red beard 
Blown by the night-wind, 
Affrighting the nations. 

Mine ej'es are the lightning ; 
The wheels of my chariot 
EoU in the thunder, 
The blows of my hammer 
Eing in the earthquake." 

Thor's wife, Sif, is a symbol of the earth, and gold is termed her hair, 
Loki having cut off her hair and having caused dwarfs to make golden hair 
for her. 

Thor is the true national god of the Norwegians ; and his temples and 
statues were the most numerous in Norway and Sweden. Even into 
His -worship comparatively modern times there was special observance of 
in Norway. Thursday or Thorsday ; and the Esthonians thought Thursday 
more sacred than Sunday. According to Grimm, his sturdy strength 
recommended him specially to certain peoples ; and " prayers, oaths, curses 
retained his memory oftener and longer than that of any other god." The 
numerous adventures and achievements recorded of him in the myths we 
have not space to refer to. 

As showing how intensely the old Teutons valued military prowess, we 
find their third great god, Tiu, Tyr, or Ziu, associated with warlike deeds, 



THE RELIGION OF THE TEUTONS. 



443 



Fro, or Frey. 



though his sphere is wider than that ; and it is here that we find a name as 
well as a signification closely like that of Zeus and Dyaus, the 
cases of which word are very parallel with the Gothic forms of '^'''' '*'' ^'"^ 
Tiu. Although represented in the Edda as Odin's son, he becomes equal 
with him as a war god. He is the god of martial honour, the most daring 
of all gods, the giver of valour. The Romans identified Tiu with their Mars 
from the prominence of the martial character. The name Tuesday, wide- 
spread among the Teutonic peoples, is paralleled by the Latin Martis dies, 
French, mardi. 

Fro, or Frey, was a divine being (son of Njord) presiding over rain and 
sunshine and the fruits of the earth, and dispensing wealth and good 
harvests. He had a ship Skid- 
bladner, made by the . 
dwarfs, and capable ' 
of containing all the gods, with 
their weapons and war stores. 
Grimm connects him with the 
Roman Liber. The Edda as- 
cribes to him a sword of surpas- 
sing powers, which could put 
itself in motion against the 
giants. 

Li Trondheim, during the 
reign of Olaf Tryggvason (king 
995-1000 A.D.) there ms temple at 
stiU existed a temple Trondheim. 
of Frey, in which he was zeal- 
ousl}'- worshipped. The king- 
overthrew the wooden statue of 
the god, and scolded the peasants 
for their foolish idolatry ; where- 
upon they replied that Frey had 
often talked with them, foretold 
them the future, and given them good seasons and peace. There are 
numerous records of temples of Frey, sanctioned by wonders and miracles, 
in Iceland and Scandinavia. At Upsala, Frey was worshipped in conjunc- 
tion with Odin and Thor. 

Freyja, sister of Frey, as a goddess ranks next to Frigg, ah'eady men- 
tioned. She is the Teuton Venus, and was invoked by lovers. 
The elder Edda thus describes Freyja and her abode in heaven : — 

•' Folkvanji^ 'tis called 
Where Freyja has right 
To dispose of the hall-seats. 
Every da}' of the slain 
She chooses the half 
And leaves half to Odin." 




Freyja. 



444 -^HE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

Her liusband, Oder, left her, and travelled into far countries, since 
which Freyja continually seeks him, weeping tears of pure gold. Hence 
gold is in poetry termed Freyja's tears. "Women after death go to Freyja. 
All the varied emotions of love are exemplified by her. The name of her 
abode, ^' Folkvang," signifies the human dwellings, since no human being 
escapes her influence. 

The father of Frey or Freyja, Njord, is a water deity, ruling over the 
winds and controlling the sea, in its relation to man. Hence he was 
Niord. invoked by fishermen and sailors. Over the raging ocean out- 
side, ^ger (the terrible) reigns, far from land. He is rather a 

^^^' giant than a god. He marries E-au, who has a net that catches 
those who venture out to sea. The nine daughters of iEger and Eau 
represent the varying aspects of the waves. 

The story of Balder (Paltar), though there are fewer traces of his worship 
than of that of the superior gods, is perhaps the most attractive in Scandi- 
navian mythology. Balder is the son of Odin and Frigg, and is 
the favourite of gods and men. He is rich in physical beauty, and 
rays of light issue from him. He is mild, wise, and eloquent; and his 
judgments, once pronounced, are unchangeable. Into his heavenly mansion 
nothing unclean can enter. The critical point in his history is reached when 
he has terrible dreams threatening his life. On his relating them to the 
gods, Frigg took an oath from everything not to harm Balder, but forgot 
the mistletoe. Then the gods wrestled with and struck Balder with darts, 
and stones, but nothing could harm him. But the evil spirit Loki found 
Hi d th ^^^ ^^ power of the mistletoe, and guided the hand of blind 
Other (a god of war) to throw it at Balder, who was pierced to 
the heart and died. The gods were smitten with utter grief, and at last 
besought Hermod the nimble to ride into the lower world to ask Hel, the 
goddess of the grave, to release Balder. Meanwhile Balder' s dead body was 
burned on a great ship, amid great commotions of the elements ; and Nanna, 
Balder's wife, died on the same pyre. This is told with great elaboration 
in the Eddas. Finally Hermod found Balder occupying the most dis- 
tinguished seat in Hel's kingdom. Hel granted Balder the right to return 
to the gods, if all things living as well as lifeless would weep for him. 
Everything wept except the witch-giantess Thok, the step-daughter of Loki. 
The general explanation of this myth is, that Balder represents summer. 
Explanations ^•'^^^^ is finally overcome by darkness which long pervades all 
of the Balder nature, till the thaw after frosts makes everything weep, and 
then summer returns. But a still deeper significance is read in 
it by some. So long as Balder, the best and wisest of the gods, lived, evil 
could not prevail. Loki, and the powers of evil, at last, after fierce contests, 
kill Balder, and it is only after this that the world can be renovated and 
purified, and Balder can return to the upper world to recommence a reign of 
happiness and peace. He is believed to represent also the heavenly light 
of the soul and the mind, purity, innocence, and piety. 

Most of the gods treated of after this are peculiar, or almost so, to the 



THE RELIGION OF THE TEUTONS. 



445 



Scandinavian mythology. Heimdal, a son of Odin, is a bright and gracious 
god, and a powerful deity of strange origin, of whom the elder _ . . , 
Jiidda says, — 

" Born was I of mothers nine, 
Son am I of sisters nine." 

He is watchman of the gods, with a powerful horn ; and one of his functions 
is to keep the gods from forcing their way out of heaven. No sound escapes 
him ; he sees by 
night as well as by 
day, etc., etc. 

Bragi is an- 
other son of Odin, 
and the 
god of 

wisdom, poetry, and 
eloquence. At the 
Scandinavian sacri- 
ficial feasts a horn 
consecrated to 



BragrL 




Bragi was often 
drunk from by the 
guests, who at the 
same time pro- 
mised to perform 
some great deed, to 
furnish matter for 
song. 

Several of the 
goddesses have al- 
ready been 

*'. Goddesses. 

mentioned, 

together with their 

husbands or sisters. 

" They are," says 

Grimm, " thought 

of chiefly as divine 

mothers, who travel round and visit houses, from whom the human race 

learns the occupations and arts of housekeeping and husbandry, spinning, 

weaving, tending the hearth, sowing, and reaping. These labours bring 

with them peace and quiet in the land ; and the memory of them abides in 

charming traditions." 

Erda, the earth, appears under many appellations among the Teutons, 
as the fruitful, teeming mother. Tacitus relates that numerous Teutonic 
peoples worshipped Nerthus, who was mother Earth. She was Erda, or 
said to be worshipped in an island at a great festival, during Nerthus. 
which the priest communed with the goddess, and then performed a secret^ 



THE GODDESS FREYA. 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



bathing of the goddess and her vestments and vehicle in a lake. The other 
goddesses, numerous enough, are too indistinct, or too considerably derived 
from Eoman sources, to be dealt with at length here. 

Loke, or Loki, the spirit of evil, appears among the gods in various 
seductive guises, and he pervades all nature as a corrupting influence. 

Originally he appears as the companion and relative of Odin, and 

in the Elder Edda he says, — 

" Do thou mind, Odin, 
That we in time's morning- 
Mixed blood together ! 
Then thou pretendedst 
That thou never wouldst ask a drink 
Unless it was offered to both of us," 

He was fabled to have taken part in the creation of man, contributing 
the senses and passions, the sources of evil desires. He became sly and 
treacherous, beautiful in appearance, but inconstant and evil, the slanderer 
of the gods and the contriver of deceit and fraud. Thus nobody honours 
him as a god. His name is variously derived from air and flame. In union 
with a giantess he begot the wolf Penrer ; Hel, who presides over the land 
of death, is his daughter. He is represented as leading the gods into all 
kinds of predicaments and calamities, though often extricating them by his 
artifices. Through his devices gold was cursed and became the source of 
many calamities to mortals, as related in the Edda, in the songs about 
Sigurd, Brynhild, Gudrun. The whole constitutes in effect a great epic, 
which may be read in the Yolsunga Saga, as translated by Eirikr Magnusson 
and William Morris. 

The goddess or giantess Hel has a gloomy domain under one of the 
roots of Ygdrasil, surrounded by a fence, and watered by rivers. A dog 
Hel and her stands outside of a cave and loudly howls. Hel binds the dying 
domain, man with chains which cannot be broken. She has a nether- 
most place for the wicked, with a palace named Anguish, a table. Famine, 
and a bed, Care. 

We must now turn to the cosmogony current among the Teutons. 
Originally there existed nothing where the world is ; there was simply a 
The Teuton space or gap between the two poles, cloud and fire. In the cloud 
cosmogony. -^^^ ^ spring, out of which twelve rivers flowed. By a mysterious 
process, by the might of him who sent the heat (i.e. the Supreme Being), 
out of thawing drops of water Ymer was formed, a giant and evil principle : 
from him arose the race of the giants. Later a cow arose, from whose milk 
Ymer was nourished. The cow fed by licking stones, and after much lick- 
ing there was born from the spot a man, Bor or Buri, who became the 
father of Odin, Yih, and Ye, the gods and rulers of heaven and earth. 
There is much more of this fanciful mythology, which we cannot go into ; 
and moreover, it is by no means certain how far it was believed in by the 
people as a part of their religion. The giant Ymer being killed, his huge 
body supplied material out of which the gods formed all the world, while 



THE RELIGION OF THE TEUTONS. 447 

mankind were formed out of two trees on the seashore, to which the gods 
gave breath. In this mythology the gods, asH (plural re^/r), origin of 
appear as a higher product, after an imperfect first creation, tiie&ods. 
They dwell together in Asgard, with higher heavens above them. Twelve 
gods were reckoned, and twenty-six goddesses. Odin dwelt in a great hall, 
Valhal or Valhalla, its ceiling supported by spears, its roof formed of shields. 
To it Odin invited all those who were wounded or fell in battle ; 

V a.l Ti a.T 1 a. 

there they were fetched and waited upon by the Valkyries, Odin's 
waiting-maids. Similarly distinct abodes are assigned to the gods and 
goddesses. 

The belief in Valhalla exercised a great influence on the Norsemen. 
The warrior was cheered when dying by the thought that the Valkyries had 
been sent to invite him to Valhalla ; only by true courage could influence of 
he win Odin's welcome. The cowards he would despise and vaihaua. 
drive away, and thus it was misery to the Norseman not to die valiantly in 
battle. In Valhalla there is a perpetual food, a miraculous boar, cooked 
every day, but becoming whole again every night ; and perpetual supplies 
of mead and water furnish them with drink. 

One of the most interesting Norse conceptions was that of the ash-tree 
Ygdrasil, whose branches furnish bodies for mankind, whose roots extend 
through all worlds, whose branches reach through the heavens. The ash-tree 
and which fosters all living things. One of the three great roots Ygdrasu. 
of Ygdrasil stretches to the giants, and under this is Mimer's fountain, in 
which wisdom and wit are hidden. Under the root which extended to the 
asa-gods is a holy fountain, where the gods sit in judgment. By this foun- 
tain there dwell three maidens, Urd, Verdande, and Skuld (Present, Past, 
and Future), called norns, who fix the lifetime of men, and dispense good 
destinies ; while other evil norns give men bad destinies or misfortunes. 

The Supreme Deity cannot be identified with any of the Norse gods, 
but rather with that " him who sent it," who was before the beginning of 
creation. And the word "God," which is a very old Teutonic The Supreme 
word, is not identified with any particular named god, whence i>eity. 
we may possibly derive the conclusion that the named gods are mainly 
ancestors or hero gods, or personifications of powers or departments of 
nature. 

Both prayer and sacrifice to the gods date from the earliest times we 
can discern among the Teutonic peoples. Sacrifices were not necessarily, 
though frequently, of animals. The gods were invited to take prayerand 
their share of human food, and later, separate offerings were made sacrifice, 
to them. They were frequently thank-offerings, a share of the gift or 
gifts bestowed by a god being offered to him. Other sacrifices were 
expiatory, and offered on occasions of disaster, famine, pestilence, etc. 
Human victims were, no doubt, occasionally offered, in circum- Human and 
stances of special gravity; frequently they were captured enemies, animal 
or slaves or criminals. Horses were favourite animals for sacrifice, 
horseflesh being very generally eaten by the Teutons. The head was not 



448 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

eateTn, but specially consecrated to the gods. Oxen, boars, pigs, rains, and 

goats were also offered ; white being a favourite colour for sacrificial 

animals. Among the Norse peoples the animal was killed on a sacrificial 

stone, and the blood caught in a trench or in vessels ; with it the sacred 

vessels were smeared and the worshippers were sprinkled. A great part of 

the meat was eaten by the priests and people. 

Fruit offerings occupy but a small space in the Teutonic records ; but 

drink is more prominent. On any festal occasion some of the food would 

_ , , be laid aside for the household spirits, and some drink would be 

Fruit and ■•- ' 

drink offer- poured out to the gods ; and at great festivals and sacrifices the 

^^^' gods were separately honoured, and horns drunk to them. This 

was called drinking their minne^ or memorial draught ; it was also the custom 

to bemoan absent or deceased friends in this way. 

The old Teuton words for temple also mean " wood," indicating that 
primitive Teuton worship was conducted in woods or groves. " There dwelt 
Worship in ^^® ^^i^j/' ^ays Grimm, " veiling his form in the foliage ; there 
woods, the hunter must present to him the game he has killed, and the 
herdsman his horses and oxen and rams." There are scantier traces of 
worship of the gods on hill-tops, in caves, or by the river side. In the 
groves no images are mentioned as being set up, and no temple walls 
appear to have enclosed the sacred space. But altars and sacred vessels 
were erected there, and heads of animals were hung from boughs. The 
proper name of Holy "Wood, common in many parts of Grermany, probably 
is a relic of this ancient worship. 

There are, however, traces of the existence of built temples among the 
Teutons. Tacitus gives an account of the destruction of a celebrated temple 
The temple ^^ ^^^ Marsi called Tanfana, in a.d. 14 ; and he also describes a 
Tanfana. worship of Mother Earth, the carrying about of her image, and its 
return to the " temple." But descriptions of these temples are very scanty 
and imperfect. As soon as Christianity gained headway, we have records 
of their burning and destroying both sacred groves and temples, and often of 
the Christians building a church on the same sites. We hear of an impor- 
tant temple of Frey, at Upsala, where was a famous oracle and place of 
sacrifice. Heligoland was once a noted Teuton place of assembly, with a 
temple. The temples had the usual sacred character, and no improper 
action (that is, censured by the god or his priests,) must be done within 
their precincts. 

Images of the gods, of some kind, were no doubt made ; they were of 
wood, stone, and metal, but to what extent they were made in human forms 
Images of ^® ^^ ^^^ know, as none have come down to us. They may 
the gods, often have been but rude symbols, bearing some form associated 
with the gods. In some cases they had covered carriages, analogous to the 
Hindu idol-cars, in which the images were dragged about over the fields, to 
give them fertility. Sometimes we hear of three images of gods seated 
side by side ; that of Thor was the most common in Norway. 

From the Frankish annals we learn that Charlemagne destroyed a 



THE RELIGION OF THE TEUTONS. 449 



principal seat of Saxon heathendom in Westphalia, called Irminsal, or 
Ermensul ; and the accounts "give us to understand that there Destruction 
was a celebrated worshipped pillar designated b}^ this name. It °^ irminsai. 
appears to have been a great wooden pillar in the open air, as a symbol of 
the supreme god. 

The early German priests were generally chiefs or leaders as well, and 
exercised a powerful influence, being judges as well as priests, controlling 
discipline in war, to which they carried such images of the gods 
as they possessed. But details about them are very scanty, and 
the same is the case as regards the Norse priesthood. They no doubt 
exercised the functions of divination, as well as of sacrifice and prayer. 
Prophetesses were in high repute among the Teutons, and the}'- were much 
occupied in divination. 

We have not space to describe the crowds of spirits of various kinds, 
heroes, giants, elves, dwarfs, etc., with which the Teutons peopled the un- 
seen world. They belong to the domain of animism, which can Belief in 
be studied abundantly in the pages of Grimm, and in the folk- spirits, etc. 
lore of the Teutonic peoples, but which cannot be framed into any body of 
doctrine definitely taught as a religion. There is a vast body of mythology 
too, relating to magic, ghosts, devils, animals, and plants, which it is im- 
possible to enter on here, which would be of great importance if we were 
endeavouring to trace the nature, or growth, or varied forms of the religious 
sentiment. 

We must briefly refer, in conclusion, to the ideas associated with the 
name Eagnarok, which signifies the final catastrophe of the world, and 
the death of the gods. Throughout the mythology, e vents j^g^^^j.Qjj^ ^^ 
happening to the gods foreshadow their final destruction. The the end of 
growing depravity of the world precedes this, attended with 
frightful calamities, akin to those described in the Christian Apocalypse. 
Strange miracles and phenomena will abound. The great contests between 
the evil spirits and the good, and the final destruction of all are grandly 
described in the elder Edda ; but it is difficult to be certain that parts of it 
are not a reflection from the Apocalypse, and therefore we do not go into 
details. When the earth and the heavens have all been consumed by flames, 
a new heaven and a new earth arise. " The fields unsown yield their 
growth. All ills cease : Balder comes." There are halls for the good and 
virtuous, in some of which all who delight in drinking good drink will 
find plenty. A terrible hell also is imagined for the evil, built entirely of 
the backs of serpents, with heads turned inwards, vomiting venom. 

" Then comes the Mighty One 
To the great judgment ; 
From heaven he comes, 
He who guides all things : 
Judgments lie utters ; 
Strifes he appeases, 
Laws he ordains 
To flourish for* ever." 



450 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



It sliould be borne in mind, as a qualification of any too confident con- 
clusion on the Teutonic religion, that scholars vary in their estimate as to 
Doubtful ^^ degree in which Christianity influenced what we know of 
points. ^i^Q religions it superseded in the North. But in this account the 
elaborations found in the later Edda are very largely omitted. We have 
made no attempt, also, to trace the influence of totemism in Teuton countries, 
which was no doubt considerable. 

The moral principles of the Teutons may be summed up briefly thus : 
honour and kindness among kin and tribesmen, deceit, violence, and enmity 
Moral con- to all outside. Bravery was a cardinal virtue, and sincerity 
dition. ^^^ generosity were appreciated towards kinsfolk and friends. 
Reverence certainly existed both towards gods, superiors, and the old, but 
was liable to be overborne by passion and self-seeking. Grreat cruelty was 
often shown towards slaves, strangers, and enemies ; and the witchcraft 
and superstitions believed in indicated a comparatively low intellectual 
elevation. 





HEKTHA LA.KE, ISLAND Of liUdKN. 



CHAPTER YL 

Cl)f BfliQion of tbe ^laboiuans* 

Nature and ancestor worship— Svarog—Dazhbog—Perun, or Perkunos — His great image at Kief— Its 
destruction— The sacred oak— Other gods— Svantovit— Temple at Riigen— Four-headed image— 
Great expense of service— The hors3 of Svantovit— Great harvest festival— The horn of mead— 
Zemabog— Lado and Lada— Inferior spirits— The journey after death— Heaven and heU— Haunt- 
ing spirits— The house spirit— Witches, charms, and spells— Priesthoods and temples— Imperfect 
remains. 

AS the latest race to enter into civilised ranks, it is not to be wondered 
at that the religion of the Slavs ^ was less elaborate than that of the 
Teutons. It is doubtful whether there ever existed a Slavonic collection of 
poems at all comparable to the Eddas, still less to the Vedas ; but there still 
remain isolated songs and fragments, which illustrate the popular ideas, even 
if they fall far short of what we might desire. We find reason to believe 
that they combined, like other Aryan peoples, worship of the forces Mature and 
of nature with that of the spirits of deceased ancestors. While ancastorwor- 
they worshipped the sun, moon, stars, and elements, or their spiri- 
tual governors or actuating powers, they most deeply reverenced the forces 
producing storms, and had a thunder-god Perun, who may be compared 
with the Teutonic Thor, and who ultimately became the supreme god. 

There appears, however, as in the Vedic religion, to have been a gra- 
dual transference of the supremacy from One to another series 
of gods. Thus it is believed that the earliest great god was 
Svarog, said to mean " shining one," and to correspond to the Vedic god 

1 ^W. B. S. Ealston : " Songs of the Russian People," and "Russian Folk-Tales ; " G. F. 
Maclear: " The Slavs" (Conversion of tlie West). 

451 



Svarog. 



452 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



Varuna, and the Greek Ouranos. Both the sun (Dazhbog) and fire (Ogon) 
are described as his children, to whom he deputes the work of 
creation, and the actual rule over creation. The word Dazhbog 
appears to mean Day-god, the last syllable signifying god. 

Perun, or Perkunos, who afterwards became the chief deity, has been 
identified with the Yedic god Parganja (supposed by some to be another 
Perun, or name for Indra), the thunderer, the showerer, the beautiful. In 
Perkunos. Lithuania we read of a statue of him, which held in its hand 
" a precious stone like fire, shaped in the image of the lightning." Before 
it a fire of oak-wood was constantly kept burning. His name still lingers 
in popular expressions about thunder. The following is said to be a prayer 
formerly said in Livonia at a feast in the beginning of spring, '' Perkons ! 
Father ! thy children lead this faultless victim to thy altar. Bestow, 
father, thy blessing on the plough and on the corn. May golden straw, with 
great well-filled ears, rise abundantly as rushes. Drive away all black, 
haily clouds to the great moors, forests, and large deserts, where they will 
not frighten mankind, and give sunshine and rain, gentle falling rain, in 
order that the crops may thrive." In one of the Lettish songs we are told 
that " Father Perkons has nine sons ; three strike, three thunder, three 
lighten." Among the White Russians Perun is described as tall and well- 
shaped, with black hair, and a long golden beard. He rides in a flaming 
car, grasping in his left hand a quiver full of arrows, and in his right a 
fiery bow, and sometimes he flies abroad on a great millstone, which is 
supported by the mountain spirits who are in subjection to him, and who 
by their flight give rise to storms. In the spring Perun goes forth in his 
fiery car, and crushes with his blazing darts the demons, from whose wounds 
the blood is sometimes described as streaming forth. (Ralston.) 

The great image of Perun at Kief, set up on rising ground, had a trunk 
of wood, a head of silver, and moustaches of gold, and held a mace. Near the 
end of the tenth century this was still worshipped until Yladimir, 
image at who reigned over the Russians at Kief, was converted to Christi- 
^^®^' anity, and had the statue pulled down, dragged across the hills 
at a horse's tail, fiogged all the while, and finally flung into the Dnieper. 
Its destruc- ^^'^ people called on their god to show his power, but nothing 
tion. happened, and the conversion of the Russians was rapid. Simi- 
larly the image of Perun at Novgorod was thrown into the Volga. 

Perun's bow has been identified with the rainbow, and his flaming 
dart has been represented as a golden key, with which he unlocked the 
earth, brought to light its concealed treasures, and locked away fugitives 
from the reach of wizards. His golden key is also interpreted as the light- 
ning with which he breaks up the frost-bound earth in spring, or pierces 
the clouds and lets loose the rains. 

As among numerous other Aryan peoples, the oak was a sacred tree 
The sacred ^-^^ong the Slavonians ; and it was connected with the worship of 
oak. Perkunos by the oak-fire already mentioned. 
Together with the statue of Perun at Kief, there were the images of 



THE RELIGION OF THE SLAVONIANS. 453 

other gods. Khors and Dazhbog, probably different forms of the Sun-god^ 
Stribog, god of the winds, Simargla and Mokosh, the latter two other gods, 
being otherwise unknown. 

Svantovit is the name given to the chief god of the Baltic Slavonians 
within the historic period. This as well as Radegast, the god of war, and 
Yarovil have been interpreted as forms of the Sun-god. At svantovit. 
Arcona, the capital of the island of Riigen, the Danish Christian mission- 
aries, as related by Saxo Grammaticus, found a beautiful wooden Temple at 
temple w4th inner and outer courts, the latter with a roof painted Ru&en. 
red. The inner court was draped with tapestry, and contained numerous 
paintings. But the image itself was of Oriental strangeness. It pour-headei 
had four heads and necks, two chests, and two backs, but only image, 
two arms, it would seem. The great right hand held a horn of several 
metals, which was once a year filled with mead. The left arm was bent in 
the shape of a bow, and the lower limbs were covered. Beside the statue 
lay a bridle and a sword with silver hilt and scabbard. 

In honour of the deity thus represented, expensive worship was 
maintained, partly devoted to the priests and partly to the ornamen- 
tation of the temple. Besides the proceeds of a yearly tax, one- Great expense 
third of the booty taken in war was given to the temple ; and in °^ service, 
addition it received large offerings from the chiefs. A special body of 
horse-soldiers, said to number three hundred, fought in the name of the god, 
and gave all their spoils of war to the priests for the ornamentation of the 
temple. 

The white horse of Svantovit was an animal sacred to the god, on 
which he was believed to accompany his people to war, of course invisibly. 
Only priests might feed him or ride upon him, and it was a .j^g j^Qj.gg ^^ 
serious offence to do the slightest injury to him. The horse was svantovit. 
regarded as an oracle in case of war. He was led out, after prayer to the 
god, to step over three rows of spears ; and if, in stepping, he lifted his right 
foreleg first, that was regarded as a favourable omen for the success of the 
war : any other proceeding was unfavourable. 

A grand harvest festival was held at the close of the harvest in 
Riigen. Considerable sacrifices of cattle were first offered, followed by a 
feast. An old priest, with hair and beard uncut, then entered the Q^eat harvest 
innermost sacred enclosure of the temple-, to sweep it carefully, festival. 
During this operation he was stnctly required to hold his breath, in order 
not to defile the presence of the god ; each time when he was compelled to 
breathe he must emerge from the temple precincts. When this was over, he 
took the horn of mead from the hand of the image and carried it out to the 
assembly, proclaiming whether it had decreased or increased since the last 
festival. If the former, scarcity was imminent; if the latter, plenty was in 
store. It was then poured out as a libation to the god, and the The horn of 
horn was refilled by the priest, with a prayer for a prosperous year °^®^^- 
and for success in war. This horn-full was next drunk by himself at a 
draught, and the horn again filled, to remain untouched (it was supposed) 



4^4 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



till the succeeding year. Offerings of sweet cakes made of honey and flour 
were then presented, and finally the priest, representing the god, blessed 
the people, exhorting them to sacrifice continually to the god, who in that 
case would give them victory over their enemies. An abundant feast 
followed. It appears that there were other images of gods in Hiigen, one. 
named Porenut, presided over the seasons, and had five faces, one being 
upon his chest. Another, E-hugevit, had seven faces and eight swords ; 
possibly he is identical with Radegast, already mentioned. Triglav was 
another god, whose image was destroyed at Stettin, and the triple head 
sent to the Pope. Among: the evil or cruel deities feared by the 
Slavonians must be inchided Zernabog, to whom human sacrifices 
were offered with frightful rites. 

Lado and Lada are two names of gods about whom there is some 
doubt. They have been compared to Frey and Freyja, and Lada is called 
Lado and ^^ goddess of love and pleasure. Lithuanian songs are quoted, 
Lada. jj^ which Lada appears as " our great goddess," and Lado is 
coupled with the sun. An old chronicle describes Lado as the god of 
marriage, of mirth, of pleasure, and of general happiness, to whom intend- 
ing brides and. bridegrooms offered sacrifices, to secure prosperity in their 
married life. In Russian songs lado and lada are commonly used as equi- 
valents for bridegroom, lover, husband, and bride, mistress, wife. Kupala 
was a god of the fruits of the earth, and Koleda, a god of festivals. The 
name Koleda has been transferred to Christmas in various parts of Russia ; 
while in some districts the midsummer festival of St. John's eve is called 
St. John Kupala. 

Besides gods, the Slavonians peopled their outer world with numerous 

inferior spirits, such as dwarfs, wood-spirits, water-sprites, house-spirits, etc.; 

Inferior ^^^ beliefs about them are still common among the Russian pea- 

spirits. sants. In fact, animism, combined with reverence for the spirits 

of deceased ancestors, was in full vogue among them, and it still lingers. 

The Slavs thought that after death the soul had to begin a long 

journey, either in a boat across a sea, or on foot. One view was, that a 

The journey steep hillside had to be climbed, at the top of which paradise was 

after death, situated. One word for the abode of the dead, Rai, meant the 

abode of the sun, in the East, always warm and light. Similarly, another 

Heaven and name for it, Peklo, means a place of warmth ; but it is now used as 

^611- a name for hell. But there are other views which consider the 

grave itself as the abode of the spirits of the dead. The old Slavs seem to 

have had no idea of a future state of reward and punishment, of redress 

or compensation for evils suffered in this life. Rather did they consider 

death only the preliminary to a similar life to the present. 

Before burial, the spirit was supposed to remain near the body, some- 
times haunting the old home for six weeks, during which they watch the 
Haunting behaviour of the bereaved. No doubt it was a very general 
spirits, belief, that the souls of parents watched over their children and 
grandchildren, and that ancestors ought always to be reverenced. How 



THE RELIGION OF THE SLAVONIANS. 455 



this belief came to be associated with the domestic iire, and how the stove 
became associated with the house-spirit is not clear. The house- The 
spirit is believed to live behind the stove; formerly he was more ^°^^®"®P"^^*' 
closely connected with the fire. Even now Russian families are known, 
when removing from one house to another, to rake out the fire from the old 
stove into a jar and carry it to the new house, the words " Welcome, grand- 
father, to the new home ! " being pronounced when it arrives there. On 
the 28th of January, Afanasief says, the Russian peasants after supper leave 
out a pot of stewed grain, for the house-spirit. This pot is placed on the 
hearth in front of the stove, and surrounded with hot embers. Very 
generally the hearths are believed to be haunted by the spirits of deceased 
ancestors. There are many superstitions connected with beliefs or fears as 
to these household spirits, which are often believed to be at times malicious 
or mischievous. It is scarcely necessary to say that the old Slav- witches 
onians had their witches and wizards, and believed in charms and charms, and 
spells, were- wolves and vampires; to a considerable extent their 
descendants do so still. 

There are many other features of Slavonian belief and custom that it 
would be interesting to dwell upon ; but it is so doubtful to what extent 
they belonged to the developed Slavonic religion, or to previous states of 
belief, and to what extent they have originated or been transformed in 
Christian times, that we must not venture farther into regions of hypothesis 
and doubt. 

We know comparatively little, too, about the priesthoods and adminis- 
tration of th^ Slavonian religion. The Eastern Slavs, indeed, appear to 
have had no regular priesthood, religious rites and ceremonies priesthoods 
being performed by the heads of families or communities ; and ^^^ temples, 
no doubt the chief of a community or tribe was also its priest. Sacrifices 
were simply offered under a tree, preferably an oak, or beside a stream, and 
regular temples were not built. Among the Western Slavonians the priest- 
hood assumed a more definite character, though even here associated largely 
with civil or warlike functions ; and references to temples have already been 
several times made. On the whole, the Slavonic religion appears to have 
been as little developed as that of any Aryan people, though its beliefs were 
firmly held, and have left marked traces even to the present day. imperfect 
But the lack of anything like Scriptures, or even a mythology of remams. 
distinct and elevated type, diminishes its general interest and value very 
considerably. 





CHAPTER YII. 
Celtic aaeligioiu 

Rhys's Hibbert Lectures— Julius Csesar— Roman names of Celtic gods— Offmios, the Gaulish Mercury 
— Maponos, the Gaulish Apollo— Caturix, the Gaulish Mars— Camulos— Baginates and Esus— The 
Welsh duw—Nodens—Stonehenge— The mistletoe— Aryan affinity of myths— The Druids probably 
pre-Aryan in origin— Caesar's account. 



WE are extraordinarily ignorant as to the religious ideas of the early 
Celts, and their origin. We have but scanty or unsatisfactory 
literary or other remains to help us, and their decipherment and recon- 
Rhvs's struction have only recently been undertaken. Professor Rhys, 
Hibbert in his " Celtic Heathendom " (Hibbert Lectures, 1886), has made 

Lectures • . 

by far the most important contribution to the question ; but 



CELTIC RELIGION. 457 



much that he puts forward is merely tentative, and thus it will not be 
profitable to dwell at any great length on the subject. 

Julius Csesar, as on so many other subjects, has left us the most im- 
portant information as to the religion of the Gallic Celts (" DeBello Gallico," 
vi. 17). He learned much from the Druid Divitiacus ; and j , . j, 
although he identifies and names the chief Gallic gods in accord- 
ance with Roman beliefs, at any rate we are in contact with an authority 
contemporary with the actual existence of the religious ideas set down. 

Caesar tells us that a god he names Mercury was worshipped above all 
others, and under many images. He was regarded as the inventor of the 
arts, the patron of roads and journeys, of commerce and money- Roman names 
making. Apollo was regarded as driving away diseases. Miner va°^ ^®^*^^ ^°*^^' 
as the teacher of various trades and arts, Jupiter as the ruler of the 
sky, and Mars as the director of wars, to whom all spoils of battle were 
dedicated, the animals being sacrificed and the other booty being collected 
and dedicated in sacred places. Most o^ our information from inscriptions 
dates from Gaulo-Roman days, when the E-omans following Augustus had 
taken the Celtic gods into their pantheon, and included the Gaulish divini- 
ties among the Roman Lares and Penates, as Lares Augusti ; and thus the 
evidence is imperfect. 

In a single district like that of the Allobroges (mostly east of the Rhone 
and south of Lake Geneva, with Vienne as capital) there were twenty-six 
temples dedicated to the Gaulish " Mercury ; " and there were ^ .^^ ^^^ 
many others in the department of the Puy de Dome, on the Gaulish 
summit of which was a great temple of the Arverni, which ^^ ^ * 
Phny describes as having an image of Mercury 120 feet high, which was 
not destroyed till the middle of the third century a.d. The native name 
of this god appears to have been Ogmios (also represented as Hercules), god 
of speech, eloquence, and wisdom ; and this name, Ogmios, Professor Rhys 
identifies with the Welsh ovyd or ofydd, a teacher or leader ; while in Irish 
Ogma is one of the gods, the inventor of writing and of the Ogam alphabet, 
to provide for secret speech known only to the learned. 

The Gaulish " Apollo " bore among others the names, Maponos, Grannos, 
and Toutiorix. The first name has been found in three inscriptions in the 
north of England ; it means boy, or male child. Grannus, the Maponos, the 
name used among the Belgge, suggests " shining," " glow," " sun- Gaulish 
shine." Several of his inscriptions are found near medicinal 
springs, as those of Aix-la-Chapelle, Granheim, etc. A female divinity as- 
sociated with this Apollo Grannus was Sirona, represented as a matron 
holding in one hand a bunch pf fruit, in another some ears of corn. 

The Roman Mars was identified with a Gaulish god Caturix, meaning 
king of war, or lord of battle. Other names assigned to him are Segomo 
and Dunates. Mars Vintios is yet another name, suggesting the catunx, the 
wind as associated with the war-god. Again, the name Camulos^^^^^^ ^^"' 
is met with in association with the war-god ; it is the name found camuios. 
in Camulodunum (Colchester) ; and Camulos is supposed to mean the sky, 



458 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

and he lias been compared to Jupiter as god of the heavens. And numerous 
facts point to the war-god having been in early times the supreme Celtic 
divinity, though reckoned lower in Caesar's time. 

A god named Baginates has been identified with Jupiter, but very 
little is known about him. Esus, or Hesus, who may possibly be connected 
Baginates with this god, was identified by the Grauls with the Roman 
and Esus. Silvanus ; and he is represented as felling a tree with an axe, and 
probably presided over woodlands and the interests of shepherds. But all 
these gods are very dim and shadowy as yet. There appears to be more 
certainty about the ascription of a genius or divinity to each locality, to 
whom libations were annually made ; and about the worship of matron 
goddesses, or matres, who enjoyed a large share of Gaulish worship ; besides 
which the land was regarded as having an indefinite number of evil 
spirits, goblins, witches, etc. They, as well as the good spirits, are often 
represented in threes. 

Coming to the gods of the insular Celts, while the Sanskrit deva and 

the Greek Zeus are represented^by the Welsh duw.^ the latter means any 

The Welsh god, and the word never appears to have become used of one 

^^^' supreme god by the early Celts. There are facts which suggest 

that the Irish Nuada of the Silver Hand represented Zeus and Jupiter. 

He was said to have been the king of the mythical colony that took 

possession of Erin more than 3000 years b.c. In Wales we find this name 

Nodens, remains of whose temple have been found at Lydney, on 

the west bank of the Severn, in the country of the Silures. In 

both countries he appears to have been a leader in war, and there are 

symptoms of his being the king of the gods, giver of wealth and lord both 

of land and sea ; he appears to be a relic of a time when the sharing 

of domains among the gods was by no means so far advanced as among 

classic Greeks and Romans. Other gods are even less definite, and we can 

gain more vivid notions about the demigods or deified heroes of the Celts 

than about the nature-gods. According to Mr. Rhys, Stonehenge 

was believed to be the work of Merlin the enchanter working 

under the orders of the Celtic Zeus, and thus it would be a temple of this 

god ; but we have no evidence as to the precise way in which it was used 

for worship. Merlin, though an enchanter, was believed to be immortal ; 

and even when his body is killed, his living spirit abides with it, though no 

longer able to render it active. 

Leaving till a little later such descriptions of the Druids as we can 
find, what can we say of the god they worshipped? What is the meaning 
of the intimate association of the Druids with the oak ? This is, in fact, a 
part of the common heritage of the Aryans, who associated the grand growth 
of the oak with their supreme god. Pliny says the Gaulish Druids hold 
Tiie nothing more sacred than the mistletoe and the tree it grows 
mistletoe, on, provided it be an oak. They selected groves of oak, and per- 
formed no sacred rites without its leaves. Maximus Tyrius says the Celts 
worshipped Zeus under the image of a lofty oak. 



CELTIC RELIGION. 



4S9 



Prof. Rhys infers that the early mythology -and beliefs of the Celts were 
substantially similar to those of the Greeks and Hindus, but that the form 




in which we have the narratives handed down to ns is so modified ^ ^^ 
by the influence of Christianity, that it is difficult to disentangle affinity of 
the ancient elements. He lays stress upon the traces of a sun- ^^ 



46o THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

hero, a culture-hero, and dawn goddesses ; but the precise conclusions which 
should be drawn are very uncertain. 

We must place the Druids here, though no doubt their occupation dated 
from pre- Aryan times, and perhaps was more rooted in pre- Aryan than in 
The Druids Aryan thought. Csesar gives the fullest and apparently the most 
//e°£y2i authentic description of the Druids, though of course allowance 
in origin, must be made for his Roman education. We quote the following 
from the "Grallic War" (Book vi., c. 13, etc.). "They attend to sacred things, 
perform public and private sacrifices, and interpret all matters of religion. 
A great number of youths resort to them for the sake of instruction, and 
they enjoy the highest honour in that nation ; for nearly all public and 
private quarrels come under their jurisdiction ; and when any crime has been 
cgesar's committed, when a murder has been perpetrated, when a con- 
account, troversy arises about an inheritance or about landmarks, they are 
the judges too. They decree rewards and punishments ; and should any one, 
whether a private individual or a public man, disobey the decrees, then 
they exclude him from their sacrifices. This is with them the severest 
punishment. The persons who are thus laid under interdict are regarded as 
injurious and wicked people ; everybody recoils from them, and shuns their 
society and conversation, lest he should be injured by associating with them ; 
nor is justice administered to them when seeking it, nor is any dignity 
bestowed on them. 

" All these Druids have one chief, who enjoys the highest authority 
among them. When he dies, he is succeeded \iy the member of the order 
who is most prominent ; ... if there are many equal, the successor is 
elected by the Druids. Sometimes they even contend in arms for the 
supremacy. At a certain time of the year, the Druids assemble on the 
territory of the Carnutes, which is believed to be the centre of all Gaul, in 
a sacred place. To that spot are gathered from everywhere all persons that 
have quarrels, and they abide by their judgments and decrees. It is believed 
that this institution was founded in Britannia, and thence transplanted into 
Gaul. Even now-a-days, those who wish to become more intimately ac- 
quainted with the institution generally go to Britannia for instruction's sake. 

" The Druids take no part in war ; nor do they pay tribute like the 
rest of the people ; they are exempt from military service, and from all 
public burdens. Attracted by such advantages, many come to be instructed 
by their own choice, while others are sent by their parents. They are 
reported to learn in the school a great number of verses, so that some remain 
there twenty years. . . . Beyond all things, they are desirous to inspire 
a belief that men's souls do not become extinct, but pass after death from 
one body to another ; and they hold that people are thereby more strongly 
urged to bravery, the fear of death being disregarded. Besides, they hold 
a great many discourses about the stars and their motion, about the size of 
the world and of various countries, about the nature of things, about the 
power and might of the immortal gods ; and they instruct the youths in 
these subjects." 



CELTIC RELIGION. 461 



" The nation of all the Gauls is extremely devoted to superstitious rites ; 
and on that account they who are troubled with unusually severe diseases, 
and they who are engaged in battles and dangers, either sacrifice men as 
victims, or vow that they will sacrifice them, and employ the Druids as the 
performers of those sacrifices ; because they think that unless the life of a 
man be offered for the life of a man, the mind of the immortal gods cannot 
be rendered propitious, and they have sacrifices of that kind ordained for 
national purposes. Others have figures of vast size, the limbs of which, 
formed of osiers, they fill with living men, which being set on fire, the men 
perish enveloped in the flames. They consider that the oblation of such as 
have been taken in theft, or in robbery, or any other offence, is more 
acceptable to the immortal gods ; but when a supply of that class is 
wanting, they have recourse to the oblation of even the innocent." 

Nothing really more satisfactory than this can be ascertained about 
the Druids ; and we must leave readers to derive from it what notions they 
can. To us it appears that the Druids were the descendants of old magicians 
and medicine-men, who adopted to a great extent the ideas about the gods 
-which the invading Celts introduced : but at best this is conjecture. 








PILLARED HALL OF THE TEMPLE AT PHIL^, IN EGYPT. 



BOOK V. 

EOYPTIAN AND SEMITIC HELIOIONS. 



CHAPTER I. 

Cbe (Egyptian l^digioiu 

Modem discoveries— Local deities— Tendency to monotheism— Hymn to Amen-ra- The Egyptian a 
nature-religion— Ra, the sun-god— Shu and Tefnut— The worship at On— Osiris— Apis— Serapis— 
Isis— Horus — Hathor— Thoth— Ptah— Anubis and Neith—Amun-ra -Animal worship— Animism 
—Deification of kings— Temples— The priests —Orders of priests— Festivals and processions — 
Invocation of the Nile— Animal sacrifices— Oracles— Astrology— Life after death -A funeral 
song— Osiris, the judge of the dead— "The Book of the Dead"— Other Egyptian Books— Pro- 
ceedings at the sacred lake— Objects buried with the dead— Egyptian morals— High esteem 
of truth and charity— Singular custom at banquets. 

NOT less astonisliing tlian the religions of India, and probably more 
ancient in its advanced development, is the religion of the early 
Egyptians^ as it has been slowly recovered and pieced together in the present 
Modern century. Many monuments and records have unfortunately 
discoveries, perished, many are still buried and unexplored, but those which 
have been rescued and explained furnish us with undoubted facts sufficient 
to give rise to ideas of a highly-developed form of religion, in many respects 
worthy to rank beside that revealed in the Vedas. And geological facts 
show that the human race has inhabited the Nile valley for a number ot 

1 See Sir Gardner Wilkinson, "Manners and Castoms of the Early Egyptians," Bircli's edition 
(W.); Renouf, " Hibbert Lectures on tbe Religion of Ancient Egvpt" (R.); Tiele's "Egyptian Religion" 
(T.) ; " Memoirs of Egypt Exi^loration Fund " ; Murray's '' Handbook for Egypt " ; " Records of the 
Past" (R.P.). 

462 



THE EGYPTIAN RELIGION. 463 



centuries far surpassing all ordinary chronology, and abundantlj^ sufficing 
to account for the growth of the art, architecture, religion, and other 
evidences of civilisation, which culminated at least two or three thousand 
years b.c. The religion which grew with this civilisation was in one sense 
still more polytheistic than the early Vedic, and it was more thoroughly 
local and tribal. Each locality, each town and village worshipped local 
deities. But there are extant texts which indicate that at some Local 
early date the priests recognised that there was but one God, and deities, 
that all the various forms of deity that were worshipped were but the mani- 
festations of different aspects of the same Being, which they identified with 
the universe. We have abundant evidence that the earlier periods of the 
Egyptian religion were purer, and that its best features were older than 
the absurdities and inconsistencies which formed so large a part of later 
worship. This is but like the contrast between ancient Yedism and much 
of modern Hinduism. But it cannot be proved that anything like Tendency to 
a pure monotheism existed primitively, which only developed "^®^°*^®^^^- 
later into polytheism. It is evident that the belief in one Grod and in many 
gods was held by the same men without the thought of inconsistency. 
Thus we find many expressions in which the almighty Power is referred to 
as one and supreme. " If thou art a wise man, bring up thy son in the love 
of God." "God loveth the obedient, and hateth the disobedient." "Praised 
be God for all His gifts." "The God of the world is in the light above the 
firmament ; His emblems are upon earth ; it is to them that worship is 
rendered daily." And on the walls of the oasis-temple of El-Khargeh is 
an inscription from which the following recognition of the identity of this 
supreme God with all the gods is derived : " The gods salute his royal 
majesty (Amun-ra, the sun-god) as their Lord, who revealeth himself in all 
that is, and hath names in everything, from mountain to stream. That 
which persisteth in all things is Amon. This lordly god was from the very 
beginning. He is Ptah, the greatest of the gods. . . . Each god has 
assumed thy aspect. ... To thee all things that are give praise when 
thou returnest to the nether world at even. Thou raisest up Osiris by the 
radiance of thy beams. To thee those give praise who lie in their tombs. 
. . . The gods are in thine hand, and men are at thy feet. AVhat god 
is like to thee? Thou hast made the double world, as Ptah. Thou hast 
placed thy throne in the life of the double world, as Amon. . . . Thy 
form emanated at first whilst thou shinest as Amon, Ra, and Ptah. . . . 
Thou art Mentu Ea. Thou art Sekar ; thy transformations are into the 
Nile. Thou art Youth and Age. Thou givest life to the earth by thy stream. 
Thou art heaven, thou art earth, thou art fire, thou art water, thou art air, 
and whatever is in the midst of them." (R.) 

The following extract from a hymn to Amen-ra still further exemplifies 
the idea of unity or supremacy among the gods : " The One in his works, 
single among the gods ; the beautiful bull in the cycle of gods, Hymn to 
chief of all the gods, Lord of truth, Father of the gods, Maker Amen-ra. 
of men, Creator of. beasts, Lord of existences, Creator of fruitful trees, Maker 



464 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



of herbs, Feeder of cattle — good Being, begotten of Ptali, beautiful youth 
beloved : to whom the gods give honour ; Maker of things below and above, 
Enlightener of the Earth, sailing in heaven in tranquillity," . . . and 
the hymn continues through a long series of most elevated phrases. In one 





THE GOD OF THE WATEKS. 



EGYPTIAN DEITIES [a jew out of viany divine representations). 

part Ra is addressed as " Athom, maker of men, supporting their works, 
giving them life, distinguishing the colour of one from another, listening 
to the poor in distress, gentle of heart when one cries to him, deliverer of 
the timid man from the violent, judging the poor, the poor and the op- 
pressed" (E-.P., vol. ii.) ; and one almost imagines he is reading one of the 
Hebrew Psalms of blessing. Many such splendid compositions have been 
found ; and we must realise that the people who had such conceptions stood 
at a high level, poetic and spiritual, and that there must have been many 




CONVEYANCE OF A MUMMY TO THE TOMB. 



besides the composers who reverenced their inspiration, and carefully pre- 
served and valued its products. 

It is evident that this religion is, like the Vedic, at bottom a nature- 
religion. "Their mythology concentrated itself mainly upon the daily 



THE EGYPTIAN RELIGION. 



465 



recurring plienomena, especially of sunrise and sunset, and had a large 
number of different stories about these events, often mutually The 
inconsistent. Perhaps the oldest form under which the sun was ^ nature^ ^ 
worshipped was E-a, that being the common word for sun. The religion.. 




W'-i 


;ir 


V 


i*L 


^^ ft 


ti 


^^^vl 


r? 


IX^ 


.•J 

p — . 







AMMOX, PTAH, 

THE ALL-CKEATING. THE ALL- ACCOMPLISHING. 



OSIRIS, ISIS. *"- "^ 

TDDGE OF THE DEAD, ALL-BOUNTEOXfS NATUBE. 




EGYPTIAN DEITIES. 



HORUK, 


NEBT-HA, 


ANUBIS, 




THOTH, 


SOW OF OSIBIS. 


A STTBTEBRiNEAN DEITY. 


THB ESCOUt OF THE DEAD. 


TI 


IK MOON-GOD. 



sky was imagined as a watery expanse, across which the sun-god travelled: 
in a boat. Like the Aryan gods, he had to fight with the demon Ra, the sun 
of darkness, Apap, a serpent, who is pierced by the weapons of ^°^- 
the god. He has many names, among which may be mentioned Harmachis., 



466 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

as rising sun, and Turn, as tlie setting sun. He is generally represented as 
a liawk-headed man, with tlie solar disc on his head. The sun's disc was 
termed his emblem, but he was said to journey in it across the sky. The 
following quotation from the '' Book of the Dead " will give an idea of the 
worship addressed to him : " Hail, thou who art come as Tum, and who 
hast been the creator of the gods ! Hail, thou who art come as soul of the 
holy souls in Amenti ! Hail, supreme among the gods, who by thy beauties 
dost illumine the kingdom of thfe dead ! Hail, thou who comest in radiance 
and travellest in thy disc ! Hail, greatest of all the gods, bearing rule in 
the highest, reigning in the nethermost heaven ! . . . Hail, renowned 
and glorified god ! Thy enemies fall upon their scaffold ! Hail ! thou hast 
slain the guilty, thou hast destroyed Apap." (T.) 

Shu, the son of Ea, without a mother, represents the air, and also the 
principle of heat and light, and as such is called the abode of the sun. But 
Shu and ^^ is also said to be uncreated, the principle of creation, the life- 
Tefnut. giver, the young old, and by him righteousness and truth reign. 
Later he was made a sun-god, in union with Ra, and is then represented 
as a male cat; but his ordinary figure is human. Tefnut, representing dew, 
foam, and ocean, is the wife of Shu, by whom the birth of all things is 
brought about. She is represented as a lioness. 

These three gods formed the central objects of worship at On (known 
to the Grreeks as Heliopolis, the city of the sun). Its priests were notable 
Tlie worship for their learning ; and it was an especial distinction for Joseph to 
at On. ]3Q married to a priest's daughter. This worship continued influ- 
ential, and was widely spread throughout Egypt to a late period. It was 
closely associated with the belief in resurrection and immortality. 

Osiris was the chief god worshipped at Thinis and Abydos ; his pa- 
rents were said to be Seb (earth) and Nut (heaven). The myth of Osiris 

. . given by Plutarch, describing him as an Egyptian king, is but a 
late explanation ; but it seems that Osiris represents the good 
principle, and the Creator, always at war with evil, and especially with Seb, 
the destroyer, his brother, who is darkness. The myth, as given in the 
'' Book of the Dead " in various places, appears to show forth the sun's daily 
course, as well as the'daily round of human life, both combating darkness and 
evil, continually succumbing and reviving. The aspect in which Osiris was 
most thought of was that in which he is hidden ; and thus the dead were 
placed under his guardianship, and nearly all the inscriptions on tombs are 
addressed to him. As typifying the good principle, Osiris also represents 
Egypt and the Nile. As his worship spread widely, many local legends 
were adapted to him, and we find in one chapter of the '' Book of the 
Dead," a hundred names ascribed to him. " It would appear," says Tiele, 
^^ that so soon as his worship had established itself in any one place, Osiris 
took the form of the deity whose ancient seat it was, and the sacred animal 
of that particular town or district was consecrated to him." Thus, at 
On and at Abydos, he was represented as the migratory bird Bennu, 
at Memphis as a species of ape and as a lofty pillar, surmounted by his 



THE EGYPTIAN RELIGION. 



467 



complete headdress and emblems, indicating liis abode in the highest 
heaven. 

Perhaps the most remarkable of the emblems of Osiris was the living 
bull, Apis, worshipped as an incarnation of the god in the temple of Ptah 
at Memphis. His movements and varying appetites were care- 
fully observed, and indeed regarded as giving oracular indica- 
tions. His life was not to extend beyond twenty-five years ; at this 
age he was put to death, and his successor sought for and recognised by 
certain markings. Thus the succession of these bulls fixed 
periods of chronology. When dead he was termed Serapis or 



Apis. 



Serapis. 




RESTORATION OF FArADE OF ROCK TEMPLE OF HATHOR, A1!U SIMBEL, NUBIA. 



Osarapis (Apis who has become Osiris) and lord of the under world. The 
Mendesian goat, termed the Ram, was an emblem of Ea as well as of Osiris, 
worshipped at Mendes. 

Isis, the wife of Osiris, had temples in early Egypt, and had some- 
thing in common with the Greek Demeter and Persephone. In later Egypt, 
especially under the Ptolemies, she became elevated to a most 
prominent position. Originally she represented chiefly festivity, 
and was mistress of heaven and daughter of Ra. She appears with a cow's 
head instead of a human one, or with a vulture-headdress, and also in the 
form of a female hippopotamus. All these symbols show how completely 



468 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

the early Egyptians recognised natural phenomena and animals as living 
manifestations of the gods. 

Horus is the son of Osiris and Isis, and his avenger; thus he was 

identified with the rising sun. His name was associated with a whole group 

of gods representing the visible sun, and very like Ra in some 

forms. There are many myths about him which we cannot 

detail. He is always represented with the head of a hawk. 

Hathor, described both as the mother and wife of Horus, was very like 

Isis, and was worshipped throughout Egypt, as the female counterpart of 

Osiris. She was queen of the heavens, both by day and by nighty 

the giver of great gifts to Egypt. 

Thoth was the Egyptian moon-god, wearing the moon upon his head 

as crescent or full disc, but often represented with the head of an ibis. 

From the moon being the measure of time, he becomes patron of 

all measurement, and hence of all science and letters, and of 

priestly culture. His influence steadily increased as the kingdom advanced 

in cuhure. 

Phtha, or Ptah, was the chief god of Memphis, representing creative 

power, but not the sun distinctively. He was worshipped in a human form, 

and sometimes as a pigmy. The gods were said to have come out 

of his mouth, and men from his eye. He was the god of justice 

and of beneficence to man. The frog-headed deity, Ka, is also a form of 

Ptah. 

Among other gods whom we can only briefly mention were Anubis, 

son of Osiris, the god presiding over mu.mmification, with four attendant 

Anubis and subordinate divinities ; and Neith, or Nit, a goddess worshipped 

Neith. specially at Sais, described as " the mother who bore the sun,. 

the first-born, but not begotten." 

"We must also briefly mention the god Amen or Ammon (hidden or 
unrevealed deity), whose worship assumed such great proportions during 
later Egyptian history. Amen, his wife, Mut (the mother), and 
his son, Khonsu, formed the chief triad of gods worshipped at 
Thebes, especially from the eighteenth to the twentieth dynasties. At 
this period he was identified with Ha, the sun-god, and named Amun-Ra. 
Later, he was regarded as the god of oracles ; and his oracle, in the oasis 
in the Libyan desert, was consulted by many foreign rulers and nations. 
Amen was often figured as a man seated on a throne, holding a sceptre in 
his right hand and a small cross with a handle in his left. His headdress 
frequently had two huge feathers. 

Animal worship became more marked in Egyptian religion than in 
Indian ; and there were fables representing that the spirits of the principal 
Animal animals were supposed to be embodied in the kings. In later 
worship, times every important place had its sacred animal ; and it was a 
great part of the local religion to tend it, and to embalm and bury it with 
honour when dead ; and their mummies have been found in many places. 
The dog-headed ape (cynocephalus) at Thebes, the jackal at Kynopolis, mice 



THE EGYPTIAN RELIGION. 



469 



and sparrowhawks at Bntos, the ibis at Hermopolis, Memphis, and Thebes, 
the cat, the ram, the vulture, the ichneumon, the hippopotamus, the cro- 
codile, at other places were waited on with the utmost care. Herodotus 
relates that the crocodile at Krokodilopolis, on Lake Moeris, had golden 
earrings, and rings on its forefeet, was fed with meat and meal, and em- 
balmed after death. 




RUINS OF TEMPLE OF AMUN-RA, KAKNAK, EGVPT. 

^o doubt the Egyptian animal worship represents an extreme form 
of animism. The Egyptians regarded animals, especially those most con- 
spicuous for strength, power, or beauty, as incarnations of spirits, ^^.^^ 
whose favour might be gained or displeasure averted by worship. 
This may have been originally quite apart from conceptions of gods ; but as 
the latter became more developed, it was imagined that the gods themselves 



470 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

were symbolised or were inhabited by the animals. Later, these ideas 
grew and varied in different ways, and new animals were worshipped^ 
because their names resembled more or less closely those of the gods. 

As the Egyptians worshipped animals, they also, at an early date, 
worshipped their kings. At first they were only so worshipped after death, 
Deification priests being appointed for their service ; but later, they were- 
of kings, worshipped while alive, and temples were built for them by the 
side of their pyramids. This worship grew very expensive, so that Una, 
a high of&cial in the fifth dynasty, boasts that he had built four sanctuaries- 
in connection with great levies for public works, in order that the spirits- 
of the living king, Merenra, might be invoked " more than all the gods " ; 
and the succession of priests of the several kings was kept up till a late 
date. The divine right of kings was never more zealously believed in or 
more devoutly expressed than by the Egyptians. What we should term, 
now-a-days, the most abject servility, was an unquestioned commonplace 
among them ; and it by no means appears to have been first imposed by 
the kings themselves. Indeed, if an animal was regarded as an incarnation 
of a god, how much more a king ? Thus we find a disgraced servant im- 
ploring his king in this fashion : " Let god be gracious to him whom he 
has removed, whom he has banished to another land, let him be mild as. 
Ra." When restored to favour, he cannot sufficiently express his adoration 
of the king. " The great god, the equal of the sun-god, mocks me ! thy 
majesty is as Horus, the power of thy arm extends over all lands." When 
admitted once more to his presence, he says : " The god spoke amicably to- 
me. I was like one brought out of the darkness into the light. My tongue 
was dumb, my limbs refused their office, my heart was no longer in my 
body, so that I knew not whether I lived or if I was dead." (T.) When 
such opinions prevailed, even among the common people, it is not surprising; 
that the kings accepted with complacency the adoration offered to them. 
The China of to-day was outdone by ancient Egypt, and the king alone 
was fully competent to approach the gods in the temples with the priests. 
In many an inscription the king claims the empire over all nations and the 
whole world. Even the gods are represented as worshipping the living, 
king. The god says to Rameses II., " I am thy father ; by me are begotten 
all thy members as divine. . . . Thou art lord like the majesty of Ra \ 
the gods and goddesses are praising thy benefits, adoring and sacrificing 
before thine image." And the king was said to possess the seven souls and 
the fourteen Eas, or spirits of Ea. Yet the divinity assigned to the kings- 
did not prevent them from worshipping the gods in the humblest attitudes. 
Perhaps the kings so utterly flattered really had some notion of their own 
insignificance before the Divine power. 

It would be as impossible to describe within our limits the Egyptian 

as the Indian or the Greek temples. They were erected, to a large extent, 

on a uniform plan, though differing considerably in details. 

Each was built by a king in honour of some god or triad of gods \ 

and the motive was not that the people might worship the gods, but that 



THE EGYPTIAN RELIGION. 



471 



the king might pay 
honour to them, and 
secure their future fa- 
vours. The temples are 
always massive stone 
structures, surrounded 
by lofty brick walls, 
with fine entrances, 
sometimes flanked by 
huge broad towers 
sculptured with repre- 
sentations of the king's 
doings, either in war 
or peace. "Within was 
an avenue of sphinxes ; 
images wherein the 
body of a lion was con- 
joined with a human 
head, denoting the com- 
bined excellence of 
mind and body of the 
king ; this might be 
interrupted by one or 
more portals, flanked by 
huge side towers. Then 
came a portico opening 
into one or more fore- 
courts, through which 
a roofed enclosure was 
reached, adjoining the 
sacred sanctuary, which 
was low and compara- 
tively small, and con- 
Etined a sort of ark or 
chest, half covered by a 
veil or curtain, and con- 
tained in a boat. Both 
these were decorated 
with symbols of life, 
light, and fertility. The 
ark contained a small 
image of the god, never 
seen, and supposed to 
have never been seen. 
Everywhere in the tem- 
ple the deeds of the 




1 



Mi. 



HKIPI 




T«lP^ 



472 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS, 

great king were celebrated in pictures and sculptures of various kinds, 
and records of tliem were engraved upon the walls. To the right and 
left of, or all round the central sanctuary, might be smaller courts in 
which special kinds of offerings were made. Huge statues of the kings, 
obelisks, and other special Egyptian features were abundant. As a speci- 
men of the greater temples we may mention that that of El-Karnak, 
Thebes, has a front 360 feet wide ; the first court is 275 feet long ; the 
great roofed hall is 170 feet long by 329 feet -wide, and its roof is supported 
by 134 columns, of which the twelve tallest are seventy feet high, and 
about 40 feet in diameter, and form an avenue through the middle, the 
smaller columns forming groups on either side. Thus a marvellous effect, 
as of a forest of columns, is produced. It does not appear that the people 
performed their worship at any time in the temples ; they, if they had any 
special place of worship, probably had private chapels. 

The Egyptian priests were not a definite hereditary order, and were 
not absolutely confined to their priestly of6.ee. " The priest of a god was 
often a military or naval commander, exercised the office of 
scribe, and was invested with the supervision of public works 
or local government. A general in the army could marry the daughter 
of a priest, and his children could be scribes, priests, or public functionaries.'' 
(W.) All this emphasised the power of the king, who was fully initiated 
as a priest, and was the head of the national religion. In fact, upon great 
occasions, the king himself offered the saxjrifices ; he appointed and superin- 
tended the great festivals and regulated the sacrifices. But the extent 
to which the priests were employed in all the great of&ces of the State, 
and their function of expounding to the king his moral duties, gave them 
an aggregate influence transcending that of any other class. In fact, 
viewing the king as priest also, it must be acknowledged that, as in 
China, India, Greece, and Eome, the priests of Egypt practically ruled the 
cou.ntry. 

The priests were very numerous, and formed many colleges, classed 
according to the god they specially served, and their various functions. Thus^ 
Orders of there were the prophets, who were the chief priests, four being 
priests. ^ attached to each principal god ; the divine fathers, who might 
become prophets ; the purifiers or washers, the incense-bearers, the funeral 
attendants, the bards, and others. There were also priestesses, divine wives 
and divine handmaids, singers, etc. ; and in the early Empire there were 
prophetesses, and these offices were held by queens, princesses, and mem- 
bers of the noblest families. The priests and their families had great 
privileges, were free from taxes, and received as a body one-third of the 
land, besides being provided for out of the public stores. The prophets 
had the greatest amount of learning about all rehgious matters, they also 
managed the priestly revenues, and they had a conspicuous place in re- 
ligious processions. They kept their mysteries as secret as some of the 
Greek priesthoods, and only admitted to them those who had satisfied 
them of their high character and learning. They paid great attention to 



THE EGYPTIAN RELIGION. 473 

the education of their children in all the science of the time, and kept up 
a strict discipline and severity ot outward demeanour. They were strict 
as to the quantity and quality of their food — fish and the flesh of swine, 
pulse, etc., being strictly forbidden. They bathed twice in the day and 
twice in the night ; and they shaved the entire body every third day. 




Fasts of great length, from seven to forty-two days, were observed by 
them, preceded by a period of purification. They were circumcised at 
initiation (though this was very general among the people). Their ordinary 
garments were of linen, but the high priests wore an entire leopard's skin 
on great occasions ; they wore sandals of papyrus and palm leaves, and they 



474 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

lay either on skins on the ground, or on wickerwork beds of palm branches^ 
the head being raised on a semi-cylinder of wood. 

The great occasions of Egyptian religion were the festivals and pro- 
cessions ; among these were the processions of shrines, the dedication of 
Festivals ^®^pl®s ; the conveyance of the royal offerings to the gods ; the^ 
and king's coronation, and his triumphs on returning from war. 

processions. ^^^ procession of shrines included a variable number of arks- 
and their boats, carried by priests, by means of long staves passed through- 
metal rings at the sides. A shrine of the reigning king might also be^ 
included in the procession, as well as the statue of the principal deity, of 
the king and of his ancestors. The shrine or shrines were brought into 
the temple, placed on a table, and decked with fresh flowers. Many 
offerings were made, on several altars, and the king offered incense and 
made a libation. The anointing of the king at his coronation was per- 
formed by the high priest in a similar manner to the anointing of the 
Jewish high priest ; but such anointing was an ordinary expression of 
welcome in Egypt. Many other ceremonies showed the intimate con- 
nection of the kings with the national religion ; the king represented the 
whole nation and was everything in himself. 

The annual invocation of the Nile was one of the most important 
festivals. If this were not duly celebrated, the people believed the Nile 

Invocation would not rise and inundate the land. People assembled in the 

of the Nile, towns from all the villages around to take part in this festival^ 
which was marked by hymns, music, and dancing, as well as feasting, k. 
wooden statue of the Nile-god was carried through the villages. A re- 
markable hymn or invocation to the Nile has been preserved, in which 
it is credited with divine honours. " inundation of the Nile," it is said, 
" offerings are made to thee, oxen are slain to thee, great festivals are kept 
for thee . . . unknown is his Name in heaven, he doth not manifest 
his forms, vain are all representations." (R.P. iv.) Many other festivals were 
held in celebration of the various qualities of the gods and of the recurring 
seasons. The festivals of Isis and Osiris were numerous and magnificent^ 
and so many details are known that it is impossible here to give even an 
outline of them ; but yet Sir Gardner Wilkinson remarks that " the greater 
part of the fetes and religious rites of the Egyptians are totally unknown 
to us." How thoroughly, therefore, the religious element entered into 
Egyptian as into Indian and Chinese life ! 

The Egyptians offered animal sacrifices to all their gods, as well as 

cakes and wine, incense, flowers, and herbs. Oxen were prominent among 

Animal the victims, which also included gazelles, ibexes, geese, and wild 

sacrifices, ^^^j^ ^^^ ^^^ sheep. The right shoulder was generally the 
part first offered on the altar. The king was present at the daily sacri- 
fices, when the people prayed for him, and the priests praised him and 
warned him against the faults of other ^ kings, caused by ill advice having 
been given to them. The king himself inspected the entrails of the victim 
and performed some of the ceremonies of sacrifice. There is no distinct 



THE EGYPTIAN RELIGION. 



475 



evidence that human sacrifices were ever made in Egypt within historic- 
times ; and indeed, at the earliest time we can clearly read, they seem ta 
have advanced beyond the idea that human victims are required by the gods.. 
"We have already seen how important a place oracles came to occupy- 
in Greece ; but the G-reeks themselves confessed that they were of late- 
institution among themselves, and had been derived from Egypt. 
The most famous oracles were those of Thebes, of Buto, of 
Heliopolis, and of Ammon in Libya, the giving of oracles being a functioru 
of some gods only. In some temples questions were taken to the temple- 
in writing, and sealed ; and answers were given in the same fashion, and' 
supposed to have been inspired or given by the god. The oracle of Ammon^ 
was highly celebrated in foreign countries. In some cases oracles were- 
spontaneously sent, to warn, censure, or command prominent persons or- 
States. Astrology was also largely cultivated in connection with the- 
temples ; and future events were predicted by the indications of 
the stars. These predictions gained high repute in the ancient 
world through their frequent accuracy. 




WORSHIP OF SUX BY AN EGYPTIAN KING. 



It is in the funeral rites and literature of the Egyptians that we come 
upon some of the most interesting features of their religion. That they 
very early had a belief in a continuous life after the death of Life after 
the body, is indubitable. Every human soul being supposed to *^®^*^- 
have a divine part which returned to the deity after death, the good were- 
believed to attain reunion with the deity, and consequently received the 
name Osiris. The deceased person's body was bound up so as to bear- 
a resemblance to Osiris ; and offerings were made to Osiris after the burial, 
in the deceased's liame. Sacrifices and liturgies were offered to Osiris- 
by the priests in the presence of the mourners ; and these were repeated 
on a greater or less scale as long and as frequently as the family were 
willing to pay for them. 

Sometimes the special funeral songs composed for a festival or anni- 
versary attained great beauty. Thus, when we read such a song as this of the- 
harper, dating from the eighteenth dynasty, we are irresistibly reminded 



476 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

of passages in the Bible ; and this is older than a large proportion if not 
A funeral ^ of the Hebrew Psalms. " The great one is truly at rest, the 
song. good charge is fulfilled. Men pass away since the time of Ea, 
and the youths come in their stead. Like as Ra reappears every morning, 
and Tum sets in the horizon, men are begetting and women are conceiving. 
Every nostril inhaleth once the breezes of dawn, but all born of women 
go down to their places. . . . No works of buildings in Egypt could 
avail ; his resting-place is all his wealth. Let me return to know what 
remaineth of him. Not the least moment could be added to his life. Those 
who have magazines full of bread to spend, even they shall encounter the 
hour of a last end. . . . Mind thee of the day when thou too shalt 
start for the land to which one goeth to return not thence. Grood for thee, 
then, will have been an honest life, therefore be just and hate transgres- 
sions. . . . The coward and the bold, neither can fly the grave, the 
friendless and proud are alike." (R.P. vi.) 

The treatment of the deceased after death and the general practices of 
the Egyptians in regard to death showed that, as Diodorus says, they re- 
garded the tombs as "eternal dwelling-places," and this idea goes very far 
back in the records. Only the evil are spoken of as actually dead. The 
greatest importance was attached to the permanence of the religious cere- 
monies for the dead, just as among the Chinese, and the motive of building 
the Great Pyramids was to perpetuate the dwelling-place of the dead kings 
for ever. 

The supposed fate of the dead, as related by Herodotus, quite corresponds 
with the sculptures, pictures, and inscriptions. He describes the principal 
.... ofS.ce of Osiris as being that of judging the dead in the under- 
judge of the world (Amenti) ; seated on his throne, he received an account of 
the actions of the dead as recorded by Thoth, his actions having 
first been weighed in the scales of Truth by Anubis, who, assisted by Horus, 
placed the heart, as typifying virtuous actions of the deceased, in the balance 
against the figure of the twofold goddess of Truth and Justice. Sometimes 
the deceased are represented as wearing round their necks the emblem 
which appears in the scales, signifying their acceptance. Those who had 
done evil were supposed to pass in succession into the bodies of different 
animals, the number and kinds of the animals depending upon their guilt ; 
it is however a disputed point whether this view was really held by the 
Egyptians. 

These views are borne out by the manuscript and inscribed writings 
found in Egyptian tombs and known as " The Book of the Dead," or the 
"TheBookof "I^^^^^l of ^^ Dead," containing prayers mostly supposed to be 
the Dead." recited by the deceased in the underworld, but always recited 
in his name by those present at the funeral ceremonies. In many cases 
however there is great difficulty in ascertaining the precise meaning of 
•expressions, owing to the carelessness of copyists, and to different readings. 
Much of it dates from the early dynasties, and implies a complete knowledge 
of the early mythology. In it the happy dead are represented as leading a 



THE EGYPTIAN RELIGION. 



Air 



life like that on earth ; the gods provide their food and admit them to their 
tables. Even agricultural employments are attributed to them. But they 
were believed also to be able to traverse the whole universe in every desired 
shape and form. Through their identification with Osiris and their utter- 
ance of "words of power," they can pass unhurt in any direction. In some 
chapters of the Ritual the limbs of the deceased are each separately identi- 
fied with a distinct god. In one chapter it is said that " "Whom men know 
not " (a mode of referring to a god without naming his revered name) is his 
name. The " yesterday which sees endless years is his name. The deceased 
is the lord of eternity." (E,.) His soul, his E,a or genius, and his shadow are- 
all given back to him; he overcomes in combat crocodiles, serpents, etc.,. 
and successfully surmounts all kinds of difficulties and dangers, to which 
evidently those of evil life or not protected by the gods would succumb. 




FRONT OF TKMrLK AT KJ>FU. 



The recitals made by the deceased to the gods indicate the virtues 
which were highly esteemed. Thus : " I am not a doer of fraud and iniquity 
against men. I am not a doer of that which is crooked in 
place of that which is right. ... I do not force a labouring man the |ods° 
to do more than his daily task. ... I do not calumniate a ^^''^ *^^ ^^^^• 
servant to his master; I do not cause hunger; I do not cause weeping; I am 
not a murderer ; I do not give order to murder privily ; I am not guilty of 
fraud against any one ; I am not a falsifier of the measures in the temples." 
Even inward faults or crimes are referred to in this way by implication, such 
as causing pain of mind to another, turning a deaf ear to the words of 
truth and justice ; and sins against chastity are included in the Hst of sins 
disclaimed. These quotations are contained in the 125th chapter of " the 
Book of the Dead," and are believed to represent the oldest known code of 



478 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

morals. It is entitled : " Book of entering into the Hall of the twofold 
Maat : the person parts from his sins that he may see the divine faces." 
The twofold Maat is the twofold god of Truth and Justice, represented by 
a double figure. 

There are other ancient Egyptian books of great interest, which we 

'Cannot detail. Such are the book which describes the course of the sun 

through the night, the twelve divisions of his journey, and the 

Egyptian names of the gods of each locality ; the Lamentations of Isis and 

books. ]v;[ephthys, supposed to be recited by the two sisters of Osiris in 

-order to bring about his resurrection, and actually recited by priests over 

the dead; "the Book of glorifying Osiris," ''the Book of the Breaths of 

Life," etc., etc. 

The influence of the Egyptian ideas about the future state was mar- 
kedly shown in the preliminary proceedings at the sacred lake which was 

constructed near or in every city or centre. The body of a 
Proceedings %> u %j 

at the deceased person was brought to the borders of the lake, and 
sacred lake. ^ j^umber of judges were assembled to hear any accusation of 
-evil life that might be brought against the deceased. On sufficient proof, 
ceremonial burial and transport across the sacred lake were denied ; while a 
false accusation subjected the accuser to heavy penalties. If no accuser 
appeared, or if accusations were disproved, the relations praised the dead 
person, enlarging on his virtues, and begging the gods below to receive him 
as a companion of the pious ; and if the family already possessed special 
tombs, the funeral then proceeded. But the denial of honourable burial 
was considered an extreme disgrace, foreshadowing the terrible fate which 
overtook the deceased in Hades ; and no little share in this feehng was due 
to the triumph enjoyed by the enemies of the family. There appears 
however to have been a way of escape ; crimes might be thus punishable 
for limited periods ; and thus when tjie priests had been sufficiently paid 
to make continuous prayers for them, and the sorrowing relatives showed 
sufficient religious devotion, it was believed that the evil destiny could 
finally be removed from the deceased. Many persons of course had no 
money to go through this ceremony of the sacred lake at all, or to be 
embalmed, and such had to be buried on the shores of the lake, or in the 
houses of their relatives. Even kings had to go through the ordeal of 
possible accusation and judgment, and in several cases a public honourable 
funeral was refused to them. 

The descriptions of mummies and embalming, besides being very well 

known, would lead us too far from our main subject. We may note that 

the tombs of rich persons had various objects of value placed in 

buried with them, such as vases, some with the heads of the genii of Amen-ti, 

thedea . ^^^ small images of the deceased, papyri with sacred or other 

writings upon them, tablets of stone or wood decorated with funeral subjects 

or narratives relating to the deceased, and many objects connected with the 

deceased's profession. Some of the little figures, in all kinds ol materials, 

had their arms crossed like Osiris, with whom the dead became identified, 




FUNEKAL OF AN EG-^l'TlAN KING. 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



and bearing Heroglyphics containing the deceased's name and rank and the- 
formulse of presentation of his soul to Osiris. These figures, which only 
commence in the eighteenth dynasty, were called "respondents" in the- 
" Ritual of the Dead," being imagined to answer the deceased's call for aid 
to do various agricultural work for him in the other world. One of these has 
engraved on it a chapter of the ritual, entitled " Avoiding," or " How not 
to do "Work in Hades," showing that in that degenerate period the Egyp^ 
tians were greatly concerned to avoid the toils of the future. 

In some respects Egyptian morals present a favourable picture ; in 
others, the kings appear as trying varied experiments in social legislation 
Egyptian ^^^ regulation ; in others, morals fared but badly. Truth and 
morals, justice were sought to be attained, but sometimes by primitive- 
methods. False oaths were even punished with death ; and a man who 
slandered the dead was severely punished ; whilst a false accuser was con- 
demned to the same punishment as the accused would have deserved if 
guilty. Wilful murder, even of a slave, was punishable with death ; and 
the witness who did not try to prevent the crime was similarly punished- 
Parricide was punished with torture before death. Child-murder wa& 
visited, not with death, but with the strange punishment of spending three- 
days and nights with the dead body fastened to the neck of the culprit^ 
under a public guard. Adultery in a woman was punished by loss of the 
nose ; forgery and falsification of weights and measures by loss of the hands. 
Many offences which are now visited with imprisonment were visited with 
the bastinado. Usury was condemned, and interest was never allowed to 
increase beyond double the original sum. Only goods, not persons, could 
be seized for debt, the person being the property of the king or of the 
State. At an early period people were required to give in pledge for bor- 
rowed money the mummy of a father or near relative, a deposit certain to- 
be redeemed if at all possible, for if it were not redeemed the debtor could 
not be buried with the usual ceremonies, or in any honourable place. 
Luxury and vice had their place in Egypt as in every other rich country ; 
but we do not find evidence that Egypt was worse than other nations, if so- 
bad. Women occupied a considerable place in society and in politics, and 
were by no means kept as secluded as in modern Oriental life. One wife- 
was the rule, but not the limit ; and the kings had as many wives as they 
pleased ; the marriage of brothers and sisters was however allowed. All 
children, by whatever mother, shared in the inheritance. Sons were re- 
quired to pay great deference to their parents and to serve them much as- 
in China. Their respect for old age and for elder strangers, reverence for 
ancestors and for the monarch, remind one of marked features in the 
Chinese, and suggest that if the Egyptians and the Chinese did not derive 
their religion from a common source in a far-distant past, they were at least 
founded on such deeply-implanted instincts or such naturally-growing per- 
ceptions that strikingly similar results appeared in widely different nations. 
Whether Egypt was the original home or not of the divine right of kings^ 
it was there very early and markedly believed in ; and the king's actions. 



THE EGYPTIAN RELIGION. 



481 



unless flagrantly injurious, were celebrated as great benefits to the nation 
and his funeral was marked by extreme magnificence and by prolonged 
fasting and mourning. The whole country, in fact, belonged to the gods, 
who regarded it with special affection, and conferred on it all its great 
institutions. It was not wonderful that the Israelites should have been 




powerfully influenced by what they saw in Egypt, or that they should cast 

ongmg eyes back o its gorgeous forms and objects of worship, and seek to 

ihS own '°"'' ^"""""^ °' '"^ ^'''''*'°" '° *^' ^'^*"''' '"'^^^ peculiarly 

It -is noteworthy how frequently the Egyptian inscriptions praise the 



482 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

strictest truthfulness and works of charity. Thus we read of one man : 
" Doing that which is right, and hating that which is wrong, I 
of truth and was bread to the hungry, water to the thirsty, clothes to the 
chanty, j^g^j^-g^j^ ^ refuge to him that was in want ; that which I did to 
him, the great Grod hath done to me." Again, '' I [was one who did that 
which was pleasing to his father and his mother ; the joy of his brethren, 
the friend of his companions, noble-hearted to all those of his city. I gave 
bread to the hungry ; my doors were open to those who came from without, 
and I gave them wherewith to refresh themselves. And Grod hath inclined 
his countenance to me for what I have done ; he hath given me old age 
upon earth, in long and pleasant duration, with many children at my feet." 
(E.) It must be remembered that these commendations, though put in the 
mouth of the deceased, were the work of his survivors ; even if they are 
not strictly accurate, they show what features of conduct were considered 
worthy of praise in view of the eternal world, and therefore they have a 
wide-reaching significance in our estimate of the character of the ancient 
Egyptians. 

It is singular to find, in a song of a king so early as the eleventh 
dynasty, ideas which are familiar to us in the much later book of Eccle- 
sinffuiar s^^^^^^' Herodotus describes a custom which may be connected 
custom with the recitation of some song. He says : "At the entertain- 
anque s. j^^^^^g q£ ^^ y:\Q\i^ just as the company is about to rise from the 
repast, a small coffin is carried round, containing a perfect representation of 
a dead body, . . . as it is shown to the guests in rotation, the bearer 
exclaims, ' Cast your eyes on this figure : after death you yourself will re- 
semble it ; drink then, and be happy.' " The song, after reciting that the 
body passes away, goes on, "After all, what is prosperity? Their fenced 
walls are dilapidated. Their houses are as that which has never existed. 
No man comes from thence who tells of their sayings, who tells of their 
affairs, who encourages their hearts. Ye go to the place whence they return 
not. Strengthen thy heart to forget how thou hast enjoyed thyself, fulfil 
thy desire whilst thou livest. . . . The day will come to thee, when one 
hears not the voice, when the one who is at rest hears not their voices. 
Lamentations deliver not him who is in the tomb. Feast in tranquillity, 
seeing that there is no one who carries away his goods with him. Yea, 
behold, none who goes thither comes back again." (R. P. iv.) 

Altogether, in considering the moral nature of Egyptian religious 
teaching, we cannot but give it a high place. The standard set up was 
high, an ideal excellence was aimed at and praised ; and if the people failed 
-ultimately to keep up to that level, it was scarcely for want of knowledge 
or opportunity. All the systems of religion we have yet surveyed seem to 
have gone through stages of development and degeneracy, as if human 
religions were in themselves endowed with bodily or mental life which they 
were compelled to imitate by decay and death, as well as by stages of 
growth, assimilation, and differentiation. 




GREAT MOUND ON SITE OF BABYLON. 



CHAPTER II. 
Clje iBabpIonian, asspiian, antr ^bttnitian aRth'sions. 

Early magical texts— Exorcists — Heaven and earth as creative powers— Local religions— Ea, the god 
of the deep— Dav-ldna, the lady of the' earth— Hymn to Ea— Mul-lil, lord of the ghost-world— 
The moon-god of Ur— The sun-god Samas or Tammuz— Istar— The fire-god— Nergal—Matu— 
Bel-Merodach— His temple at Babylon — Nebo — Assur — Rimmon— Hymns to the gods— Penitential 
hymns— Future existence— Star-worship and [astrology — Early cosmogony— Mr. George Smith's 
discoveries— Bel and the dragon— The tower of Babel — The epic of Izdubar— The Chaldsean deluge 
—Priests— Festivals and sacred days— Sacrifices— Images— Monotheism— Religious character of 
people— Phoenician religion— Baal— Melkarth—Ashtoreth— Adonis— Nature-gods— The Kabiri— 
Human and other sacrifices— Moloch— Chemosh — The Philistine gods— Dagon. 

BABYLONIA and Assyria, like Egypt, in varying degrees and through 
long periods, influenced the Israelites and were influenced by them ; 
and consequently the study of their religious development is of high im- 
portance. Though much remains to be known about Mesopotamian religion, 
much is already known. ^ 

In Chaldsea, as in China, we come near to primitive animism and its 
development into an advanced polytheism. The magical texts which form 
the earliest Chaldsean sacred literature probably date from a time ^^^, magical 
as early as the earliest Egyptian records, when there was no texts, 
distinct idea of gods, and when the world around the Accadian was peopled 
by supernatural powers and spirits of living things. This state of mind 

^ Sayce: "Hibbert Lectures " (Religion of Ancient Babylonians), (S.). Sayce's edition of Smith's 
Chaldean Account of Genesis ; Rawlinson's " Five Great Monarchies," and " Religions of the Ancient 
world" ; Sayce's "Ancient Empires of the East." St. Chad. lioscawen, iu "Religious Systems of 
the World," 1890. " The Cuneiform Inscriptions of Western Asia." Published by Trustees of 
British Museum (I.). 



484 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

was dealt with, by sLamanists or exorcists who can hardly be called priests^ 
but who rank rather with the medicine-men of the American 
Indians. They undertook to cure or prevent all kinds of diseases^ 
and to cause the spirits of evil tilings to depart ; and this was effected 
especially by incantations such as the following : " The evil god (or spirit), 
the evil demon, the demon of the field, the demon of the mountain, the- 
demon of the sea, the demon of the tomb, the evil spirit, the dazzling fiend, 
the evil wind, the assaulting wind, which strips off the clothing of the body 
as an evil demon, conjure, spirit of beaven ! conjure, spirit of earth ! " 
" The painful fever, the potent fever, the fever which, quits not a man, the 
fever-demon who departs not, the fever unremovable, th.e evil fever, conjure^ 
spirit of heaven! conjure, spirit of earth!" (I.) These texts whicb have 
come down to us, probably do not represent the earliest form of exorcism, but 
rather the highest level attained by the system ; and they show in a most 
interesting way, that, in connection with these early incantations, the idea 
of the spirit of heaven and the spirit of earth, as representing the essence 
of the higher powers, was impressed upon the early Accadians and their suc- 
cessors the Babylonians and Assyrians. The belief in these great powers as 
beneficent grew stronger as the cures wrought by medicines, by natural 
recovery, or by mental faith were noted ; and the idea of the good powers 
as antagonistic to and stronger than the evil demons rose into prominence. 
Heaven and It was conceived that the heaven and earth, and the deep sea^ 
creative were the creative powers, and were especially the creators of 
powers, man, and of all good things. Strangely enough, these powers, 
Ana or Anu, the sky, Mul-lil, the earth, Ea, tbe deep, were represented as 
themselves having a spirit, like all living or moving objects. These god& 
might assume human forms, and then their spirits corresponded to those of 
men ; they are represented as inhabiting animals, which were worshipped 
as totems. Thus Ea appeared as antelope, fish, and serpent, and we find 
divine bulls, storm-birds, dogs, etc. So, according to Prof. Sayce, innu- 
merable spirits were believed in, controlled by creative gods representing the 
order and law of the universe. In opposition to them were the malevolent 
spirits of darkness and disease, and there were also spirits neither good nor 
bad. All these were supposed to be controlled by the sorcerer-priest, using 
spells and exorcisms, and communicating with, and practically influencing, 
the gods by his ritual. The forms of worship became enlarged with this 
higher belief, and true supplication appears in the Penitential Psalms, such 
as this : — 

" Accept the prostration of the face of the living creature. I, thy 
servant, ask thee for rest. To the heart of him who has sinned thou 
utterest words of blessing. Thou lookest on the man, and the man lives, 
potentate of the world, mistress of mankind ! Compassionate one, 
whose forgiveness is ready, who acceptest the prayer. {Friesi) God and 
mother goddess that art angry with him, he calls upon thee ! Turn thy 
face towards him and take his hand !''(!.) In this prayer, as well as in 
others, we see an invocation of more gods than one, as being in combination. 



BABYLONIAN /RELIGION. 485 



or alliance. Of course while this elevation was proceeding, the incantations 
and exorcisms remained largely in use among those less enlightened, but 
were gradually lowered in esteem, like charms in modern days ; while the 
religious development went on to produce the hymns to the gods. But 
these were due partly no doubt to the early Semitic influence which largely 
altered the character of Mesopotamian religion. 

As in Egypt, the national religion grew upon the basis of local re- 
ligions, adopting and adapting local gods of cities and tribes. Thus, Ea was 
originally the god of the city Eridu, at the then mouth of the Local 
Euphrates. Under the name of Cannes, he is said by Berosus, reunions, 
the late Chaldsean historian, to have come out of the water of the gulf, to 
have passed his days among men, and to have given them insight Ea, the god 
into letters and sciences, and arts of every kind. ''He taught °^*^® *^®®P" 
them to construct houses, to found temples, to compile laws, and explained 
to them the principles of geometrical knowledge. He made them dis- 
tinguish the seeds of the earth, and showed them how to collect the fruits ; 
in short, he instructed them in everything which could tend to soften man- 
ners and humanise their lives." Thus he was the god of wisdom of early 
Babylonia, and was represented as partly man and partly fish. 

In conjunction with Ea was worshipped his consort Dav-kina, the lady 
of the earth, which she personified ; and this relationship accords with the 
old Chaldsean idea of the origin of the world from the deep, upon 
which the earth lay. Through Dav-kina the words of E a were ladyofthe 
conveyed to men, as heard in the roar of the waves. The attri- ^^-^^^ 
butes of Ea may be gathered from a hymn addressed to him. He is " the 
god of pure life, who stretches out the bright firmament, the god of good 
vvinds, the lord of hearing and obedience, creator of the pure jj^j^^ ^q -^^ 
and the impure, establisher of fertility, who brings to greatness 
■ him that is of small estate. . . . May he command, may he glorify, 
may he hearken to his worshippers. . . . May he establish, and never 
may his word be forgotten in the mouth of the black-headed race, whom his 
hands created. As god of the pure incantation may he further be invoked, 
before whose pure approach may the evil trouble be overthrown ; by whose 
pure spell the siege of the foe is removed." A later part of the same hymn 
is occupied with recognising the identity of the Bel of Northern Babylonia 
with Ea, showing the process of fusion by which different local deities 
became amalgamated, and regarded as practically the same. Ea is repre- 
sented as saying, '' Since he (Bel) has made his men strong by his name, let 
him, like myself, have the name of Ea. May he bear (to them) the bond 
of all my commands, and may he communicate all my secret knowledge 
through the fifty names of the great gods." The hymn goes on, " His 
fifty names he has pronounced, his ways he has restored. . . . May 
father to son repeat and hand them down." (S.) This emphasis on the 
" name " is intelligible when we remember that the name signified the 
essential nature of the deity, as in the Old Testament and in Egyptian 
religion. 



486 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

We find a son also ascribed to Ea, namely Mardugga, tlie lioly son, 
the same name being traceable in Marduk, or Merodach. He was supposed 
Marduk, or ^^ "visit mankind as a mediator and bealer. Between Ea and 
Merodach. Merodacb, as good gods, and the powers of evil typified by a 
serpent with seven heads and seven tails, there was continual warfare. 
There is doubtless some connection between this belief and that recorded 
in the early chapters of Grenesis. 

Another of the gods dating back to Accadian times is Mul-lil, the lord 
of the ghost- world, of the earth, and of the spirits of the earth, originally a 
Mui-m lord ^^^^^ S^^ ^^ Mpur (now Mffer) in nothern Babylonia. Here the 
of the belief in ghosts and demons and spirits of disease was strong, and 
g OS -wor . -j^^^^^ '^^ spread to other parts. Adar (a name possibly read 
wrongly) was the son of Mul-lil, a sun-god, represented as issuing from 
night, as typified by the god of the lower world ; and his wife was the lady 
of the dawn. Adar was especially the meridian sun, the warrior and 
champion of the gods, the messenger of his father. 

It is strange to find the moon-god represented as masculine, and the 
sun-god as his offspring. There was apparently a local moon-god in every 
The Moon-god Babylonian town ; Ur seems to have been a great centre of 
of Ur. Y\% worship, and the moon-gods of Ur and Nipur were early 
identified. At Ur the moon-god, known as Nannak or Nannar, became the 
father of the gods. Part of an old hymn to him runs thus : " Lord and 
prince of the gods, who in heaven and earth alone is supreme. . . . 
Father Nannar, lord of heaven, lord of the moon, prince of the gods. 
Father, long-suffering and full of forgiveness, whose hand upholds the 
life of all mankind. . . . Father, begetter of gods and men, who 
causes the shrine to be founded, who establishes the offering, who proclaims 
dominion, who gives the sceptre, who shall fix destiny unto a distant day ; 
First-born, omnipotent, his heart is far-extended; none shall describe the 
god. . . . As for thee, thy will is made known in heaven, and the 
angels bow their faces. ... As for thee, thy will is done upon the 
earth, and the herb grows green. ... As for thee, thy will is the far- 
off heaven, the hidden earth which no man hath known. . . . Look 
with favour on thy temple ; look with favour on Ur ; let the high-born 
dame ask rest of thee, lord ; let the free-born man ask rest of thee, O 
lord ! Let the spirits of earth and heaven ask rest of thee, lord." 

When we remember that this Ur in Chaldsea was the place whence 
Abraham migrated to Harran, we shall see that he already lived in 
an atmosphere of very considerable development. Local gods were wor- 
shipped, not a truly universal god ; but already conceptions of no slight 
elevation had been attained, and Harran, to which he in the first place 
migrated, was closely connected with Ur in religion. The moon-god of Ur 
appears to have gained fame and to have taken a predominant position among 
the Babylonians as the father of gods and men, under the name Sin (the 
bright). And in conformity with the Chaldsean idea of the sun coming 
forth and being produced from the night (over which the moon presides), 



BABYLONIAN RELIGION, 



487 



Istar. 



we find the smi-god Samas (Tamniuz) described as the son of Sin. Perhaps 
the most noted sun-god of the Accadians was that of Larsa, not far ^^^ sun-god 
from Ur, whose temple was famous, having been founded or re- samas, or 
stored by Ur-bagas, the earhest known king of United Babylonia. 
He also was noted as the builder or restorer of the temple of the moon-god at 
Ur, that of Mul-lil at Nipur, and those of Ann and Istar at Erech. 
Istar was the goddess of the . evening star, assigned as the wife 
of Samas, later developed into the Ishtar or Ashtoreth of Semitic worship. 
The sun-god was also worshipped under his name of Samas at Sippara (the 
Scripture Sepharvaim), where there was a temple believed to worship at 
have already grown old and decayed in b.c. 3800, which ^as ^®p^^^^"^- 
the centre of a vigorous worship, with many priests, scribes, schools ; and 
most interesting hymns to the god have come down to us apparently from 
this very early date. 




The ftre-god. 



WINGED FIGURES FROM THE EXCAVATIONS AT NINEVEH, WITH NIN, OR NINIP, BETWEEN. 

There was also a fire-god among the early Accadian gods, celebrated 
in this fashion in an early hymn : " The Fire-god, the first-born supreme, 
unto heaven they pursued and no father did he know. Fire- , 
god, supreme on high, the first-born, the mighty, supreme en- ' 
joined of the commands of Anu. The Fire-god enthrones with himself the 
friend that he loves.'' He is represented as conquering especially seven evil 
or injurious spirits of earth and heaven. Another god of whom we know 
little in his early Accadian form is Ana or Anu, the sky, the chief deity 
of Erech, which city regarded him as a creative god. He became early in 
the Semitic dominion of Babylonia the chief member of a sort of triad ot 
gods, Anu, Bel or Mul-lil, and Ea, representing the heaven, the earth, and 
the ghost- world, and the water. Nergal, the god of Cutha (now 
Tel-Ibrahim), the strong one, the god of death, among the 
Accadians, became rather the champion of the gods among the Semites, 
destroying especially the wicked. But he passed very considerably out of 
mind with the advance of Semitic forms of worship. The winds, especially 



Nergal. 



488 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

tlie destructive ones, were also worshipped as deities ; and one of them, Matu, 
is supposed to have given rise to part of the Semitic conception 
worshipped under the name of E,amman or Rimmon. Many 
other spirits or gods were included in the worship of the many separate 
states or cities of early Babylonia, spirits of heaven, spirits of earth, etc. ; 
and we even meet with such expressions in the Penitential Psalms before 
mentioned, as '' To the god that is known and that is unknown, to the 
goddess that is known and that is unknown, do I lift my prayer." 

When the Semites gained predominance in Mesopotamia, they to a 

large extent adopted or adapted the religious worship they found already 

established, in accordance with a general idea that it was necessary, or at 

least advisable, for the conquerors to establish friendly relations with the 

gods of a conquered country, while maintaining their own original beliefs. 

The Semites were already to a large extent sun-worshippers. We 

cannot yet unravel this development in its details, but it seems probable 

that Bel-merodach, the great god of Babylon, represented a local 

'god of Babylon who was identified by the Semites with their 

sun-god and elevated to a supreme position above all the gods, though not 

excluding their worship. The following prayer of Nebuchadnezzar indicates 

that monarch's attitude toward his god : — 

" To Merodach my lord I prayed ; I began to him my petition, the 
word of my heart sought him, and I said : ' prince that art from ever- 
lasting, lord of all that exists, for the king whom thou lovest . . . thou 
watchest over him in the path of righteousness ! I, the prince who obeys 
thee, am the work of thy hands ; thou createst me and hast entrusted to me 
the sovereignty over multitudes of men, according to thy goodness, lord, 
which thou hast made to pass over them all. Let me love thy supreme 
lordship, let the fear of thy divinity exist in my heart, and give what 
seemeth good unto thee, since thou maintainest my life.' Then he, the 
first-born, the glorious, the first-born of the gods, Merodach the prince, 
heard my prayer and accepted my petition." It is evident that Merodach 
was supreme in Babylon ; but outside Babylon other gods and creators 
were acknowledged. He is variously described as merciful, as the inter- 
cessor between gods and men, and as interpreter of the will of Ea. Not 
the least remarkable of the old Chaldsean hymns is one in which he is 
addressed as '^ the merciful lord who loves to raise the dead to life," and 
this is held to show that the Chaldsean s had some belief in a resurrection. 

To Bel-Merodach a great temple was erected at Babylon, a huge square 
containing a tower of eight great stages, with a shrine in the topmost, also 
Merodach's ^^^®^ ^^ ^^ observatory. The temple at the foot contained a great 
temple at golden statue of the god, seated ; and outside was a golden altar 
a y on. ^^^ ^-j^^ sacrifice of special victims, while a larger altar was used 
for the offering of large numbers of sheep, and for burning large quantities 
of frankincense at the god's festival. The ceremonies at this temple are 
said to have presented many resemblances to those of the Jews ; they in- 
cluded daily morning and evening sacrifices, meat and drink offerings, the 



BABYLONIAN RELIGION 



489 



Nebo. 



free-will offering, 
the sin-offering, and 
the shew-bread. In 
close association 
with this temple 
was a smaller one 
erected to Nebo, the 
god of prophecy, 
called the son of 
Merodach, the pro- 
claimer of his mind 
and wishes ; and 
within the shrine 
of Nebo, Merodach 
was supposed to de- 
scend at his festival 
and an- 
nounce 
his oracles to his 
priests. Nebo had 
a separate grand 
temple in the sub- 
urb Borsippa. He 
was famed as the 
creator of peace, the 
author of the oracle, 
the creator of the 
written tablet, the 
author of writing ; 
he was also the bond 
of the universe and 
the overseer of the 
angel hosts. Thus 
we can understand 
the exultation of 
Isaiah's words : " Bel 
boweth down, Nebo 
stoopeth," and those 
of Jeremiah, '' Ba- 
bylon is taken, Bel 
is confounded, Me- 
rodach is broken in 
pieces." The con- 
quest of Babylon by 
Cyrus introduced a 
wider cult, in which 




NIN, OR NINIP. 



490 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

Merodach was recognised as the god of all men ; and the Greeks even 
identified him with Zeus. The Assyrians especially worshipped him, and, 
in conjunction with him, Beltis his lady. 

Now we come into the area of the Semitic tendency to attribute to 
each god a corresponding goddess. The worship of Nebo passed westward, 
like that of Bel-merodach, and he was assigned a consort, Tasmitu, " the 
hearer," who opened the ears of those who received Nebo's inspiration. In 
addition to Bel and Nebo, a third important god rises to view in Assyria, 
being the national god of the people, Assur, king of all the gods, 
enabling the Assyrians to destroy " the enemies of Assur." He 
was originally the local god of Assur, the early capital, and became a national 
god, being transferred to Nineveh when it was made the capital. Assur 
was still more special among the Semites, as not having a consort. " When 
a female divinity is invoked along with him, it is the equally independent 
goddess Istar or Ashtoreth." (S.) With him were worshipped many of the 
gods of Babylonia ; but he is especially named as their creator and father. 
In many respects the characters ascribed to Assur correspond to those by 
which Jehovah was worshipped by the Israelites. Thus, to quote Prof. 
Rawlinson, " He places the monarchs upon their throne, firmly es- 
tablishes them in the government, lengthens the years of their reigns, 
preserves their power, protects their forts and armies, makes their name 
celebrated, and the like. To him they look to give them victory over their 
enemies, to grant them all the wishes of their heart, and to allow them to be 
succeeded on their thrones by their sons, and their sons' sons, to a remote 
posterity. . . . It is to spread his worship that they carry on their 
wars. They fight, ravage, destroy in his name. Finally, when they 
subdue a country, they are careful to set up ' the emblems of Assur,' and 
to teach the people his laws and his worship." He is often represented as 
a man with a horned cap, and carrying a bow, and his face appears in the 
middle of a winged circle, shooting an arrow or stretching out his hand ; and 
this emblem is upon everything royal, robes, rock-carvings, obelisks, etc. 
A probable suggestion is, that Assur represents an early ruler or king ; but 
later he was closely identified with the ruler of heaven and earth. 

Among the other gods introduced into Assyria from Chaldsea, Nergal 
was much worshipped, together with Nin (Ninus) or Ninip. The symbol of 
the latter, the winged bull, was greatly in vogue throughout Assyria. 
Nin and Nergal sharpened the king's weapons, and gave him the victory 
over the fiercest beasts. There was a large temple to Nin (Ninus) at Calah 
(the modern Nimrud). Nergal was symbolised by the winged lion with a 
human head. 

Another god of interesting history, most especially worshipped in the 
kingdom of Damascus, by the northern Syrians, was Himmon, more 
properly Ramanu, the exalted one, believed to be a literal trans- 
lation of the name of the Accadian god Muru, representing the 
air. The Hebrews identified the name with rimmon, a pomegranate, and in 
that form it became widely known. In Syria, Rimmon was identified with 



BABYLONIAN AND ASSYRIAN RELIGIONS. 491 

the northern Baal or sun-god Hadad ; and there are traces of the worship of 
Hadad-Rimmon as far south as the plain of Jezreel (Zech. xii. 11). In 
Babylonia and Assyria he was a god of the air and winds, whose worship 
incorporated that of many older deities. To some of these only their evil 
powers remained, while Rimmon exemplified beneficence. 

We must now return again to the religious texts of Babylonia. The 
hymns to the gods, composed at different dates, and largely Semitic in 
origin, include forms to be recited at sunrise and sunset, and on Hymns to 
special festivals of the gods. There appear to have been sepa- *^® ^°*^^- 
rate collections for each temple, but it is doubtful how far they were 
incorporated into any general collection ; at any rate, they have travelled 
far beyond primitive conceptions, and include many advanced ideas. Many 
of the penitential hymns show strong resemblances to the Old Testament 
psalms. For instance : " I sought for help and none took my Penitential 
hand ; I wept and none stood at my side ; I cried aloud and there J^y^^s. 
was none that heard me. I am in trouble and hiding ; I dare not look up. 
To my god, the merciful one, I turn myself, I utter my prayer. The feet 
of my goddess I kiss and water with tears. To my god whom I know and 
whom I know not I utter my prayer. lord, look upon me ; goddess, 
look upon me. . . . How long, goddess whom I know and know not, 
shall thy heart in its hostility be not appeased? Mankind is made to 
wander, and there is none that knoweth. Mankind, as many as pronounce 
a name, what do they know ? Whether he shall have good or ill there is 
none that knoweth. . . . The sins I have sinned turn to a blessing. The 
transgressions I have committed may the wind carry away. Strip off my 
manifold wickednesses as a garment. my god, seven times seven are my 
transgressions ; forgive my sins ! . . . Forgive my sins ; may thy bane be 
removed." (I.) This psalm, copied out from the original by direction of 
Assur-bani-pal (Sardanapalus) in the 7th century b.c, dates back to a much 
earlier time, when, however, the Semites were in full possession of Babylonia. 
It is interesting for its view of sin, penitence, and prayer for forgiveness, as 
well as for its association of the goddess with the god. Instead of evils 
being due to evil spirits, they were now read as the offspring of man's 
sinfulness or the punishments inflicted by the gods. Yet there are Accadian 
ideas clearly distmguishable in it ; the gods are not personally named lest 
they should be offended, and there is no clear idea what is the nature of the 
sin committed, or how it became an offence. 

There is remarkably little reference in the early magical hymns and 
incantations to ideas of future existence. Later we find Merodach invoked 
as raising the dead to life ; but it is not certain that future life Future 
is meant. Still the description of Mul-lil as god of the ghost- e^dstence. 
world, implies some kind of belief in the continuance of the dead. Later 
we find reference to the " land of the silver sky." But there were various 
inconsistent views of the abodes of the gods produced in Mesopotamia, 
which we can merely allude to. One of these describes a " mountain of the 
world," a sort of Chald^ean Olympus, where the gods were born and lived. 



492 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

It was also called " the mighty mountain of Mul-lil, whose head rivals the 
heavens ; and whose foundation is the pure deep." The predominant 
impression as to the ghosts of the departed was, that they abode in the 
gloomy underworld, eating dust and mud, and sometimes emerging to 
drink the blood of the living. It was not a land of punishment, but of 
darkness and forgetfulness, shadows and spectres. But in the Epic ot 
Oisdhubar we find the ghost of Ea-bani described as rising to heaven and 
living among the gods, reclining on a couch and drinking pure water, 
beholding the deeds done on earth. In later Assyrian times, the idea of 
heaven became somewhat spiritualised as the heaven of Anu, and some 
notion of future rewards and punishments arose. It was now that prayers 
b)egan to be offered that they might live for ever in the land of the silver 
«ky. Thus we trace ever and again the similarities which are to be found 
:among the Semitic religions. 

Little has yet been said about the star-worship which was formerly 
.supposed to be the main feature of Chaldsean religion. It is true that the 
star-worsMt)^-'^^^^^^-'^^ very early observed and revered the constellations, and 
and framed a calendar ; and we may perhaps see in the names given 
ogy. ^^ ^^ signs of the zodiac evidences of primitive totemism, the 
names being Accadian, and indicating in an interesting way the thoughts 
-connected with animals at that early period. Prof. Sayce shows good reason, 
from the first place being given to the "Directing Bull," for concluding that 
the signs of the zodiac were named long' before 2,500 b.c, and probably more 
than 4,000 years before Christ. It is not tiU the Semitic period of Sargon's 
rule over Accad that the ram marked the beginning of the year ; and to 
this period may be credited much of the early astrology which essayed to 
predict events by the signs of the sky. In later Babylonia the stars were 
largely identified with the gods ; and the whole heavens were parcelled out 
between the three deities Anu, Bel, and Ea, In the cuneiform characters a 
deity is indicated by an eight-rayed star. We cannot stay to trace the 
development of this worship in its later stages, when elaborate offerings and 
sacrifices were made to the stars, in some cases even taking precedence 
before Assur. 

An early Semitic cosmogony, with traces of Accadian origin, has been 

discovered in a tablet originally written for the temple of Nergal at Cutha. 

Early It refers to a time when the great gods created living creatures of 

cosmogony. ^ compound nature, "warriors with the body of a bird of the 
valley," " men with the faces of ravens," suckled by Tiamat or the dragon of 
Chaos. The offspring of these became heroes, but were destroyed ultimately 
by Nerra, the plague-god, identified with Nergal. Possibly this view of 
early monsters may account for some of the strange compound figures 
found in Assyria. But greater interest attaches to the series of tablets of a 

Mr George 1^^®^ Chaldsean cosmology discovered by Mr. George Smith in 

Smith's 1872, which, though comparatively late in their present form, 
discoveries . . 

' embody a very early series of legends, of deep interest from their 

correspondences with the narrative in the first chapter of Genesis. The 



BABYLONIAN RELIGION _ 493 

record is unfortunately in a very fragmentary condition. Tlie first tablet 
begins thus : 

1. At that time above, the heaven was unnamed ; 

2. Below the earth by name was unrecorded ; 

3. The boundless deep also (was) their generator. 

4. The chaos of the sea was she who bore the whole of them. 

5. Their waters were collected together in one place, and 

6. The flowering reed was not gathered, the marsh-plant was not grown. 
7.. At that time the gods had not been produced, any one of them ; 

8. By name they had not been called, destiny was not fixed. 

Then follow verses describing the birth of several gods. The first half 
of the fifth tablet gives an account of the creation of the heavenly bodies : 

1. (Bel) prepared the (seven) mansions of the great gods ; 

2. He fixed the stars, even the twin-stars, to correspond to them ; 

3. He ordained the year, appointing the signs of the zodiac over it ; 

4. For each of the twelve months he fixed three stars, 

5. From the daj' when the year issues forth to the close. 

6. He found the mansion of the god of the ferrj^-boat (the sun-god), that they might 

know their bonds. 

7. That thej^ might not err, that they might not go astray in any way. 

8. He established the mansion of Mul-lil and Ea along with himself. 

9. He opened also the great gates on either side, 

10. The bolts he strengthened on the left hand and on the right, 

11. And in their midst he made a staircase. 

12. He illuminated the moon-god that he might watch over the night, 

13. And ordained for him the ending of the night that the day may be known. 

In similar style another tablet relates the creation of animals. 

But while there is great interest in finding a Chaldaean legend agreeing 
in some features with that of Genesis, there is no warrant for saying that 
either of the accounts has given rise to the other ; but that they Bei and the 
have some connection is very possible. They are of special import- dragon, 
ance, however, in anthropology as examples of the ways in which the human 
mind has explained creation. The Chaldsean account adds a very striking 
narrative in one tablet, of the contest between the god Bel and the dragon 
of Chaos, which is too complex to describe here. 

Among other early Chaldsean fragments is one which appears to describe 
a parallel incident to the confusion of tongues at Babel. Bel, the father of 
the gods, is said to have been angry at the sin of the builders The tower 
of Babylon, and especially of the "Illustrious mound," and the of^abeL 
builders were punished, and the mound destroyed at night by the winds ; 
but nothing is said of the confusion of tongues. It is probable that the 
tower of Babel is represented by the great mound of Nimroud, with its 
succession of diminishing stages, forming a great temple or " gate of the 
gods." In the time of Nebuchadnezzar it was incomplete, and had long 
been ruinous, when he undertook its restoration and completion. It has 
been suggested that during its long period of decay the legend arose which 
described it as a monument of human folly and presumption, and that the 



494 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

variety of languages spoken in Babylonia gave good cause for attributing 
the diversity to divine punishment. 

In the great Epic of Izdubar or Gisdhubar, also discovered by Mr. 
Smith in 1872, we have a Semitic translation of the exploits of an early 
The epic of Accadian king or primitive Hercules, arranged on a solar plan, 
Izdubar. -^^j^ich accords with the representation of the hero as sun-god. 
In many ways the events recorded in the epic correspond to the twelve 
labours of Hercules ; and it may be that the Izdubar legend is one of the 
early forms from which Phoenicia and then Greece derived the famous myth. 
The most perfect tablet is that which describes a deluge, which has been 
very generally identified with that of Noah. The character of Izdubar 
corresponds exactly to that of Nimrod in Genesis ; and it is not certain 
that the names may not be identical, for Izdubar is but a provisional ren- 
dering. 

The deluge, according to the Chaldsean epic, was due to the judgment 
of the gods Anu, Bel, and Ninip, and Ea told the " man of Surippak," 
The chaidsean Samas-Napiati (the living sun), to build a ship to preserve plants 
deluge. a^]2d living beings ; it was to be 600 cubits long, and 60 broad 
and high. Numerous details of the building and construction are given ; 
and when Xisuthrus with his people, and animals, and plants, and food had 
entered the ship, " the waters of dawn arose at daybreak, a black cloud from 
the horizon of heaven. Eimmon in the midst of it thundered, and Nebo 
and the wind-god went in front." The earth was covered, and all living 
things destroyed. Even the gods were afraid at the whirlwind, and took 
refuge in the heaven of Anu. After six days and nights the storm abated, 
and the rain ceased, and the wind and deluge ended. " I watched the sea 
making a noise, and the whole of mankind were turned to clay, like reeds 
the corpses floated. ... In the country of Nizir (east of Assyria) 
rested the ship ; the mountain of Nizir stopped the ship, and to pass over 
it it was not able. . . . On the seventh day I sent forth a dove, and it 
left. The dove went, it returned, and a resting-place it did not find, and 
it came back." Later a raven was sent forth, and it did not return. Then 
the ship was opened, the animals came forth, sacrifice was ofi'ered to the 
gods, and Xisuthrus became the father of Izdubar, himself being afterwards 
translated to live as a god. We cannot attempt a detailed comparison of 
the Chaidsean and Noachian floods, for which reference must be made to 
Professor Sayce's edition of Mr. Smith's " Chaldaean Account of Genesis ; " 
but we may remark that this deluge narrative, perhaps more than anything 
else, shows how closely the narratives in Genesis are related to Chaidsean 
traditions or sources of information. 

In various Assyrian records we find the king himself offering sacrifices, 

as in Egypt and Palestine ; but there were also high priests, and several 

orders of inferior priests. One of the most important of these 

was the anointer, who purified persons and things with oil and 

water ; others were the soothsayers and the elders, or " great ones." The 

movable symbols or images of the gods were carried about in procession in 



BABYLONIAN AND ASSYRIAN RELIGION 



495 



little arks or " ships," at least iu Babylon ; and this custom can be traced 
back to the early Accadian times of the city of Eridu. Festivals Festivals and 
were numerous ; in fact, it seems that almost every day could be sacred days, 
celebrated as a festival. We have a complete list of festivals assigned to 
the intercalary month Elul ; and we find, for example, that on the second 
day " the king makes his farewell offering to the Sun, the mistress of the 
world, and the Moon, the supreme god : sacrifices he offers." The third 
day, a fast day, is dedicated to Merodach and Zarpaint, the fourth to Nebo, 
the fifth to the Lord of the Lower Firmament and the Lady of the Lower 
Firmament, the sixth to Rimmon and Nin-lil, and so on, the king offering 
sacrifices on every day. On the seventh day we have an interesting record 
of what was lawful or unlawful on the Babylonian Sabbath, or day of 
rest. " The shepherd of mighty 
nations must not eat flesh cooked 
at the fire in the sijioke. His 
clothes he must not change. White 
garments he must not put on. He 
must not offer sacrifice. The king 
must not drive a chariot. He must 
not issue royal decrees. In a secret 
place the augur must not mutter. 
Medicine for the sickness of his body 
he must not apply. For making a 
curse it is not fit." (S.) These pro- 
hibitions are repeated on the 14th, 
19th, 21st, and 28th days. These 
Sabbath days go back to the times 
of the Accadians, who called them 
'' unlawful days." It was also cus- 
tomary to observe special days of 
thanksgiving or humiliation, as when Esarhaddon II. prayed to the sun- 
god to remove the sin of his people, and when Assurbani-pal purified the 
shrines and cleansed the temples and restored the daily sacrifices. 

In early Accadian times human sacrifice was practised ; and a text is 
extant which declares '' that the father must give the life of his child for 
the sin of his own soul, the child's head for his head, the child's 
neck for his neck, the child's breast for his breast " ; and later, in 
^'the observations of Bel," an astronomical record, it is stated that, " on the 
high places the son is burnt." But there are no accounts of human sacri- 
fices in the historical tablets. Oxen, sheep, and gazelles, corn and wine, 
are the chief kinds of offerings we read of, accompanied by the offering of 
prayers and repeating of hymns. A distinction was made between different 
animals, the flesh of some being declared unlawful to eat ; and the pig 
is not even mentioned in the inscriptions. In one inscription the flesh of 
men, gazelles, dogs, wild boars, asses, horses, and dragons is mentioned as 
unlawful. 




TEMPLE AT AMBITH, PHCENICIA. 



496 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

The early Babylonians used much religious symbolism, both by mystic 
numbers and by emblematic signs. Many of these are not yet understood. 
The Assyrians had many images representing their gods, and some 
of these have been obtained from the ruins. Nebo is represented 
as a man standing, heavy and solid-looking. These images were of metal, 
sometimes of silver or gold, but usually of stone or baked clay. The latter are 
often of small size, as if intended for private use. FeaSts were set out before 
the images, and it was currently believed that the god really ate and drank. 
The inner shrine of the temple of Bel, at Babylon, had a grand couch and 
a golden table for the god. "We hear sometimes of riotous excesses in con- 
nection with the festivals ; and in the worship of the goddess Beltis there 
was a regular system of immorality prescribed to women. 

There are traces of a monotheistic school or teaching in Chaldsea, and 
hymns have been found addressed to " the one god." Another phenomenon, 
still more marked, is the attribution of^ universal power to the 
■ particular deity addressed, though another god might be addressed 
in similar terms. We cannot enlarge on the contrasting system of magic 
and augury which was elaborately developed, apart from the State religion, 
and had a very powerful influence on the mass of the people. 

We must allow that the Mesopotamian peoples show a marked religious 
character. Everything the kings did or gained was attributed to the 
. favour of their gods ; and their records begin and end with praises, 
character of prayers, and invocations to them. The kings show their devotion 
people. ^^ niuch expenditure on temples, offerings, and religious sculpture ; 
and we cannot but acknowledge that in their religious devotion they are 
parallel with the kings of Israel. Still, the sensuous had a large share in 
their religion, which did not diminish their ferocity and treachery towards 
their enemies; and they are described in no moderate terms by the 
Hebrew prophets. As to the moral condition of the people generally, it is 
difficult to say anything with certainty ; we have no reason to think it 
exceptionally high. Harsh and cruel punishments were undoubtedly in- 
flicted on offenders and on enemies ; and if the Babylonian nobles had 
cause to tremble at the slightest displeasure or caprice of their king, it is 
only likely that the same rule applied through lower grades of society. 
Pride and luxury developed wherever possible, and yet we must couple 
with their prominent religiousness a considerable degree of honesty and 
calmness of demeanour. 

The religion of the Phoenicians, the nearest Semitic neighbours of the 
Israelites, is but too scantily known to us, and yet is of great interest, ow- 
Phcenician ing to the influence it had on them. We have neither sacred 
reugion. ]3ooks nor extensive sculptural remains to guide us ; but we can 
discern clearly that the Phoenicians, more than the Chaldseans, worshipped 
the power or powers which moved in and through the principal natural 
phenomena. Their principal divinity was undoubtedly Baal, ''lord," 
originally a sun-god, worshipped now in his beneficent aspects, and now as 
the fierce god of fire and summer heat. He was early worshipped on the 



PHCEXICIAN RELIGTON. 



497 



tops of mountains, where his presence was indicated by upright conical 
stones. There was a marked tendency in the Phoenicians to give separate 
names to separate aspects of the deity ; whether these worships gradually 

became united, and the common term Baal was prefixed, or whether 

.7 BaaL 

the}' gradually separated from a common origin, cannot be deter- 
mined. Thus we find such names as Baal-Tsur, " Lord of Tyre," Baal- 
Tsidon, ^'Lord of Zidon," Baal-Peor, ''Lord of Peor," Baal-Zebub, " Lord of 
flies,'' etc. Moloch, or Melek, " king," represents Baal in his fierce aspect, 
and was a god who required his worshipper to sacrifice his best or dearest 
possession to him, often his only or his eldest son. In later times a ram 
was substituted. The special god of T3a'e, Baal-Melkarth, united jyr y^ xj^ 
the two aspects of the god ; and it is this god who appears in the 
Greek " Melicertes," or the Tyrian Hercules. The temple of Melkarth was 
said to be the oldest building in Tyre, but it 
was destitute of images, the altar-fire burning 
continually being his symbol. No women, 
dogs, or swine were permitted to enter his 
temples, which were erected in many towns 
of Phoenicia, as well as in Carthage, Cadiz, and 
Malta. 

Perhaps an earlier name under which the 
sun was worshipped was El, '' the exalted one," 
also known as El Shaddai, the thunderer, and 
Adonai, " Master," but much about their wor- 
ship is obscure. There are numerous refer- 
ences to these divinities in the Old Testament; 
which can be understood now that Semitic re- 
ligions are better known ; thus, Melchizedek 
was priest of El Eliun, " the most high God." 

Ashtoreth, or Ashtaroth, the chief god- 
dess of the Phoenicians (Astarte of 
the Greeks), represented both the 
productive female power and the moon ; her 
name is really derived from the Accadian 



Ashtoreth. 




THE PHOENICIAN ASTAKTE. 



Istar, the subject of Ihe 
Semitic Babylonian myth which "recounts the descent of the goddess 
Istar into Hades in search- of the healing waters which should restore 
to life her bridegroom Tammuz, the young and beautiful Sun-god, slain 
by the cruel hand of night and winter." (S.) At Gebal, or Byblos, 
eight miles north of Beyrout, the death of Adonis, or Tammuz, 
was yearly commemorated, when the river Adonis (Nahr Ibrahim) ^'^°^^^- 
became red with mountain mud in the flood season, by a funeral festival of 
seven days. " Gardens of Adonis, as they were called, were planted,— pots 
filled with earth and cut herbs, which soon withered away in the fierce heat 
of the summer sun,— fitting emblems of the lost Adonis himself. Mean- 
while, the streets and gates of the temples were filled with throngs of 
wailing women. They tore their hair, they disfigured the face, they cut the 

K K 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



breast with sharp knives, in token of the agony of their grief. Their cry 
of lamentation went np to heaven mingled with that of the Galli, the 
emasculated priests of Ashtoreth, who shared with them their festival of 
woe over her murdered bridegroom." (Sayce : " Hibbert Lectures," p. 229.) 
Ezekiel (viii. 14) was indignant at finding women weeping for Tammuz 
(Adonis) at the very gate of the Lord's house in Jerusalem. In Phoenician 
worship, Istar, or Ashtoreth, came into such general favour as to serve as 
the generic name for a goddess ; and by the side of the Baalim were the 
Ashtoreth, their consorts. The reproductive aspect of Ashtoreth led to 
the connection with her worship of much licentiousness. Under the title 
" Queen of Heaven," and under her own name, she appears. as an abomina- 
tion to the Hebrew historians and prophets, having often led the people 
astray into idolatry (Jer. vii. 18 ; xliv. 25). In Gen. xiv. 5, she is called 
Ashtoreth Karnaim, Astarte of the two horns, in allusion to one of her 
symbols, the head of a heifer, with crescent horns. 

But the Phoenician worship extended widely through the field of 

nature. There were gocls or Baalim of the rivers, of the mountains, etc.; 

but on the whole there was a tendency to regard all deities as 

Nature gods, ^(j^j^^^^.^^ ^^ bottom, SO that Baal worship may be regarded as 

the predominant Phoenician religion. The Kabiri were eight special 

divinities, the patrons of manual arts and civilisation, the in- 

^"' ventors of ships and medicine. Trees are accounted specially 

sacred, and certain wonderful stones,- especially aerolites, were reverenced 

and consecrated as signs of the presence of the deity. 

Whatever tendency there was in Phoenicia to worship the unity of the 

godhead was neutralised as a moral force by the sensuality of the worship 

Human and off^^^d. Human sacrifices were offered on exceptional occasions ; 

ot?ier and children, especially firstborn sons, were the principal victims. 

Usually, however, oxen and male animals, or birds, were sacrificed. 

The purity of women was also violated in the groves of the queen of 

heaven, as part of the worship at certain feasts. Although idols were 

few and simple and scarcely ever in human form, the worship of dwarf 

or distorted images, two-headed, or winged, or horned, had no superior 

efficacy in making the worship of a higher character ; and thus there was 

full reason for the strength of the opposition of Elijah and other Israelitish 

leaders to the whole system of Phoenician religion. 

There probably was more religious affinity between the Ammonites and 
Moabites and the Israelites, for each professed the exclusive worship of one 
god ; Moloch being the god of the former, and Chemosh of the 
Moabites. But the service of Moloch was sharply differentiated 
from that of Jehovah, especially by the practice of sacrificing children by fire 
to Moloch. In 2 Kings iii. 27, we read how the king of Moab sacrificed his 
eldest son as a burnt-offering upon the wall of his city, as a last resort when 
threatened with destruction by the Israelites ; and that afterwards the 
invaders raised the siege and returned home. Such examples had an in- 
fluence over more than one king of Judah, who acted similarly (2 Kings 



BABYLONIAN, ASSYRIAN, AND PHCENICIAN RELIGIONS. 499 

xvi. 3, xxi. 6), and the people followed in their, wake ; and "high places " 
were built, where they slew and then burnt their sons and daughters. So 
general and open became the practice that the Israelites went direct from 
slaying their children, on the same day into the temple to worship. In 
fact, in recognising Baal or Moloch as the equivalent of their own Jehovah, 
the Israelites gave way to all the cruel and evil practices associated with 
the alien gods. There is no clear distinction to be made between „^ 
Chemosh and Moloch ; and on the celebrated Moabite stone, the 
Moabite king, Mesha, attributes the victories of the Israelites over him to 
the wrath of Chemosh, and his deliverance to his aid. 

The worship of the Philistines appears to have been of a general 
Semitic type, with local deities and special types, as the Baal- ^he PMUstine 
zebub (or god of flies), of Ekron and Dagon the fish-god, whose ^o^s. 
image was partly human, partly fish-like. The Philistines carried the 
image of their god into battle, and used oracles and divination ; jj^^g-Q^ 
and their ceremonies appear to have been much like those of the 
Phoenicians, though we know very little about the details. It is conjectured 
that Dagon is derived from the Assyrian Dorgan or Daken, figured as half- 
man, half-fish. 

Of the Hittite religion too little is known to make it desirable to discuss 
it here. 



-S=: 





AI5ABS PRAY. KG. 



CHAPTER III. 
£iTe Of iMabonift ^ait 5. 

The latest great religion— Early Arab religious ideas — Tribal deities— Importance of kinship —Pil- 
grimages— The Jinn, or genies— Abodes of the gods— Sacred trees, wells, pillars, etc.— Sacrifices 
—Hair offerings— Idols— Notion of a supreme God —Prevalent profane spirit in Arabia— Jewish 
and Christian influence— Mahomet's family— His birth— Early life— His marriage to Khadijah— 
State of morals in Arabia— Rebuilding of the Kaaba— Mahomet's solitude and reveries— His 
high ideal— Dawn of prophetic mission— The vision of Gabriel— Command to preach— Apparent 
break in revelation — Nervous disorder and agitation— His early adherents — Opposition at 
Mecca— Attempts to silence him— Flight of adherents to Abyssinia— A proposed compromise— 
Withdrawal by Mahomet— Return of fugitives, and second flight— Hamza and Omar converted — 
Hostility of the Koreish— Mahomet's alliance with Jews— Boycotting— Seclusion— Mahomet 
preaches to strangers— Death of Khadijah— Mahomet's despondency— Re-marriage— The pil- 
grims from Medina— First pledge of Acaba— Adherents won at Medina— The visions of Jeru- 
salem and of heaven— The Emperor Heraclius— Famine at Mecca— Mahomet's high claims — 
Commencement of the flight to Medina— Mahomet leaves Mecca— Takes refuge in a cave- 
Arrives at Medina, A.D. 622. 

AFTER tlie successful foundation and wide propagation of Christianity, 
few could have predicted the rise and establishment of a new re- 
ligion ; and, inasmuch as practically no other great religion has been 
founded since Christianity, it may be granted that Moham- 
great medanism rested upon or gratified some important and deeply 
religion, ggg^^^^j factors in humanity. What these were, and how far they 
were due to the founder himself, it must be our aim to discover. It is 
desirable to have in mind, when considering Mohammedanism, the history 



LIFE OF MAHOMET. 501 

of Judaism and the early history of Christianity ; but these will be dealt 
with later in this volume, in continuity with the later history of the Chris- 
tian Churches. 

Situated between the great populations of Asia and Africa, the Arabs, 
as might be expected, had numerous religious elements in common with the 
adjacent peoples. Fetishism, animal- worship, nature- worship, Eaj-jy^ab 
especially of the sun and heavenly bodies, as well as ancestor- religious 
worship, undoubtedly existed among the Arabs before Mahomet's 
time. And the founder of Mohammedanism had to build upon the state of 
things he found deeply ingrained in his people. How powerful his influence 
and that of his successors was, may be gathered from the facts, that they 
elevated an obscure dialect into a language as widespread as Latin in the 
days of the Roman empire ; and that to this day new conquests are being 
made by Islam and the Arabs. 

The study of the earl}^ religion of the Arabs is of intense interest, from 
its necessary relation to that of the early Hebrews. It is to be regretted 
that it is still obscure, although much important work has been Tribal 
done, especially by Wellhausen and Robertson Smith. No doubt deities, 
the type and forms of early Arab religion were influenced by their separa- 
tion into small tribes ; and this caused or allowed a certain variety, as well 
as a certain smallness of conception to prevail. Each tribe, or group of 
tribes, had its particular god or gods, with which it was in peculiar relation, 
which fought for it and against the gods of hostile peoples, which were 
believed to be equally real. Then, when two or more tribes became amal- 
gamated, a commencement was made of a polytheistic system, by which 
several gods were worshipped side by side. Very generally, if not always, 
the tribal god was an ancestor-god, either an actual or a fabled deified an- 
cestor. Something of the same idea is seen in the Grenesis narrative that 
the sons of God took wives of the daughters of men. Many Arab tribes 
bore the names of their gods, or of celestial bodies worshipped as gods ; but 
in later times, before Mahomet, these relationships were forgotten, and '' the 
later Arabs worshipped gods that were not the gods of their fathers, and 
tribes of alien blood were often found gathered together on festival occa- 
sions at the great pilgrim shrines." (Robertson Smith.) But ths idea of 
kinship in blood to the god was a predominant factor in early importance 
Arabia; and this made the blood of a kinsman holy and inviolable, of i^insiiip. 
and sanctioned the extremes of blood revenge. Inasmuch as the connection 
by kinship suggests motherhood as well as fatherhood, it is not surprising 
to learn that numerous early Arab deities were goddesses ; and it is believed 
that in later times the goddesses became changed to gods, in accordance 
with a change in the predominant idea of kinship. One of the goddesses 
was Al-Lat, worshipped by the Nabataeans as mother of the gods ; another 
was Al-Uzza, who has been named Venus by Latin writers. As is so often 
the case in goddess-worship, sensualism largely existed. 

The nomad life of the Arabs was not favourable to the growth and 
permanence of ideas of the godhead suited to agricultural peoples. We do 



502 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

not find tliat they gave fixed annual offerings to the gods, or offered 
stated sacrifices at set seasons. They, however, early became 
' accustomed to the idea of pilgrimages to towns (when such arose), 
which were the seat of some specially sacred object or worship ; and thus it 
was that gradually the religion of the townspeople gained great importance, 
and threw that of the nomads into the shade. There were temples of some 
kind in these towns ; and even when they did not exist, sanctuaries were 
formed in caves, and priests guarded the abode of the gods. Gifts to the gods 
were offered by being brought to the sacred place, hung on a sacred tree, or if 
the offering were one of blood or other liquid, by being poured over a sacred 
stone. 

"We may refer here briefly to the primitive Arab belief (associated with 
animism) that nature is full of superhuman beings, the Jinn (Djinn), or 

The Jinn, or demons, corporeal beings with hairy skins, and capable of assum- 
genies. ^^^g yaried shapes: and Mohammedanism has degraded all the 
heathen gods into jinn. They were feared and avoided, living as they did 
in uninhabited wastes, occupying the mysterious mountains that were be- 
lieved to encompass the earth, and also invading baths, ovens, wells, the 
junctions of roads, etc. Many injuries were supposed to have been inflicted 
by them on human beings. There were many orders of them, and the 
belief in them was so profound that it has been perpetuated among modern 
Arabs. 

The early Arabs recognised abodes or haunts of the gods, which they 
clearly marked out, such as a tract of pastureland marked off by pillars or 

Abodes of caims, or a whole valley or town, within which bloodshed was 

the gods, forbidden and no tree was to be cut down, and numerous other 
things were forbidden. Within these was to be found some special place or 
altar at which the blood of sacrifices was smeared on sacred stones, or some 
tree upon which gifts were hung. Fountains or wells, trees, pillars, and 
Sacred heaps of stones were very general symbols or centres of worship. 
^*° weiis,^^^' Sometimes all were combined in one sacred place. At Mecca the 

piUars, etc. Jjoly well Zamzam was holy long before Mahomet's time. At 
Nejran a sacred date-palm was worshipped ; and at its annual feast it was 
hung with fine garments and female adornments. The people of Mecca 
used to hang weapons, garments, ostrich eggs, etc., upon a similar tree. 
Even the modern Arabs revere sacred trees as places where the jinn or genii 
descend, and may be heard dancing and singing. They regard it as a 
deadly danger to pluck a bough from these trees ; they make sacrifices to 
them, hanging parts of the flesh of the victims upon them, as well as calico, 
beads, etc. Sick men, when brought to sleep under them, have dreams 
which restore them to health. 

Except in the case of human victims, sacrifice by fire was little prac- 
tised, the pouring of the blood over a rude altar of stones being regarded 
as sufficient. In some cases the fiesh of the slaughtered animals 
was left to be devoured by wild beasts, but usually it was eaten 
by the worshippers. There was a customary offering of firsthngs as well 



LIFE OF MAHOMET. 503 



as firstfruits among many Arab tribes. Sometimes gifts of food, meal, etc., 
were cast at the foot of the idol, mingled with the giver's hair, and milk 
was poured over the sacred stones. Libations were very prominent among 
the Arabs. It appears to have been a very early Arab usage to sacrifice the 
hair of youths as a sign of admission into the adult religious Hair 
status ; and a hair-offering formed part of every Arab pilgrimage, o-^erings. 
The people of Taif shaved their heads at their holy place every time they 
returned from a journey. In Mahomet's time the ordinary worship of 
household gods among the Arabs consisted in stroking them with the hand 
in going in or out of the house or tent. 

Ten idols of the ancient Arabs are mentioned in the Koran, viz., Al- 
Jibl and Al-Taghut, Al-Lat, Al-Uzza, Manat, Wadd, Suwa, Yaghus, Yaug, 
and Nasr. The first two were idols of the Koreish, Al-Lat was ^^^^^ 
the idol at Taif, Al-Uzza was identified with Venus, but was 
worshipped under the form of an acacia-tree ; Manat was a large sacrificial 
stone. The five succeeding names represent deified ancestors ; but several 
were worshipped under animal forms, as the Lion-god (Yaghus), the Vul* 
ture-god (Nasr), the Horse-god (Yaug). Habhah was a large sacred stone 
on which camels were sacrificed ; and the remarkable Black Stone of Mecca 
was another object of intense reverence. In the Kaaba at Mecca there 
were images representing Abraham and Ishmael, each carrying divining 
arrows in his hand. 

But in the midst of the old idolatry there had arisen some perception 
of a supreme God, who was known as Allah, the other gods being termed 
children of Allah. The word Allah may be connected with j^Qtion of a 
the Babylonian and Semitic El; it is doubtful whether it ^"g®?^ 
should be regarded as a contraction of Al-ilah, the Strong 
One, or should be read Al-lah, the Secret One. ''By him," according 
to Wellhausen, " the holiest oaths were sworn ; in his name treaties and 
covenants were sealed. The enemy was reminded of Allah to deter him 
from inhuman outrage ; enemy of Allah was the name of opprobrium for 
a villain. But, since Allah ruled over all, and imposed duties on all, it was 
not thought that one could enter into special rel ations with him. In worship 
he had the last place, those gods being preferred who represented the in- 
terests of a specific circle, and fulfilled the private desires of their wor- 
shippers. Neither the fear of Allah, however, nor reverence for the god^ 
had much influence. The chief practical consequence of the great feasts- 
was the observance of a truce in the holy months ; and this in time had 
become mainly an affair of pure practical convenience. In general, the 
disposition of the heathen Arabs, if it is at all truly reflected in prevalent 
their poetry, was profane in an unusual degree. . . . The ^spirit^ 
ancient inhabitants of Mecca practised piety essentially as a in Arabia, 
trade, just as they do now ; their trade depended on the feast, and its fair 
on the inviolability of the Haram and on the truce of the holy months." 
Just at Mahomet's time, some few individuals in Taif, Mecca, and Medina, 
who worshipped Allah, had gained the name of Hanifs, probably meaning 



504 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

" penitents," rejecting polytheism, seeking freedom from sin, resignation to 
God's will, and feeling a sense of human responsibility and judgment to 
come. It is doubtful how far their ideas were derived from Jews and Chris- 
Jewish and ^^^^^- J^ws were very numerous both in Hejaz and in Yemen, and 
Christian a certain amount of their lore, and peculiar tenets was no doubt 
current among the more intelligent Arabs. There does not 
appear to have been any considerable development of Christianity in Arabia, 
though the travelled x^rabs knew something of Greek, Syrian, and Abys- 
sinian Christians. The Sabians and anchorites of the northern deserts of 
Arabia are more likely to have had an influence on the Arabs preceding 
Mahomet ; and in the Koran Mahomet notes that they believed in God and 
in the day of resurrection and judgment. They were not the same as the 
people who later took the name of Han^anians, who were star- worshippers 
(Sabseans) and polytheists descended from the early people of Mesopotamia. 
The ascetic anchorites of the desert undoubtedly impressed the Arabs by 
their earnestness, their consecration to a holy life, and their steadfast pre- 
paration for a life to come. Thus the seed was, to some extent, prepared 
for the prophet of Islam. 

Mecca was the strongest centre of Arab worship, however superstitious 

it might be ; and out of Mecca, and the tribe of the Koreish who dominated 

Mahomet's it, came the family of Mahomet. His grandfather, Abd-al-Muttalib, 

family, ^^s chief of a family of the Koreish in the middle of the sixth 

• century, a.d. His youngest son, Abdallah, married Amina, the daughter of 

Wahb, but did not live to see his son Mahomet, who also lost his mother 

Hi h- th. ^^^^ ^® "^^^ ^^^^^ ^ child. Mahomet was born in a.d. 570 ; his 

name is more precisely Muhammad, " the Praised " ; but the 

rendering "Mahomet " has so long enjoyed vogue in this country that it is 

retained in this book. He was put out to nurse in the desert with a Bedouin 

woman. At five years of age he visited Medina with his mother, who died 

on the return journey. After his grandfather's death he was 

cared for by his uncle, Abu-Talib, and with him he went on a 

journey with a caravan to Syria about 582 a.d. A few years later he was 

perforce engaged in the so-called sacrilegious war between the Koreish. and 

the Hawazin, which occurred within the sacred months and was carried 

into the sacred territory. In this war, says Mahomet, " I discharged arrows 

at the enemy, and I do not regret it." The chief remaining incident of 

interest in his early life is his taking part in a league of several families of 

the Koreish, who swore by the avenging Deity to take the part of the 

oppressed and see his claim fulfilled, so long as a drop of water remained in 

the ocean, or that they would satisfy it from their own resources. At one 

time he was occupied as a shepherd. At the age of twenty-five he was 

recommended by his uncle to take charge of a trading caravan belonging to 

a wealthy Koreishite widow named Khadijah. In charge of this he travelled 

His marriage to Bostra, sixty miles east of Jordan on the road to Damascus. 

to Khadijah. jg^ijig successful, and attracting the regard of Khadijah, she 

conveyed to him her desire to marry him ; and this marriage, though the 



LTFE OF MAHOMET. 505 

wife was fifteen years the husband's senior, was a very happy one. Khadi- 
jah bore him two sons, who died young, and four daughters, of whom the 
most famous was Fatima. 

Mahomet's life, previous to his announcement of his mission, was passed 
among a people with whom revenge was a religious duty, and blood feuds 
were common, whole tribes being involved in them. Drunkenness g^^^ ^^ 
and gambling prevailed largely. Female children were often morals in 
buried alive as soon as born. Women were in general mere 
chattels ; polygamy and divorce were frequent. Idolatry, divination, bloody 
sacrifices (not unfrequently of sons by fathers), sensualism, were prevalent. 
We have no record as to how far Mahomet himself conformed to the 
customary worship and beliefs ; but it may well be conceived, judging from 
his later life, that his inward self gradually revolted from them, and that he 
pondered over the different ideas he had received from surrounding religious 
systems — chiefly by word of mouth and by sight, for there is no probability 
that Mahomet could read or write. 

When Mahomet was about 35 years old, the Kaaba, or shrine of 
the sacred stone at Mecca, was rendered insecure by a flood, and it was de- 
cided to rebuild the walls and cover them with a roof. During RebuUding of 
a dispute as to who should place the black stone in its position in *^^ Kaaba. 
the wall, Mahomet was chosen to decide the question, and he took off his 
mantle and placed the stone on it and said, " Now let one from each of your 
four divisions come forward and raise a corner of this mantle." This was 
done, and Mahomet with his own hand guided it to its place ; and this de- 
cision increased his influence among his fellow tribesmen. Other incidents 
are recorded, showing his capacity for forming warm friendships, for show- 
ing gratitude and kindness, and for exercising paternal judgment. 

About his fortieth year Mahomet became more and more contemplative, 
and frequently retired into solitary valleys and among rocks near Mecca. 
His favourite resort was a cave at the foot of Mount Hira, north Mahomet's 
of Mecca ; and here, in dark and wild surroundings, his mind solitude and 
was wrought up to rhapsodic enthusiasm ; and it may well be 
that some few of the earliest chapters in the Koran date from this time, 
such as : — 

" B}^ the declining daj^ I swear! 
Verily man is in the way of ruin ; 
Excepting such as possess faith, 
And do the things which be right, 
And stir up one another to truth and steadfastness." 

In others of the early chapters we find Mahomet possessed by an ideal of 
truth and righteousness, and a stern reprobation of evil, injustice. His high 
and lying, and their certain punishment ; together with visions '^^^^^ 
of his own people as designated by Providence to overthrow evil and to pre- 
serve true worship at Mecca. He points out as the lofty path : 

*' Freeing the captive, 
And giving food in the day of want 



5o6 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

To the orphan that is near of kin, 
Or to the poor that lieth in the dust." 

Further, the righteous must be of those that believe and stir up one 
another unto steadfastness and compassion : 

" These are the heirs of blessedness." 

Apparently some of his thoughts and his rhapsodic utterances were 
communicated to his family and friends, who regarded him as one almost 

Dawn of ^^^^^^ himself. When he enlarged on the purer ideas that he 

prophetic had heard were possessed by the Jews and Christians, they 
said : ''If a prophet had been sent unto us, we should no doubt 
have followed his directions, and been as devout and spiritual in our wor- 
ship as the Jews and Christians." His meditations led him more and more 
to the belief that a preacher or prophet was needed by his people, and that 
he might be the destined prophet. After long mental struggle, during 
which he fell into deep depression and often meditated suicide, he became 
encouraged and confident, and looked for a period when the sway of his 
preaching should extend over all Arabia, and lead to the destruction of 
idols and the conquest of other peoples. The tradition is, that one night. 
The vision of while he was in Mount Hira, during the month of Ramadan, 

GatorieL engaged in pious exercises, the angel Gabriel came to him as he 
slept, and held a silken scroll before him, and compelled him to recite what 
was written on it ; and it is asserted that this is part of the ninety-sixth 
sura,^ beginning : " Recite ! in the name of thy Lord, who created man from 
congealed blood ! Recite ! for thy Lord is the most High, who hath taught 
the pen, hath taught man what he knew not. Nay, truly man walketh in 
delusion when he deems that he suffices for himself" [otherwise translated : 
''Man is indeed outrageous at seeing himself get rich"] ; " to thy Lord is the 
return." When the angel left him, continues the tradition, Mahomet came 
to his wife and told her what had happened ; and she comforted him and 
confirmed him in the belief that this was a revelation from Grod. But 
no others would listen to him, and he was thrown back upon his medita- 
tions. 

One day, while stretched upon his carpet and covered with his 
garments, it is related that the angel Gabriel again appeared to him, and 
said : 

" thou that art covered, arise and preach [or warn], and magnify thy 
Command to Lord ; and purify thy garments, and depart from uncleanness ; 

preach. ^^^ grant not favour to gain increase ; and wait for thy Lord." 
Revelations now began to follow one another frequently ; but, after a 
certain time there was a break, during which the inspiration was suspended, 

Apparent ^^^ Mahomet's thoughts turned towards suicide. How far during 

break in this time he was overpowered by hysterical hallucinations it 
would be idle to attempt to determine ; but it is related that 
from youth he had suffered from a nervous disorder which has been termed 
^ The name given to the chapters of the Koran, meaning, "reading." 



LIFE OF MAHOMET, 50? 

epilepsy ; and that this tendency was increased during his spiritual struggles 
by his mental excitement, night-watchings, and fastings is most Nervous 
probable. But this does not detract from the genuineness of his disorder, 
belief in his Divine inspiration. On one occasion, when about to commit 
suicide, it is related that he was suddenly arrested by a voice from heaven, 
and saw the angel on a throne between the heavens and the earth, who 
said : " Mahomet, thou art in truth the prophet of Allah, and I am 
Gabriel." It is said that in moments of inspiration his anxiety of coun- 
tenance was painfully evident ; he would fall to the ground like one 
intoxicated or overcome by sleep, and in the coldest day his forehead would 
be bedewed with sweat. These periods were unexpected even by Mahomet 
himself. He himself said later : " Inspiration descendeth upon me in one 
of two ways : sometimes Grabriel cometh and communicateth the revelation 
unto me as one man unto another, and this is easy ; at other times it 
affecteth me like the ringing of a bell, penetrating my very heart, and 
rending me as it were in pieces, and this it is which grievously afflicteth me." 

Mahomet now preached his doctrines privately among his friends. His 
wife's freedman, Zaid ; his cousin Ali ; his intimate friend Abu-bekr, a 
ready believer, a steadfast friend, a rich merchant, generous in His early- 
purchasing slaves who had become believers; Othman, Zobair, ^d^®^®^*^* 
and others soon formed a little community. He was in accord too with the 
Hanifs. Gradually his appeal extended to the whole of the Koreish and 
their slaves, who, being foreigners, had often some knowledge of Judaism 
and Christianity, and were somewhat predisposed to accept a new doctrine 
that elevated them ; but the Meccans in general paid him little heed. They 
were already familiar with the essence of his teaching about the one God, 
and the necessity of truth and righteousness. He was not preach- opposition at 
ing to them a really new and attractive doctrine ; it was one which, Mecca, 
if followed out, demanded painful changes in their life, a true obedience to 
the all-powerful Judge of man, accompanied by prayer, almsgiving, and 
temperance of life. If the slaves, the children of the lower classes, heard 
him gladly, that was an additional reason why the haughty Koreish would 
not listen to him. 

Repulsed very considerably, Mahomet proceeded to denounce more 
vigorously the false gods and the false ideas of the Koreish, and to threaten 
them with judgments of God if they did not listen to His prophet. Attempts to 
They were constrained at one time to beg Abu Talib, Mahomet's silence mm. 
uncle, to silence him or to withdraw his protection from him. When Abu 
Talib discussed matters with his nephew, the latter was sturdy in upholding 
the paramount imperiousness of his convictions. "Though they gave me the 
sun in my right hand and the moon in my left," said Mahomet, " to bring 
me back from my undertaking, yet will I not pause till the Lord carry my 
cause to victory, or till I die for it." So saying he burst into tears, and 
turned to go away. " Go in peace," said his uncle, " and say what thou 
wilt, for, by God, I will on no condition abandon thee." 

At this time Mahomet was holding his meetings in the house of Arkun, 



5o8 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



one of his converts, close by the sanctuary of the Kaaba ; but petty 

Fii ht f ^^s^^^s were heaped on Mahomet, and grosser indignities and 

adherents to cruelties on the humbler converts, so that while Abu-bekr pur- 

yssinia. ^^j^^g^^ ^^ freedom of some slaves, others fled to Abyssinia, where 

they were kindly received by the Christians. 

After this, Mahomet, depressed by apparent failure, was in a mood for 
compromise. One day he sat down among the chief men of Mecca beside 
the Kaaba, and recited to them the fifty-third sura, including an account of 
the first visit of the angel to him, and also of a later vision, containing 
A proposed "What think ye of Al-Lat and Al-Ozza, and Manat the third 
compromise, ^j^h them ? " At this verse, so the story runs, the devil suggested 
to Mahomet words of reconciliation. " These are the sublime Females " 
[otherwise " cranes"], " whose intercession may be hoped for; " whereupon 
the Koreish were delighted at this recognition of their deities, and when Ma- 
homet concluded, " Wherefore bow down before Allah and serve Him," they 
all prostrated themselves and worshipped ; and professed themselves ready 
to recognise the prophet, since he had granted them part of their idolatry. 
But Mahomet went home disquieted, and in the evening was visited by 
Gabriel, who said to him, "What hast thou done? thou hast repeated be- 
fore the people words that I never gave unto thee." Then Mahomet 
Withdrawal grieved sorely and said, " I have spoken of God that which He 
^y ^^^°"^®*- hath not said." Then he was comforted, and Allah erased part 
of the sura, making it read, after " Manat the third," " What? shall there be 
male offspring for them, and female for you ? That were an unfair division. 
They are naught but names, which ye and your fathers have invented." 
When the Meccans heard of this, their hostility broke out with renewed 
violence. 

There can be little doubt that this story indicates a period of attempted 

compromise, which failed, owing to the unreality of any change produced 

, in the Meccans. A profession which was no conversion was 

Return of . . . -^ 

fugitives, and useless in establishing a reformation. The news of it brought 
secon ig . ^^^^ ^]^Q Abyssinian refugees ; but finding enmity again in 
full activity, they returned in added numbers, including Mahomet's 
daughter Rokkaya and her husband Othman. The Koreish were very 
scornful after this change of front, and said, " Ah, is this he whom Allah 
sent as an Apostle ; verily, he had nearly seduced us from our gods, 
unless we had patiently persevered therein." " Verily thou plainly art a 
fabricator." 

In the midst of these discouragements, Mahomet made two notable con- 
verts, his uncle Hamza, and Omar, a young man who had till then been 
strongly hostile to the new faith. Omar was twenty-six years 
Omar old, tall and commanding in figure, with a strong and impetuous 
conver e temper, and he had great personal influence, though neither rich 
nor of a principal family. He was converted owing to his discovery that 
his sister Fatima and her husband Said had believed in the new faith, and 
he was welcomed cordially by Mahomet. From this time people were not 



LIFE OF MAHOMET. 



509 



afraid to profess the new faith openly. Omar first offered his prayers publicly 
at the Kaaba, and performed the accustomed walks round its precincts, and 
other adherents of Mahomet soon followed his example. The Koreish were 




MAHOMET, PhOPHET OF ISLAM. 



alarmed, and became still more hostile to the prophet and all his Hostmtyof 
family, the Hashimites. Meanwhile he attacked them more *^® Koreish. 
fiercely by his revelations, many of them at this time being alleged to be 



5 TO THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

confirmed by the Jewish scriptures. Not a few of the chapters of the Koran 
which date from this period contain narratives distorted evidently from 
the Old Testament narratives, or from Jewish traditions. Again and again 
' he refers to his own revelation as confirming and attesting the 
aiuance with Book of Moses or the Jewish Scriptures. In fact, he claimed, 
Jews. ^-j^^^ a ^^ learned men of the children of Israel " recognised this ; 
and there is very strong reason to believe that some of the Jews to whom he 
was known gained the idea that he might be " the Prophet whom the Lord 
would raise up." There is no proof that Mahomet ever studied from an actual 
copy of the Old Testament. But his utterances became more and more 
intermingled with Jewish stories, and he even claimed the revelation of 
these as proof of his mission^ His enemies said : " They are fables of the 
ancients which he hath had written down ; they are dictated to him morn- 
ing and evening ; " and Mahomet's only answer was, '' He hath revealed it 
who knoweth that which is hidden in heaven and in earth." 

The Meccans were not likely to relish the plain denunciations of Maho- 
met, threatening them with a terrible overthrow ; but these threatenings 
were so often repeated that the people at last expressed a wish that the day 
might arrive ; and they termed his revelations tedious. Finally, they resolved 
Boycotting to adopt a very severe form of boycotting Mahomet and the Ha- 
andfhisSi- shimites. They would not intermarry with them ; they would 
lowers, neither sell to nor buy from them ; in fact, dealings of all kinds 
should cease. This ban was put into writing and sealed with three seals ; 
then it was hung up in the Kaaba, as a sign of its religiously binding 
nature. So severe a measure naturally frightened those at whom it was 
aimed, and they withdrew strictly within the quarter of Abu Talib, 
separated by cliffs, buildings, and a gateway from the rest of 
Mecca (a.d. 616-7). Not being strong enough to send out a 
caravan of their own, they soon began to suffer from scarcity. No one 
ventured outside, except during the sacred m-onths. Yet the Hashimites 
maintained themselves thus for two or three j^ears, a few of the other 
Meccans now and then venturing to help them. Mahomet devoted himself 
to preaching to those of his clan who were unconverted, and to strengthen- 
ing the believers. " Conduct thyself gently unto the believers that are with 
thee," says his revelation about this time, " and put thy trust in Him that 
is glorious and merciful." 

During the sacred pilgrimages, however, he preached to the strangers 

who flocked to Mecca, warning them against idolatry, proclaiming the 

worship of the One God, and promising them dominion on earth 

preaches to and Paradise hereafter, if they would only believe. But he 

strangers. ^^^ generally repulsed with the words, " Thine OAvn kindred 

and people should know thee best wherefore do they not beheve and 

follow thee ? " 

At last the ban was removed, after events ot which there is more than 
one traditional account. It had been discovered that insects had eaten up 
the parchment record in the Kaaba ; and five chief men of the Koreish went 



LIFE OF MAHOMET. 511 

to the quarter of Abu Talib, and commanded all the refugees to return 
to their respective homes in safety. Yet this apparent victory was the 
prelude of worse losses : Khadijah died (a.d. 619-620), and then Death of 
the venerable Abu Talib. Protection of his party became more Khadijah. 
difficult, and Mahomet began to turn his thoughts towards other places. 
He went and preached at Tai'f (sixty miles east of Mecca), but failed ; he 
was hooted and stoned out of the place, and was sunk in the deepest despond- 
ency. His prayer at this time has been handed down. In it he Mahomet's 
bewails his feebleness and insignificance. "Oh, Thou most ^^^p^^*^®^^^' 
merciful. Thou art the Lord of the weak, and Thou art my Lord. Lito 
whose hands wilt Thou abandon me ? Into the hands of the strangers that 
beset me round, or of the enemy to whom Thou hast given the mastery over 
me ? ... I seek for refuge in the light of Thy gracious countenance, 
by which the darkness is dispersed, and peace ariseth both for this world 
and the next, that Thy wrath light not upon me, nor Thine indignation. It 
is Thine to show anger until Thou art pleased ; and there is not any power 
or resource but in Thee." On his way home during one night, while in 
prayer or while dreaming, he saw a company of the jinn, or genii, listening 
to the Koran, and eager to embrace the faith. 

Eetuming to Mecca, Mahomet married again, — two months after 
Khadijah's death — Sauda, the widow of Sakran, an early convert ; and was 
betrothed to Ayesha, the young daughter (only seven years of 
age) of his bosom friend Abu-bekr. Thus he first gave way to 
that polygamy which has been one of the great features of Mohammed- 
anism. When the time of pilgrimage came round again, Ma- The pUgrims 
homet preached earnestly to the pilgrims ; and met with a little ^^°"^ ^®^"^- 
band of persons from Medina 250 miles north of Mecca, who showed an 
unusual readiness to hear him. He found that they had close connections 
with the numerous Jews of Medina, and asked them whether he could 
find protection, and a hearing in their city. They promised to let him 
know the next year. In the meantime they made known the doctrines 
he had taught them. They learnt how the Jews were expecting another 
prophet to arise, and they identified Mahomet with this prophet ; so that 
when the pilgrims from Medina again met Mahomet, twelve men pledged 
themselves to him in the following terms : " We will not worship pirst pledge 
any but the One Grod ; we will not steal, neither will we commit of Acaba. 
adultery, nor kill our children ; we will not slander in any wise ; and we will 
not disobey him [i.e. the Prophet) in anything that is right." This is called 
the First Pledge of Acaba, from the locality where it was taken ; and also 
the Pledge of Women, because it does not include any vow to defend the 
Prophet, and thus was afterwards the pledge required of women. Mahomet's 
reply was, " If ye fulfil the pledge. Paradise shall be your reward. He 
that shall fail in any part thereof, to God belongeth this concern, either to 
punish or forgive." 

The twelve returned to Medina as missionaries of the new faith, and at 
once zealously spread it, and with sucb success that they sent to Mahomet 



5r2 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

for a teacher versed in the Koran, who could give fuller instruction. 

Musab, a great-grandson of Hashim, was sent and received 

•won at with general assent, and Mahomet from this time had visions of 

a journey to Medina. To this period apparently belongs his 

vision of being carried by Gabriel on a winged horse past Medina to the 

temple at Jerusalem, where he was welcomed by the Prophets, Thence he 

appeared to mount from one heaven to another, appearing at 

Jerusalem last in the presence of Allah, from whom he received the com- 
andofiieaven.^g^^^ that His people were to pray five times in the day. When 
he awoke and told his vision, some of his followers were staggered and 
drew back, others believed and accepted it. However, the only mention 
of this wonderful vision in the Koran is in the seventeenth Sura; "Celebrated 
be the praises of Him who took his servant a journey by night from the 
Sacred Mosque (the Kaaba) to the remote Mosque (the Temple at Jerusalem^ 
the precinct of which we have blessed, to show him of our signs. Yerily 
He both hears and looks." 

At this time there was a great struggle going on between the Byzan- 
tine empire and the Persians, who for some years were encroaching every- 
The Emperor where, but in 621 were driven back by the emperor Heraclius. 

Heracims. before his victories Mahomet, whose sympathies were with the 
Greek empire, prophesied his success. Finding his efforts at Mecca fruit- 
less, he retired from his endeavour — with a revelation to justify him — " We 
have not made thee a keeper over them, neither art thou unto them a 
guardian." His resource was in calmness and confidence of future success. 
" Verily we will destroy the unjust ; and we will make you to dwell in the 
land after them " (K. xiv. 17). A famine came upon Mecca — a punishment 

Famine at from Allah ; relief came, — it was Allah's goodness, to give the 
Mecca. Meccans yet another chance. Meanwhile the Koran said to the 
unbelievers, "Work ye in your place, — wait ye in expectation ; we too in 
expectancy will wait." Mahomet's claims rose higher still, and he taught, 
" Whosoever rebels against God and His prophet, verily for him is the fire 
of hell; they shall be therein al way, for ever." He asseverated about his 

Mahomet's mission with the strongest language, putting into the mouth of 
Mgh claims. ^Hah the most dire threats against Mahomet if he had fabricated 
anything concerning Him. In temporal want he was thus reassured : " Do 
not strain after what We have provided a few of them with — the show of 
this life — to try them by ; but the provision of thy Lord is better and more 
lasting. Bid thy people pray, and persevere in it ; We do not ask thee to 
provide. We will provide, and the issue shall be to piety." 

In March, 622, when the pilgrimage again brought his adherents from 
Medina, Mahomet learnt at a meeting by night, that they had increased to 
Second pledge a large number. At this meeting more than seventy persons 
of Acaba. from Medina pledged themselves to defend Mahomet at the risk 
of their lives, and took an oath which has been called the second pledge of 
Acaba ; and he expressed himself ready to go with them to Medina. Mahomet 
named twelve of the chief men, saying, " 3Ioses chose from amongst his 



514 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS 

people twelve leaders. Ye shall be sureties for the rest, even as were the 
apostles of Jesus ; and I am the surety for my people." The meeting was 
suddenly broken up by a noise, and next day the chiefs of the Koreish sought 
to discover what had taken place, under threats of hostility. When they 
found out the true nature of the meeting, they pursued the Medina pilgrims, 
but could not come up with them. This was followed by a renewed persecu- 
tion of the Mohammedans at Mecca ; and a few days afterwards Mahomet com- 
manded them to depart to Medina, since Allah had given them brethren and 
Commence- a refuge in that city. It was in April, 622, that the flight began, 
^mght t?^ from which the Moslem chronology begins. The emigration went 
Medina, on secretly for the most part, house after house at Mecca being 
found abandoned. Within two months about 150 emigrants had reached 
Medina. The Koreish looked on helpless and amazed, having no precedent 
for forcibly detaining them. Finally only Mahomet, Abu Bekr, and their 
families, including Ali, were left in Mecca ; and the Koreish plotted how 
they might detain, expel, or kill Mahomet. Hearing of their arrangement 
Mahomet ^0 visit his house, Mahomet left it secretly, took Abu Bekr with 
leaves Mecca. \{YCii^ and both crept through a back window and escaped un- 
noticed from the southern suburb of the city, and took refuge in a cave of 
Mount Thaur, where they hid for two or three daj^s. The Prophet in the 
Koran (ix. 42) thus describes the situation : " And God did help him, when 
those who disbelieved drove him forth the second of two \i.e. with only one 
companion]."" When they two were in the cave alone, he said to his com- 
Takes refuge P^i^ioii : "Be not cast down, for verily God is with us. And God 
in a cave, g^^-^^ down His Shecliinah upon him, and aided him with hosts 
ye could not see, and made the word of the unbelievers to be abased, and 
the word of God to be exalted, for God is mighty and wise." Meanwhile, 
seeing the daylight through a crevice in the cave, Abu Bekr said, " What 
if one of them were to look beneath him ; he might see us under his very 
feet." " Think not this, Abu Bekr," said the Prophet, in perhaps his sub- 
limest utterance, " We are two, but God is in the midst, a third." They 
Arrives at Were fed by friends secretly and not discovered ; at last, they set 
Medina, 622. q^j^ towards Medina, where they arrived, it is believed, on the 
28th of June, 622. Thus the Hegira (or flight) was completed. Mahomet's 
and Abu Bekr's families remained behind at Mecca for a time. 

[Wellhausen, " Life of Molicammed," Encyclopcedia Britannica ; Eobertson Smith, "Eeligion of 
the Semites ; " Muir, " Life of Mahomet" ; Boss^Ol•th Smith, " Mohammed and Mohammedauism"; 
Hughes, " Dictionary of Islam."] 




CHAPTER IV. 

affe of iMaOomet. ^art H. 

Mahomet at Medina— He enters the city on a camel— Brotherhood of refugees and citizens— The first 
mosque— Its fame— Mahomet and the Jews— Jewish "witnesses"— Changed direction of prayer 
—The Ramadan fast— Day of sacrifice— The call to prayer— Mahomet's pulpit— Mode of con- 
ducting service— War and politics— Incentives to war— Promised rewards— Battle of Badr— War 
against Mn— Compulsion and cruelty towards Jews— Mahomet's new wives— Battle of Ohod — 
War of the ditch— Pledge of the Tree— Treaty with the Koreish — The Jews of Khaibar — 
Mahomet's messages to great powers— Mahomet visits Mecca, 629— Mahomet marches on Mecca, 
630— Destroys the idols— All Mecca submits to him— Battle of Honein— The Coptic maid and 
Mahomet — His growing dominion— Taif submits— Ban proclaimed against unbelievers — 
Mahomet's last pilgrimage, 632— His illness and death— Funeral— Personal appearance- 
Character— Moral influence. 

THE beautiful oasis of Medina, crowded with date-palms and otlier fruit- 
trees, and inhabited by two tribes of Arabs, — of whom the more power- 
ful, the Khazraj, included Mahomet's adherents, — as well as by many Jews, 
was far more inviting and favourable to the Prophet than Mecca. Mahomet at 
He was received with a joyful welcome by his converts, whom he Medina, 
bade to show their joy by good- will to their neighbours, by sending portions 
to the poor, by increased family unity, and by prayer at night. '' Thus," 
he said, " shall ye enter Paradise in peace." 

After a short stay in Coba, one of the suburbs of Medina, Mahomet 
entered the city on a Friday, seated on a camel, with Abu Bekr behind 
him. He halted at a place of prayer on the way, and performed 
his first Friday service, giving a sermon on the new faith. From city on a 
that day to this, Friday has been the Mahometan Sunday. The *^^^®^- 
after-journey was a grand triumphal procession ; and so numerous and pressing 
became the invitations to the Prophet to take up his abode with particular 
persons, that he announced that the camel must decide. She entered the 
eastern quarter, and sat down in a large open courtyard, near Abu Ayoub's 
house ; in his house, therefore, Mahomet lived, until a house of prayer, with 
houses for his wives, had been built in the courtyard, which Mahomet 
bought. Meanwhile, the change from the dry climate of Mecca to the damp 
and cold of Medina were very trying to his followers, most of whom suffered 
from fever. Mahomet hit upon an excellent plan for raising their spirits 
and attaching them to their new home. He enjoined them to form a 
peculiar brotherhood, each stranger takine; a man of Medina as „ .^ ^ ^ 

T • 1 - 1 1 Lt ■ 1,1- -, n T -, . Brotherhood 

his brother, and the pair undertaking a degree of mutual devotion of refugees 
even beyond the claims of blood. After a time this proved un- ^^^ citizens, 
necessary or inconvenient, and in about a year and a half it was abolished. 
The new mosque was on the site now occupied by the great mosque of 



5i6 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

Medina ; and though less capacious than the latter, it was very large, being 
The first about One hundred cubits (say 150 feet) square ; and the roof was 
mosque, ^f palm-tree trunks, covered in with palm-wood rafters. The 
worshippers directed their faces towards the north, while Mahomet, when 
in prayer, stood near the north wall and looked towards the north-west, to 
Jerusalem, with the people at his back ; when preaching he faced them. 
On the eastern side rooms were built for the Prophet's wives and daughters, 
his marriage with his child-wife Ayesha being now completed. To the 
north was a shelter for poor adherents who had no homes, and who slept in 
the mosque. 

" Though rude in material," says Muir, " and comparatively insigni- 
ficant in extent, the mosque of Mahomet is glorious in the history of Islam. 
Here the prophet and his companions sj)ent the greater portion 
of their time ; here the daily service, with its oft-recurring 
prayers, was first publicly established : here the great congregation 
assembled every week, and trembled often while they listened to the 
orations of the Prophet and the messages from heaven. Here he planned 
his victories. From this spot he sent forth envoys to kings and emperors 
with the summons to embrace Islam. Here he received the embassies of 
contrite and believing tribes ; and from hence issued commands which 
carried consternation amongst the rebellious to the very ends of the 
Peninsula. Hard by, in the room of Ayesha, he yielded up the ghost; and 
there he lies buried." 

Mahomet's attitude to the Jews gradually changed. At first he was 
most anxious to conciliate them, professed his approval of them, laid emphasis 
Mahomet and ^^pon the points of agreement between them, and even framed a 
the Jews. gQ^^^ q£ treaty, agreeing to aid and succour and defend them, and 
permitting them the full maintenance of their religion. But as his claims 
grew, as he began to emphasise his position as the " greater Prophet " spoken 
of by their scriptures, the Jews of Medina felt that they could not accept 
him as their lawgiver in place of or in addition to Moses, since he was not 
Jewish of Jewish blood. A few joined him entirely, becoming practically 
" witnesses." ]^^]^Q^Qtans, and these were carefully utilised as "witnesses" to the 
Prophet's claims, asserting that their brethren merely denied them through 
jealousy. The portions of the Koran now issued were full of attacks upon 
the Jews, reciting their old idolatry and disobedience to God. At first Jeru- 
salem was the chief sacred place, as we have seen, towards which Mahomet 
turned in prayer. Before he had been eighteen months in Medina, one day 
Mahomet, having already, it is related, desired permission of God to turn 
Chans-ed "^^^^^^^^ ^^® Kaaba at Mecca, suddenly received it in the midst 
direction of of service, and turned round to the south, towards Mecca. From 
^ ^ ' this time the Jews were hostile to the Mahometans. Previously,. 
Mahomet had adopted the Fast Day of the Atonement from the Jews ; he 
The Ramadan iiow established his own peculiar fast, and extended it over the 
fast. month of Eamadan — as a day-fast from meat, drink, and all enjoy- 
ments, which however were lawful at night. At the end of the month 



LIFE OF MAHOMET. 5^7 

a festival was held, called " the breaking of the fast," marked by abundant 
alms to the poor. He also established a day of sacrifice, which Day of 
was celebrated on the concluding day of the pilgrimage to Mecca, sacrifice. 
After a solemn service, two fat kids were sacrificed by the prophet, the first 
for the whole people, the second for himself and his family. After the 
direction of prayer was changed, a special call to prayer was Thecauto 
established, to which a supernatural origin was ascribed. Bilab P^^y®^- 
Mahomet's negro servant, ascending a lofty wall near the mosque before 
daybreak, on its first glimmer proclaimed, " Great is Allah ! great is Allah ! 
I bear witness that there is no God but Allah. I bear witness that Mahomet 
is the Prophet of Allah ! Come unto Prayer ! Come unto Happiness ! Great 
is Allah ! Great is Allah ! There is no God but Allah, Prayer is better 
than sleep, Prayer is better than sleep ! " And the same call was repeated 
at each of the five hours of prayer. Mahomet's dignity and convenience 
were further promoted by the construction of a pulpit, the Mahomet's 
platform of which was raised three steps above the floor, and P^ipit. 
placed near the southern wall of the mosque. It became an object of great 
sanctity to Mahometans, oatlis being taken close to it, and a false swearer 
being condemned to hell. 

We may here quote from Muir the traditional account of Mahomet's 
mode of first conducting service in his pulpit. " As he mounted the pulpit, 
turning towards the Kaaba, he uttered a loud Takhlr^ ' Great is ^^^^ ^^ 
the Lord ! ' and the whole assembly from behind burst forth into conducting 

SGrvicG 

the same exclamation. Then he bowed himself in prayer, still 
standing in the pulpit with his face averted from the people ; after which 
he descended, walking backwards, and at the foot of the pulpit prostrated 
himself towards the Kaaba. This he did twice, and having ended the 
prayers, he turned towards the congregation, and told them he had done 
tliis that they might know and imitate his manner of prayer." His 
mode of conducting the Friday service was as follows : " As the Prophet 
mounted the steps of the pulpit he greeted the assembly with the salutation 
of peace. Then he sat down, and Bilal sounded forth the call to prayer. 
After the prescribed prostrations and reciting of the Koran, he delivered 
two discourses, twice sitting down ; and he would point with his fingers, 
enforcing his instructions : the people raised their faces towards him, listen- 
ing attentively, and fixing their eyes upon him ; when he ended, they 
joined in a universal Amen. As he discoursed he leant upon a staff. His 
dress on these occasions was a mantle of striped Yemen stuff, six cubits in 
length, thrown over his shoulders ; the lower garment was a girdle of fine 
cloth from Oman, but of smaller dimensions than the other. These robes 
were worn only on Friday, and on the two great festivals ; at the conclusion 
of each service, they were folded up and put carefully away." 

The later life of Mahomet may be considered as a period of war and 
politics even more than of religion ; or rather, his religion became war and 
identified with war and politics. From the time of his flight to politics. 
Medina, though the Meccans abstained from active hostilities, he had 



5i8 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

tlireatened divine vengeance against them, and events proved that he only- 
bided his time. We cannot detail the marauding expeditions which were 
sent out by Mahomet or led by him against Meccan caravans, with varying 
success. One of these attacked a caravan during the sacred month of 
Eajab ; one of the Koreish was killed and two were taken prisoners. After 
a period of discouragement, Mahomet declared a revelation that " war dur- 
ing the sacred month was gTie*vous, yet to obstruct the way of God and to 
hinder men from the Holy Temple was worse." The warlike spirit, so 
Incentives to temptingly combining religious incentives with those of plunder, 
war, grew apace, and Mahomet produced a revelation in favour of war 
against unbelievers, until all opposition ceased and there was no religion 
but Allah's. "Kill them wheresoever ye find them; and expel them 
from that out of which they have expelled you. . . . Yet fight not 

Promised against them beside the Holy Temple, until they fight with you 

rewards, thereat." '' An excellent provision in Paradise " was promised to 
those who fell in battle. Contributions were solicited towards war, and a 
higher place was to be granted to those who contributed before the victory. 
'' "Who is he that lendeth unto the Lord a goodly loan ? He shall double 
the same, and he shall have an honourable recompense." 

The first important battle for the new faith was that of Badr, fought in 
December, 623, when Mahomet with 308 followers attacked the Koreish 

Battle of 950 strong, and put them to flight, after many of their principal 
Badr. ^^^-y^ liad been slain. Two prisoners whom he hated personally 
Mahomet put to death, and others were set free on payment of heavy 
ransoms. Thus was started that career of bloodshed and conquest which 
has distinguished Mohammedanism more than any other religion, even 
remembering the Crusades and other wars of Christians. No religion has 
ever made extension by war so important an element. In the matter of 
dissolving old relationships and ties, Islam was but like numerous other 
religions ; still this was a new attitude in Arabia, which struck the Koreish 
War against with consternation. Brother was ready even to slay brother at 
^^"' the bidding of the Prophet. The new brotherhood superseded 
everything, and no toleration was allowable towards unbelievers. Active 
natures found full scope for their energies ; and no man could hope for dis- 
tinction in Islam b}^ a life of contemplation such as the Buddhists favoured. 
The new rehgion showed that it was to be founded upon human passion, 
upon pride of domination, upon fanaticism, quite as much as upon simplifica- 
tion of truth, and remodelling of belief about God, and new principles and 
fashions in personal conduct. The very process of winning the first victory 
became in the hands of Mahomet and his principal followers a method of 
strengthening their convictions and their hold upon their followers at the 
same time. The men of Medina extended their pledge to defend Mahomet 

Lovaitvof ^^^ ^ledina in these words, "Prophet of the Lord, march whither 

men of thou listest, encamp wherever thou mayest choose, make war or 

conclude peace with whom thou wilt. For I swear by Him who 

hath sent thee with the Truth, that if thou wast to march till our camels 



LIFE OF MAHOMET. 519 



fell down dead, we should go forward with thee to the world's end." The 
distribution of the spoils too was made the occasion of a revelation claim- 
ing one-fifth for God and the prophet and his kin, together Division of 
with the "orphans and the poor. In numerous other ways this spoils of war. 
victoiy was skilfully used to deepen the convictions of the believers, and the 
influence of Mahomet as a Divine teacher. 

Bloodshed leads to bloodshed. Mahomet could now brook no opposi- 
tion. Jews and Jewesses, who attacked him or spread defamatory verses 

about him and his doino-s, were assassinated one after another „^ 

. .. ... . , Compulsion 

by his followers, either by his direct instigation or with his and cruelty 

subsequent approval. Tribe after tribe of Jews were either com- °^^^ ^ ^^^ 

pelled to submit to Islam and profess its faith, or were expelled, or attacked 

and exterminated. And sensuality followed hard on bloodshed. Mahomet's 

New wives were added to Mahomet's harem ; and from this time ^®^ wives. 

(624) there was scarcely a year of his life in which he did not take a new 

wife. 

The IMeccans, after long mourning, decided to take active steps against 
Mahomet ; and early in 625 the two met outside Medina at Mount Ohod, 
and after a partial victory for the Mohammedans, they were taken Battle of 
in the rear, Mahomet was wounded, and his uncle Hamza slain ; ^^°**- 
but the Meccans retired after their victory, and Mahomet retained his in- 
fluence at Mecca. He executed a capital sentence on a follower who in the 
battle had slain an enemy of his own side, and those who had been killed 
at Ohod were regarded as martyrs. Passages in the Koran (ii. and iii.) 
represent God as causing alternations of success as tests, and encourage the 
believers to perseverance, even if Mahomet himself should be killed ; and no 
soul died without the permission of God. 

In March, 627, the expelled Jews, allied with the Koreish and two great 
Bedouin tribes, in all 10,000 strong, attacked Mahomet at Medina. He 
entrenched himself behind a wide ditch or foss which he dug war of the 
across the exposed side of the city ; and his followers defended it *^^*^^- 
so well that the attacking army after fourteen days' siege broke up and 
returned home. After this Mahomet massacred the men of the last re- 
maining independent Jewish tribe in Medina, 600 or 700 in number, who 
had had some negotiations with the enemy but had broken them off, and 
who now refused to join his ranks ; their women and children being sold 
into slavery. 

Mahomet now prepared to attack Mecca itself. He first attem-pted to 
\asit Mecca (in March, 628) with 1500 men, but was forced to halt at 
Hodaib^'a, just outside the sacred territory, the Koreish refusing piedge of the 
to let him perform the circuit of the Kaaba. On this occasion, '^^®®- 
when in a state of alarm and suspecting treachery, Mahomet made all the 
pilgrims give a pledge to serve him faithfully till death (this is called the 
Pledge of the Tree, from the acacia-tree under which it was sworn). The 
Koreish, realising the devotion of Mahomet's followers, offered him a com- 
promise, by which he was to withdraw for that year, and in the next return 



520 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

and remain three days within the sacred territory and offer the sacrifices he 
desired. Mahomet, willing to accept this, did not even demur to his being 
described in the treaty as " Mohammed the son of Abdallah," instead of by 
his title '' Apostle of God," and he allowed the Koreish to use that name 
Treaty with of Goi which they chose. The treaty provided for a truce of ten 
theKpreish. years, with freedom for all to join either Mahomet or the Koreish. 
Mahomet, although his people were somewhat disappointed at his agreeing 
to these terms, realised that he had gained much in being recognised as an 
independent political power, and in being allowed to enter Mecca un- 
disturbed the next year. He produced a new revelation describing the 
result as a victory ; and his later followers echo this view, showing that the 
treaty had been won without fighting, and that it led very many to join 
Islam. Strengthened by this result, Mahomet turned his arms against the 
rich Jews of Khaibar, north of Medina (628) and subdued them in detail 
with no little cruelty. In the same year he sent a message to the victorious 
^ Byzantine emperor Heraclius, demanding that he should acknow- 

messages to ledge him as Apostle, lay aside the worship of Jesus, and return 
grea po^^ers. ^^ ^^^^ ^^ ^^ ^^^ Q^q^, A similar message was sent to the 
Persian king Siroes, without result. An embassy to the Roman governor of 
Egypt was received with honour, though without submission ; but presents 
were sent to Mahomet, including two Coptic girls, one of whom he added 
to his harem. About the same time the Abyssinian prince is reported to 
have signified his acceptance of Islam.- These and other incidents testify 
to the rapid growth of Mahomet's influence. This reacted upon the Arab 
mind, susceptible to motives of power and booty ; and Mecca was now to 
drop into Mahomet's mouth, like a ripe plum. 

In March, 629, Mahomet, according to the compromise, visited Mecca 
with 2,000 men, performed the sevenfold circuit of the Kaaba, reciting, 

^ ^ ^ " There is no God but Allah alone. It is He that hath holden 

Majiomet . , i t p i 

visits Mecca, His servant and exalted his army. Alone hath He discomfited 

the confederated hosts." Then he sacrificed the appropriate 

animals on the rising ground of Marwa, and finally shaved his head. On the 

second day Mahomet entered the Kaaba, Bilal sounded the call to prayer 

at midday from the top of the building, and the Moslems responded and 

performed their accustomed devotions. Thiis was the Kaaba reclaimed for 

Islam. As a diversion from more serious matters, Mahomet arranged yet 

another marriage, with Meimuna, a bride of over fifty years old — this being 

his last marriage. Some leading men of Mecca joined him. During 629 

some further victories over various Arab tribes, and the conquest of Syrian 

border tribes to the south of the Dead Sea added to his prestige. 

At the end of 629, some alleged infractions of the treaty of Hodaibya led 

Mahomet to march secretly on Mecca with nearly 10,000 men, in January, 

Mahomet 630. Suddenly all their tent fires were lighted within view of the 

on^Me^ca ^^^li ^^^ ^^® sight Spread consternation among the Koreish. 

630. Abbas, Mahomet's uncle, had joined him just before, and he now 

became a medium by which a leader of the Koreish, named Abu Sofyan, 



LIFE OF MAHOMET. 



521 



approached Mahomet and tendered his submission. At once Mahomet and 
his army entered the city, with scarcely any opposition. He went to the 
Kaaba, sakited the sacred stone, and made the seven circuits of the 
temple ; then one by one, by his orders, the idols of Mecca were Destroys 
destroyed, inchiding the great image of Hobal in front of the t^^e idols. 
Kaaba. He next worshipped outside and inside the temple ; had the pictures 
of Abraham and the angels, which decorated the Kaaba, destroyed, and 
ordered all believers in Allah throughout Mecca to destroy all images in their 
houses. At the same time he had the pillars marking the boundaries of the 
sacred territory repaired, showing his intention to keep up the sanctity of 




MEDINA : THE MODERN CITY. 



Mecca ; but while expressing his intense attachment to Mecca, he comforted 
the people of Medina by declaring that he should live and die in the city 
which had first hospitably received him. Four persons, renegades or 
criminals, were put to death after this peaceful conquest. The rest of the 
people unanimously submitted to the Prophet, many, no doubt, Mecca 
being influenced by fear, by seeing that his was the winning side, Submits 
by the attractions of war, power, and probable plunder. Various 
images and shrines of idols in the neighbourhood of Mecca were soon 
destroyed. 

The next important event in Mahomet's history was the battle of Honein, 



522 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

against the powerful Hawazin tribe, in which Mahomet's forces at first 
Battle of wavered, and were only encouraged to make a firm stand by his 
Honein. reminding the men of Medina of their oath of Hodaibya ; their 
valour turned the day in his favour. Then Mahomet ascribed the victory 
to the aid of great unseen angelic hosts. Taif was then besieged, but its 
defenders were valiant and skilful, and the siege was raised. The distri- 
bution of the booty from Honein caused much dissatisfaction among the 
Medina men, because great favour was shown to the Meccans, especially to 
Abii Sofyan ; but Mahomet again appeased them by expressing his un- 
changeable gratitude to them, and his determination to stick to them as 
against all the world. 

His relations with one of the beautiful Coptic maids, Mary, sent from 
Egypt, now caused much vexation among his wives, owing to his evident 
The Coptic P^^f^^^i'^ce for her. She gave birth to a son, Ibrahim, the only 
maid and one born to Mahomet at Medina ; and his death at about sixteen 
months caused the prophet great grief. Mahomet, in the man- 
ner characteristic of his later life, produced a " revelation " to suit the 
particular case, to approve what he had done and what he wished to do, and 
cautioning his wives against the consequences of murmuring against him. 

Mahomet's dominion now began to assume the proportions of an empire ; 
those who adopted the faith submitted to his secular rule, and paid annual 
His growing "tithes to consecrate their wealth, these being applied towards the 
dominion, charities and other expenses of the Prophet. Those who refused 
to pay were compelled. A noted Arab poet, Kab, yielded his submission in 
a notable poem ; when he had recited the lines : — 

" Verily the Prophet is a light ilhiminatiiig tlie Tv-orlcl, 
A naked sword from the armoury of God," 

Mahomet was so delighted that he took his mantle from his shoulders and 
threw it upon the poet, as a gift. From this incident, the poem was known 
as " The Poem of the Mantle " ; later the mantle became the property of 
the Caliphs, till the fall of Bagdad. Embassies were received from all parts 
of Arabia, and even be^^ond, acknowledging Mahomet's chiefship and office, 
and receiving presents, confirmations of authority, special privileges, etc. 
(a.d. 6B0, 631). Of the Christian tribes which submitted, some were allowed 
to continue in their religion as before, others were bidden not to baptize their 
children, though they might maintain their worship. Instructors in the 
faith of Islam were often sent back with the embassies. In 630 an expedition 
headed by Mahomet received the submission of numerous Christian and 
Jewish tribes to the south of Palestine. Some of his adherents who had 
held back from this expedition were rebuked in severe terms in the latest 
revealed chapter of the Koran (ix.). Those who had no pretext to offer, were 
put under a strict boycott, but pardoned on their abject submission. 

The people of Taif had not yet submitted, but still continued in idolatry. 
Orwa, one of their chiefs, embraced the new faith at Medina, and returned 
to preach it to his people. After he had announced his conversion at 



LIFE OF MAHOMET. 523 

Taif, and shouted the call to prayer from the top of his house, he was 
shot at with arrows and mortally wounded. Hence he was„ .., ^ .. 

m r> • T 1 • • n 1 t "^" SUDmitS, 

accounted a martyr. The Taifites continued their idolatry, and 
suffered from the predatory attacks of the Moslems, which compelled them 
to keep within their walls. At last they sent an embassy to the Prophet, 
who gave them instructions, and refused to grant them permission to 
continue in several sinful habits, or to maintain their idol Al-Lat for three 
years longer as they desired. After abating their demand to one year, or 
even a month, the only concession they could get from Mahomet was, that 
they should not be compelled to destroy the idol with their own hands. A 
follower of Mahomet was sent to do this ; and it was done amid the loud 
laments of the women and children. 

Abu Bekr and 300 pilgrims were deputed to perform the pilgrimage to 
Mecca in 631, Mahomet not sharing in it because a vast number of heathen 
tribes still went to Mecca and performed idolatrous rites. It was Ban pro- 
announced that every pilgrimage hereafter would be forcibly agaSst 
limited to worshippers of the One God, after which time all un- unbelievers, 
believers should be fought against. This decree was promulgated to all the 
pilgrims and thus spread throughout Arabia. Christians and Jews were to 
be subjugated and made to pay tribute. Christian churches were to be 
destroyed and mosques built on the sites. Various officers were sent out to 
heathen and to submissive tribes, charged not only with their religious 
instruction, but also with their judicial and social regulation, according to 
the Koran and Mahomet's other instructions. 

Early in 632 Mahomet prepared for the great pilgrimage, and set out 
for Mecca with a vast company, including all his wives, and with a hundred 
camels destined for sacrifice. He now found mosques to pray in jyiahomet's 
at the several stages of the journey ; and in them he led public last pilgrim- 
worship. AVhen he arrived in sight of the Kaaba, he raised his 
hands to heaven and said : " Lord, add unto this house in the dignity 
and gloiy, the honour and the reverence which already Thou hast bestowed 
on it. And the}' that for the greater pilgrimage and the lesser frequent the 
same, increase them much in honour and dignity, in piety, goodness, and 
glor)\"' Then he completed the circuits and the rites of the lesser pilgrimage, 
and ordered those who had brought no victims to put off their pilgrim's garb. 
The first day of the greater pilgrimage he preached in the Kaaba, and passed 
the night in a tent at Mina. Next day, proceeding to the height of Arafat, 
he consecrated it as a pilgrimage station, recited several parts of the Koran 
relating to the pilgrimage, and concluded, " This day have I perfected your 
religion unto 3'ou, and fulfilled my mercy upon you, and appointed Islam for 
you to be your religion." He returned by moonlight to Mozdalifa, and said 
the sunset and the evening prayers together ; and all his recorded behaviour 
is imitated by pilgrims to this day. Then returning to Mina, shouting the 
pilgrims' oxy : — 

'• LaLLcik (Here am T, O Lord !) Labbcik 
Tliero is no other God but Thee. Labbeik ! 



524 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



Praise, blessing, and dominion be to Thee. Labbeik ! 
No one may share with Thee therein. Labbeik, Labbeik ! 

At Mina he cast stones at Acaba, according to ancient custom, slew the 
victims brought for sacrifice, and shaved his head and part of his beard, 
pared his nails, etc., and put off the pilgrim's dress. The flesh of the 
victims and other animals was distributed for food, and a feast was held. 
Next day he gave a celebrated parting discourse in the Mina valley, re- 
peating some of his principal injunctions. " Know that every Moslem is the 
brother of every other Moslem. All of you are on the same equality. Ye 
are one brotherhood." After inquiring, " Know ye what month this is, what 
territory this is? " and receiving the answer, " The sacred month, the sacred 
territory," he said, " Even thus sacred and inviolable hath God made the life 
and the property of each of you unto the other until you meet your Lord.'' 
At the same time he proclaimed the rectification of the calendar by which 
the month of pilgrimage was to be fixed in future. He subsequently 
completed the ceremonies of the greater pilgrimage and then returned to 
Medina. 

Fresh " prophets " arose in several regions of Arabia, some of whom 
were indignantly denounced by Mahomet. Aswad, who had raised the 
standard of rebellion, was assassinated just before Mahomet's own death. 
The Prophet had planned an expedition against the Syrian border of the 
Byzantine empire. Abou.t this time he became ill, having previously 
shown signs of old age. One night- he visited the burial-ground, and re- 
mained there long in meditation, then prayed for those buried there. On 
the way home he said to his attendant : " The choice hath verily been 
His last offered me of continuance in this life, with Paradise hereafter, or 
iuness. -j-o meet my Lord at once ; and I have chosen to meet my Lord." 
He rapidly grew worse, and betook himself to the apartment of Ayesha, 
who attended him devotedly. For seven or eight daj^s his fever permitted 
him to attend the mosque and feebly lead the public prayers. On a final 
day he publicly intimated his approaching death ; and on Abu Bekr bursting 
into tears, he begged him not to weep, and said to the people : " Yerily, the 
chiefest among you all for love and devotion to me is Abu Bekr. If I were 
to choose a bosom friend, it wou.ld be he ; but Islam hath made a closer 
brotherhood amongst us all," Next day Abu Bekr was deputed to lead 
prayers. Mahomet suffered greatly, and gave utterance to expressions 
symbolising his belief that sins were expiated by physical sufferings. He 
was, however, not too distracted to be able to reprove the desire to make the 
tombs of prophets objects of worship, and to say, '' Lord, let not my 
tomb be an object of worship." One of his ejaculations during his suffer- 
ings was, " my soul, why seekest thou for refuge elsewhere than in God 
alone ? " Recovering a little, Mahomet again entered the mosque, saying, 
with a joyful smile on his face, "The Lord verily hath granted unto me 
refreshment in prayer." Afterwards he spoke to the people, saying, " As 
fe myself, verily, no man can lay hold of me in any matter ; I have not 
made lawful anything but what God hath made lawful ; nor have I pro- 



LIFE OF MAHOMET, 525 



hibited aiight but that wliicli God in Ins book hath prohibited." After this 

exertion he grew much weaker, praying for aid in the agonies of death. 

One of his last ejaculations was, " Lord, grant me pardon, and 

join me to the companionship on high." He died soon after noon, 

only an hour or tAvo after his visit to the mosque, on Monday the 8th of 

June, G32. 

It was immediately necessary to choose a chief or deputy (Cahph) to 
represent Mahomet ; for the men of Medina desired to appoint a chief for 
themselves. But Omar and Abu Bekr gained the adhesion of all Abu Bekr 
the leaders at Medina to the appointment of the latter, who had elected Caiiph. 
been " the second of the two in the cave," and had been deputed by 
Mahomet himself to lead public worship. The Prophet's corpse was visited 
by all Medina, and then buried in a vault dug out under the place Mahomet's 
where he died. Abu Bekr and Omar's farewell to him ex- ^^nai 
pressly made mention of his having sought no recompense for delivering the 
Faith to the people, and having never sold it for a price at any time. A red 
mantle which he had worn was placed beneath his body, which was enclosed 
in white cloth and striped Yemen stuff, without a coffin. The vault was 
covered over with unbaked bricks and the grave filled up. 

In person Mahomet was a little above the middle height, of a handsome 
and commanding figure ; he had a large head with broad open brow, jet black 
longish hair, deep black piercing eyes, and a long black bushy ms person 
beard. His face had something very winning in its expression, ^^^^^^^^°*®^* 
and his smile was gracious and condescending ; but his frown or angry 
look was such that men quailed before it. His gait was quick and decided, 
though stooping in later years ; and he never turned round in walking. In 
conversing, he turned his full face and whole body towards the speaker. 
'• In shaking hands, he was not the first to withdraw his own ; nor was he 
the first to break off in converse with a stranger, nor to turn away his ear.'^ 
He treated the most insignificant of his followers with consideration, visited 
the meanest, made each man in company think himself the most favoured 
guest, sympathised with both joys and griefs, was gentle to little children, 
and ministered to every one's personal comfort. His warm attachment to 
Abu Bekr, Ali, Zeid, Othman, and Omar was intensely reciprocated by 
tliem. He never assumed lordly airs nor demanded personal services, he 
\\'0uld do everything for himself, even mend his own sandals and clothes. 
He greatly enjoyed food, yet could readily live as plainly as his followers ; 
but, a true Oriental, he enjoyed perfumes and the society and charms of 
women extremely. Whatever he may have been in his earlier days, when 
Khadijah was alive, in his later years, the attractions of Avomen proved his 
human frailty perhaps more than anything, and led to the deplorable^ 
abrogation of his laws in his own favour. The extreme instance of this 
was seen when he longed for the wife of his adopted son and friend Zeid, 
and produced a " revelation " commanding him to marry her. Yet he was 
devoted to all his wives. 

In his conduct to enemies, Mahomet showed both good and bad 



526 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

qualities ; politic mercy, to gain them over, but also cruelty in numerous 
executions, and craft in planning or allowing assassinations, in attacks 

,„ V. during: the sacred months, and in the use mad© of Jews and 
Was ne rm i • i • 

sincere ? Christians. That he was an erring mortal, m no sense an in- 
fallible model of conduct, must be the verdict on Mahomet. Who shall 
pronounce on his sincerity all through ? In many ways, especially before 
the Flight, he showed marks of entire sincerity ; but to believe that he was 
self-deceived in every act at Medina, is to stretch self-deception to an ex- 
treme. The fact that he produced successive revelations to enjoin things 
he desired to do, may possibly be read in two ways : either he deliberately 
invented the revelations to suit the emergency, or, being of an excitable, 
susceptible nature, his breedings on a subject brought about the state of 
mental exaltation in which he genuinely heard, or imagined that he heard, 
the appropriate " revelation." As regards both his assassinations and his 
marriages, they show a very great but not an incredible degree of moral 
warp or of moral infancy, or else a degree of self-delusion which is scarcely 
compatible with the practical wisdom of very many of his actions. "We 
find him, after his early struggles and the commencement of his preaching, 
constantly imbued with a belief in special providence, extending almost to 
fatalism. He certainly believed that everything was predestined ; but 
events were, he believed, capable of being influenced by prayer. With all 
this, he had several superstitious beliefs, and was guided by omens and 
prognostications. We may perhaps explain much of his character by the 
view that his own inward struggles, his moral debates, and his aspirations 
seemed to him the very voice of God speaking to him. He lacked the 
physical courage to face bodily danger in battle. At Mecca, however, he 
showed true bravery in preaching so long amid hostile surroundings, and 
in remaining behind when nearly all his adherents had departed for Medina. 
His denunciation of idolatry, and his preaching of the one Grod and of the 
equality of man before Grod, must ever distinguish him honourably as a great 
religious teacher. He had a style of delivery, an evident earnestness of 
belief, which carried home his statements of truth and his eloquent and 
imaginative poetic outbursts. 

At Medina sensuality, deception, cruelty, and intolerance stained the 
prophet's life. Ceremonial routine, material assistance, became more im- 
portant, outwardly, than inward conviction and purity. But there was 
enough good in the faith as Mahomet left it, enough that was influential 
on mankind, to make Islam the second among the great faiths of the world 
(counting Judaism and Christianity together as the first); and there was 

I enough mingled good and exclusiveness to make it the most difficult of all 

r for Christianity to contend against. 



CHAPTER Y. 
€i)t Boran n\\b its Cearftmse?* 

Formation of the text— Tlie general prayer— TeacMng about God— Names of God— Righteousness 
defined- Nature of God— Account of creation — Angels— Eblis, or the Devil— The Moslem paradise 
—Hell— Intermediate state— The day of judgment— Prophets— Attitude towards Jews- Pre- 
destination— Idolatry and Idolaters -Islam— The creed— Prayer— The fast of Ramadan— Alms- 
giving— The holy pilgrimage— Parents and children— Murder and theft— Divorce and concubinage 
—Marriage— Position of wives— Rhetorical passages— Structure of Koran— Delineation of old 
prophets— Chronological sequence— Miracles— Reverence for Koran— Versions— Commentaries. 

THE Koran (more precisely Qur'an, a reading), wliicli as a whole is not 
so long as the New Testament, was not in existence as a complete 
book in the lifetime of Mahomet ; but it was settled in its present form 
within twenty years of his death. Separate chapters or smaller Formation of 
fragments were written down, by followers who happened to be *^® *®^*- 
present when he first recited them, upon palm-leaves, leather, stones, or 
anything else that was at hand. Abdallah and Zeid the son of Thabil 
were among his amanuenses. Copies were afterwards made, and many 
Moslems learnt to recite large portions by heart ; but no completed collection 
of them, apparently, was kept by Mahomet. After his death, when msmj 
who knew much of the Koran had fallen in battle, Omar feared that the 
whole might be forgotten, and induced Abu Bekr to have a collection of 
copies made. Zeid was charged with this duty, and he made a fair copy of 
all he could obtain, which passed through the first two caliphs to Haphsa, 
one of Mahomet's widows, Omar's daughter. But disputes arose as to the 
true text, and Othman in 650-1 ordered Zeid with three others to make an 
authoritative text ; they took care to accomplish this, burning all discordant 
texts besides their own and that which Haphsa possessed. The latter however 
was soon destroyed, and thus we have not to consider conflicting versions 
of the Koran. That the chapters as we now have them are substantially 
authentic is suggested by the language, and by the mixture of subjects in the 
chapters, no designed order being discernible in them. There are but a few 
passages existing which purport to have been originally in the Koran and 
rejected by Zeid. Four copies were made of the Koran, one of which was 
kept at Medina, and one sent to each of the three (at that time) important 
Moslem cities of Damascus, Basra, and Cufa. At present there is no likeli- 
hood that any one of them exists ; but copies probably dating from the first 
century after the flight are known. 

We will first endeavour to set forth the chief doctrines about God 
and divine things, and then the chief moral precepts of the Koran. It opens 
with the famous short chapter which for the Moslem answers to the Lord's 
Prayer. It runs thus : 

527 



528 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

" In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful. Praise belongs 

to God, the Lord of the worlds, the Merciful, the Compassionate, the Ruler 

The general of the day of judgment. Thee we worship and Thee we ask for 

prayer. ^-^^^ Direct US in the right way, the way of those to whom Thou 

art gracious, not of those Thou art angry with, nor of those who err." 

It cannot be said that Mahomet here expresses ideas unknown before 
his time, or which he is not likely to have heard from others, especially the 
Teaciimg Jews. The term " the Merciful " is directly a Jewish word. 
atooutGod. rp-j^^ chapter (112) on unity directly resembles the Christian 
statement of the doctrine : " Sa}^, He is God alone, God the Eternal. He 
begets and is not begotten ; nor is there like unto Him any one.'' Accord- 
ing to the Koran, "Allah is eternal and everlasting, one and indivisible, 
not endued with form, nor circumscribed by limit or measure ; compre- 
hending all things, but comprehended of nothing" : here again thoroughly 
agreeing with Jewish and Christian belief. There are ninety-nine principal 
epithets or names applied to God, expressing most of His attri- 
*butes, as the Merciful, the Compassionate, the Holy, the Faithful, 
the Creator, the Forgiver, the Provider, the Knowing, the Judge, the Seer, 
the Strengthener, the Wise, the Answerer of Prayer, the Loving, the Living, 
the One, the First, the Last, the Avenger, etc. : here again furnishing 
nothing new to Christians, however new they may have been to the Arabs 
to whom Mahomet made them known. 

A concise summary of the teaching of the Koran is found in ii. 172. 
" Righteousness is not that ye turn your faces towards the east or the west; 
Righteous- ^^^ righteousness is, one who believes in God, and the last day, 
ness defined. ^-^^ \)^q angels, and the Book, and the prophets ; and who gives 
wealth for the love of God to kindred, and orphans, and the poor, and the 
wayfarer, anel beggars, and those in captivity, and who is steadfast in 
prayer, and gives alms ; and those who are sure of their covenant when 
they make a covenant ; and the patient in poverty, and in distress, and in 
time of violence." 

It is expressly stated (vi. 101) that God has no offspring, because He has 
no consort. Many passages describe Him as all-seeiug and knowing, and 
Nature of omnipotent and omnipresent. "No vision taketh in Him, but 
^°^' He taketh in all vision ; He is the subtle, the all-informed. He 
has created men, in order that they should worship Him." God is represented 
sometimes as creating both evil and good, and as creating evil spirits and 
men for hell ; but again men are assured that the evil that befalls them 
is of themselves. " God misleadeth whom He will, and guideth whom He 
will " (xxxv. 9). 

The creation is in 1. 37, as in Genesis, related to have been accomplished 

in six days, but in xli. 7, two days is the period assigned. There, is no 

Account of attempt at a detailed history of it, but as to the creation of 

creation. i^^Ji it is said, " God created you from earth (or dust), then 

from a clod, then He made pairs." In ii. 29 God is said to have taught 

Adam the names of all things and to have ordered the angels to worship 



THE KORAN AND ITS TEACHINGS. 



529 



Adam ; and tliey all did so except Eblis (Satan). A brief aceount of the 
temptation and fall is given, after which it is said that God relented towards 
Adam. This account is evidently an imperfect version of the account in 

Genesis. 
;' . ■ The Koran represents God as 

: attended b}^ angels, pure beings 
created from fire, neither 
eating nor drinking, nor 
having sexes. They ask forgiveness 
for the dwellers upon earth. Two 
angels are assigned to each human 



Angels. 




IXTEUIOR OF THE MOSQUE OF THE UOLY PUOVHET AT MEDINA. 



being, standing on his right and on his left, and recording all his actions. 
One angel, llhazwan (goodwill), presides over paradise, and another, Malik 
(compare Moloch), over hell. Two others perform the examination of per- 
.sons immediately after burial, allowing them to rest in peace if they confess 



530 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

that there is but one God, and that Mahomet is His prophet ; but if not, 
beating them very severely, and leaving them to be torn by dragons and 
serpents till the resurrection. Several archangels are named : Gabriel , 
Michael, Israfel (who is to sound the last trumpet), and Azrael, the angel 
of death. Much of the teaching about angels is evidently based on Jewish 
ibiis, orthe ideas. The idea of the devil, Iblis or Shaitan, is plainly an 
^^^^' adaptation from Jewish- Christian sources ; and the lack of any 
originality on the subject is made up for by giving many repetitions of 
the story that Iblis fell because he refused to worship Adam. The belief 
in the ginn or genii, — the evil kinds being termed " efreet," — has been 
sufficiently referred to. Mahomet is believed to have converted a tribe of 
them by his preaching, when returning from Taif. 

The descriptions of the Moslem paradise or heaven are famous for the 
sensual delights depicted; but they are not so elaborate and sensual in the 
The Moslem Koran as in the traditional sayings of the Prophet. It is com- 
Paradise. monly said that there are eight different heavens ; namely, the 
Garden of Eternity, the Abode of Peace, the Abode of Rest, the Gardens 
of Eden, the Gardens of Refuge, the Gardens of Delight, the Gardens of the 
Most High, and the Gardens of Paradise ; but they are nowhere mentioned 
at once, and may be taken as different descriptions of the same place. The 
following are some passages from the Koran relating to heaven: "Their 
reward for their patience shall be paradise and silken robes, reclining therein 
on bridal couches ; naught shall they know of sun or piercing cold ; its 
shades shall close over them, and low shall its fruits hang down ; and ves- 
sels of silver and goblets like flagons shall be borne round among them '^ 
(Ixxvi. 12). " Theirs shall be the houris with large, dark eyes, like pearls 
hidden in their shells, in recompense for their labours past. . . . Unfailing, 
unforbidden, and on soft couches and of a rare creation have we made the 
houris ; and we have made them ever virgins, dear to their spouses, and of 
equal age " (Ivi. 22-35). " Therein are rivers of water which corrupt not ; 
rivers of milk, whose taste changeth not ; and rivers of wine, delicious 
to those who drink it ; and rivers of clarified honey ; and therein are all 
kinds of fruit for them from their Lord " (xlvii. 16, 17). It is very note- 
worthy that the sensual descriptions of Paradise, and especially the passages 
referring to women, were nearly all included in the earlier series revealed 
at Mecca, when as yet Mahomet had only one wife, much senior to him ; 
while only two or three simple passages, describing the believers as having 
'• four wives," were promulgated at Medina. As regards the other promised 
delights. Professor Palmer well describes them as " an intense realisation 
of all that a dweller in a hot, parched, and barren land could desire ; namely, 
shade, water, fruit, rest, and pleasant companionship and service."' 

Hell is most frequently termed in the Koran " the Eire," also Gehen- 
num (the Jewish Gehenna). It is said to have seven portals and seven 

divisions: Gehenna, the purgatory for all Mahometans (xix. 72) ; 

Laza, the flaming fire ; Hutamah, the raging fire that splits every- 
thing to pieces ; Sair, the broiling fire ; Sagar, the scorching fire ; Jahim, 



THE KORAN AND ITS TEACHINGS. 531 

the fierce fire ; and Hawiyeli, the abyss. The second has been by the 
Moslem commentators assigned to Christians, the third to Jews, etc., without 
any authorit}^ from the Koran. The latter describes hell fire as " leaving 
naught, sparing naught, blackening the skin " ; over it preside nineteen 
angels. In Gehenna transgressors shall have no coolness nor any drink, 
save boiling water and running sores " (Ixxviii. 24, 25). We need not quote 
the details of torment which the Traditions attribute to the Prophet. 

The Koran teaches nothing very definite about the intermediate state 
between death and judgment, except as regards unbelievers; but j^termediats 
the good are supposed to rest in blissful unconsciousness. ^^^*®' 

The '• Last Day " is variously termed in the Koran the day of standing 
up, of separation, of reckoning, of awakening, of judgment, the encom- 
passing day, and the hour. This event is the subject of some of The Day 
the most poetical passages in the Koran. Thus: " Thinketh °^ '^^^^^®^*- 
man that we shall not reunite his bones ? Ay, his very finger tips are we 
able evenly to replace. . . . When the e3^e shall be dazzled, when the 
moon shall be darkened, and the sun and the moon shall be together, 

''• On that day man shall cry, Where is there a place to flee to ? But 
in vain ; there is no refuge : with thy Lord on that day shall be the sole 
asylum. 

" On that day shall man be told of all that he hath done first and last : 
yea, a man shall be the eye-witness against himself" (Ixxv.). 

Again : '• Surely among delights shall the righteous dwell, but verily 
the impure in hell-fire. They shall be burned at it on the day of doom, 
and they shall not be able to hide themselves from it. Who shall teach 
thee what the day of doom is ? It is a day when one soul shall be power- 
less for another soul : all sovereignty on that day shall be with God " 
(Ixxxii.) Further details will be given in dealing with present-day beliefs of 
the Mahometans. 

The prophets recognised in the Koran are, in addition to Jesus and 
Mahomet, all Jewish; namely, Adam, the Chosen of God; Noah, the Preacher 
of God ; Abraham, the Friend of God ; Moses, the Converser 
with God ; Jacob, Joseph, and Job. A number of others are men- 
tioned. All these are said to have received inspired books, but they are 
superseded by the Koran. A very much adapted account of Moses and his 
doings occupies considerable portions of the Koran. 

Jesus, a "Spirit from God," the "Prophet of God," the "Servant of God," 
the Word of Truth, is presented in the Koran as a Divine being, but not the 
Son of God, for "God could not take to Himself a Son." Yet the Attitude 
miraculous conception of Jesus, the annunciation of the Virgin towards Jesus. 
Mary, and the sinlessness of Jesus are taught. Jesus is described as the 
greatest miracle-worker of all the prophets, and there is an account of His 
calling a furnished table down from heaven, to become a recurring festival 
and sign. This may be really a notion derived from the Communion as 
celebrated by the early Christians. The mission of Jesus is thus mentioned, 
the speaker being supposed to be God Himself : " We gave Him the evangel, 



532 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

and we put into the hearts of those who followed Him kindness and 
compassion." His crucifixion, and His return to Grod are mentioned, with 
this singularity, that the Jews did not crucify Him in reality, but only '• His 
likeness," God having taken Him up to Himself: this being the belief of 
not a few early Christians. Jesus is represented in the Koran as denying 
His own divinity, and threatening with hell-fire those who associate 
aught with God. The doctrine of the Trinity is specifically denied • but it 
would appear that Mahomet imagined that the Christian Trinity consisted 
of the Father, the Son, and the Virgin. The Koran does not refer speci- 
fically to the second coming of Jesus, but the traditions about the Prophet 
speak of him as describing this event as a very material affair ; thev also 
represent Jesus as now existing in one of the heavens. 

Predestination is one of the primary teachings of the Koran — a doc- 
trine that has become a most disastrous and paralysing fatalism for very 
Pre- many Mahometans. Nothing can happen to us but what God 
■ destination, j^^s fixed. God misleads whom He will. None can die except 
by His decree. Many are decreed to err and to enter hell. These doctrines 
are still more freely set forth in the traditions about Mahomet. 

Idols and idolatry naturally form a prominent subject of denunciation 
in the Koran. The nothingness of idols is brought out in passages remind- 
Idolatry ^^S ^^ ^^ well-known passages in the Psalms and prophets, 
and idolaters, though much inferior to the Old Testament gems. In iv. 51, 
after the destruction of the Meccan idols, we read, ^' Verily God will not 
forgive the union of other gods with Himself. . . . And he who uniteth 
gods with God hath devised a great wickedness." Idolaters were then 
strictly forbidden to enter the sacred temple at Mecca. The forgiveness 
of idolaters might not be prayed for, even by their kin, and the example 
of Abraham was alleged in support of this. With all this denunciation 
of idolatry, Mahomet retained the black stone as an object of reverence 
and also several rites, such as the " runnings to and fro," and "stonings of 
pillars," which were connected with previous idolatrous worship (see later 
p. 560). 

Unbelievers who deny a future life and judgment are admonished that 
they are destined for torment. " Lost now are they who deny a meeting 
^with God, until, when the hour cometh suddenly upon them, they say, 'Oh 
woe to us for past negligence of this hour ! ' And they shall bear their bur- 
dens on their back. Will not that be evil which they shall carry ?" They 
will abide in fire for ever. Believers are exhorted not to form intimacies 
among unbelievers, for they long to corrupt them. Those who become infi- 
dels after having believed are denounced as unpardonable offenders. 

Coming now to the practical duties of Moslem believers, they ma^^ be 

summed up in the one word which most fitly represents Mahometanism, — 

Islam, resignation to the will of God, '' To God are we resigned." 

Islam is said to have been the religion of all the prophets before 

Mahomet. Those who profess this religion are Muslims or Moslems, Musal- 

inans being the Persian form of the original Arabic word. 



THE KORAN AND ITS TEACHINGS. 533 

The five principal elements of Islam as enjoined in the Koran are : (1) 
Belief in the one Grod, and in Mahomet as His prophet ; (2) Reciting the 
daily prayers ; (3) Giving the legal alm.s ; (4) Observing the fast of 
Ramadan ; (5) Making a pilgrimage to Mecca once during life. 
The creed (Kelimah) as such does not occur in the Koran ; but the first part 
of it, " There is no god but God," is in xlvii. 21 ; and the second part, 
" Mahomet is the apostle of God," is in xlviii. 29; but the whole often occurs 
in the Traditions about Mahomet. 

Prayer is often enjoined in the Koran, but the five daily prayer-times 
are not mentioned in any one passage. Thus : " Glorify God when it is 
evening, and at morning, — and to Him be praise in the heavens 
and earth, — and at afternoon and at noontide." The evening 
pra3^er is regarded as including both that before sunset and after sunset. 
The traditions relate that Mahomet received instructions during his ascent 
to heaven to recite prayers five times a day, having by prayer reduced the 
requirement from fifty to five. The details of modern Moslem prayers we 
shall describe later. 

The fast of Ramadan (or Ramazan), the ninth month of the Mahometan 
year, is expressly enjoined in ii. 179-184. The fast is prescribed " that ye 
may fear God for certain days." It is not to be kept by those who The fast of 
are ill or on a journey, but they must fast the same number of i^amadan. 
other days. The fast is to be kept by day only ; and eating and drinking 
are allowed after dark until the earliest dawn. The first observation of the 
new moon of the month is to be the beginning of the fast. Tradition 
ascribes to Mahomet the saying, that during Ramadan " the gates of 
paradise are open and the gates of hell are shut, and the devils are chained 
by the leg, and that only those who observe it will be permitted to enter at 
the gate of heaven called Raiyan." On one particular night in this month, 
believed to be the twenty-seventh, the Koran is said to have been revealed, 
and to have come down in one volume to the lowest heaven, from whence it 
was revealed to Mahomet in portions by the archangel Gabriel. This is 
called the night of power : " Herein descend the angels and the spirit by 
permission of their Lord in every matter, and all is peace till the breaking 
of the morn" (xcvii.). Two sayings in the Tradition are worthy of note : "If 
a keeper of fast does not abandon lying, God cares not about his leaving off 
eating and drinking " ; " There are many keepers of fast who gain nothing 
by fasting but thirst, and there are many risers up at night and performers 
of prayers who gain nothing by their rising but wakefulness." 

The duty of almsgiving is often enjoined in the Koran. '' Zakat," or 
the legal alms, literally purification, expresses a portion of property given as 
a sanctification of the rest. It is paid separately upon different . . 

kinds of property that have been at least one year in possession 
of an adult ; but not upon the necessaries of life, slaves employed in service, 
books, craftmen's tools, etc. These alms may be paid to an appointed collec- 
tor, or given independently to the poor and needy, to slaves and debtors, for 
the service of God in religious warfare, or to travellers. Alms beyond this 



534 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

are called Sadaqali, that wliich manifests rigliteousness. Cheerful givers 
of well-gotten wealth are highly praised, and promised repayment by God. 
Among the traditional sayings attributed to Mahomet are these : " The 
upper hand is better than the lower one. The upper hand is the giver of 
alms and the lower hand is the poor beggar " ; " The best of alms are those 
given by a man of small means, who gives of that which he has earned by 
labour, and gives as much as he is able " ; " Doing justice between two 
people is alms ; assisting a man on his beast is alms ; good words are alms." 
The holy pilgrimage QiaH or liad]) to Mecca is thus commanded (xxii. 
28) : " Proclaim to the peoples a pilgrimage. Let them come to thee on 
The holy foot and on every fleet camel, arriving by every deep defile : that 
pUgrimage. they may bear witness of its benefits to them, and make mention 
of God's name on the appointed days over the brute beasts with which He 
hath supplied them for sustenance : and let them pay their vows and cir- 
cuit the ancient house." Numerous regulations are given as to the time 
and conduct of the pilgrimage. The actual mode of its observance we will 
give in a later chapter. 

As regards general moral duties, the Koran is explicit. Parents are to 

be kindly treated, especially in old age, spoken to respectfully, deferred to 

Parents and humbly. Only if they desire to draw their children away to 

chUdren. idolatry, they must not be obeyed. A murderer is accounted 

worthy of hell. " Whosoever slayeth a believer purposely, his reward is 

hell " (iv. 95) ; further, " It is incumbent on you to exercise vengeance for 

Murder murder " (ii. 173), but the heir or next of kin may pardon or com- 

and theft, pound the offence. Theft, when property is taken out of proper 

custody in a secret manner, is punishable by the amputation of a hand, 

according to v. 42, '' If a man or woman steal, cut off their hands." As 

to offences against chastity, the Koran is severe ; immoral persons whose 

guilt is proved are to receive a hundred stripes ; guilty persons, if married, 

were at first shut up in their houses (iv. 19) ; later they were stoned to 

Divorce and death, according to a tradition that Mahomet ordained it. But a 

concubinag-e. practically unlimited right of concubinage was permitted, both 

by Mahomet's example and by Koranic precept. Thus, " Unlawful to you 

are married women, except such as your right hand possesses," i.e. those 

taken in war, or slaves (iv. 28) ; but free Mahometan women might not be 

taken as concubines. While not allowing to men generally the same 

licence as to the Prophet himself, the Koran permits marriage with four 

,^ . wives : '' If women seem 2:ood in your eyes, marry two, or three, 

or four"; and a verse can even be produced (iv. 27) apparently 

sanctioning merely temporary marriages. Marriage was enjoined on every 

Moslem. Some of the sayings on marriage attributed to Mahomet are : 

*' Marry women who will love their husbands and be very prolific, for I 

wish you to be more numerous than any other people." " When a Moslem 

marries, he perfects half his religion ; and he should practise abstinence 

for the remaining half." "When any. of you wishes to demand a woman 

in marriage, if he can arrange it, let him see her first." '' A woman ripe 



THE KORAN AND ITS TEACHINGS. 535 

in years shall have her consent asked in marriage ; and if she remain 
silent her silence is her consent, and if she refuse she shall not be married 
by force.*' No definite religions ceremony of marriage is prescribed. The 
Koran prohibits marriage between near relatives, including cousins, between 
foster-relatives, between parents and step-children ; and a man may not 
marry his wife's sister during her lifetime, unless the first married be 
divorced. 

Severe subjection is the position assigned to wives in the Koran. Thus 
we read : ''' Chide those whose refractoriness ye have cause to fear. Remove 
them into sleeping chambers apart, and beat them." "When a Position of 
man calls his wife, she must come, though she be at an oven." wives. 
But there are numerous passages enjoining that wives should be treated 
with kindness, and extolling the happiness of marriage with an amiable and 
beautiful wife. And it must be admitted that the Koran elevates woman 
considerably beyond her previous position in Arabia, which was that of a 
mere chattel, passing with the estate of husband and father, so that a son 
frequentl}^ married the wives of his deceased father as of right. A number 
of passages in the Koran speak of men and women as equal in regard to 
their religious duties and ultimate blessedness. They are to be treated with 
equity ; but men are acknowledged to be superior to women on account of 
various natural gifts. 

The Koran allows divorce on grounds of aversion ; the divorced woman 
must be generously treated and must not remarry till four months are past. 

Our previous quotations have given comparatively little indication of the 
elevated, rhetorical, and impassioned style of much of the Koran. Rhetorical 
The following quotations will illustrate this : — passages. 

" "When the heaven is cleft asunder, and when the stars are scattered, 
when the seas gush together, and when the tombs are turned upside down, 
the soul shall know what it has sent on or kept back. 

" man, what has seduced thee concerning thy generous Lord, who 
created thee and fashioned thee and gave thee symmetry, and in what 
form He pleased composed thee ? Verily the righteous are in pleasure and 
the wicked are in hell ; they shall broil therein upon the judgment day, nor 
shall they be absent therefrom (Ixxxii.). 

" Blessed be He in whose hand is the kingdom, for He is mighty over 
all : Who created death and life, to try you, which of you does best ; for He 
is the might}' , the forgiving ! who created seven heavens in storeys : thou 
canst not see any discordance in the creation of the Merciful." 

There is a singular analogy between the following and Christ's parable 
of the ten virgins. " On the day when the hypocrites, men and women, 
shall say to those who believe, ' Wait for us that we may kindle at your 
light,' it will be said, * Get ye back and beg a light.' And there shall be 
struck out between them a wall with a door ; within it shall be mercy, and 
outside before it torment. They shall cry out to them, ' We were not with 
you!' They shall sa}', 'Yea, but ye did tempt yourselves, and did wait, and 
did doubt : and your vain hopes beguiled you ; and the beguiler beguiled you 



536 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

about God. Wherefore to-day there shall not be taken from you a ransom ^ 
nor from those who misbelieved. Your resort is the fire"; it is your sovereign ^ 
and an ill journey will it be." Those who desire further quotations of this 
kind must be referred to translations of the Koran. 

It is singular how few aphoristic sentences, proverbs, or gems of moral 
truth are to be found in the book. Apart from its claim of inspiration, it 
structure of ranks by no means high as to literary form. It is a mixture of 
Koran, longer and shorter chapters, some including a great many subjects, 
almost unconnected in many cases. Mahomet does not appear to have 
written anything down himself ; and some at least of his passages seem to 
have been the outpouring of uncontrollable excitement, giving the greatest 
show of probable " inspiration." Dr. Noldeke, one of the best authorities on 
the Koran, says [Encycloixedia Britannica^ xvi. 598) , ' We must bear in mind 
that he (Mahomet) was no cold systematic thinker, but an Oriental visionary, 
brought up in crass superstition, and without intellectual discipline ; a m.an 
whose nervous temperament had been powerfully worked on by ascetic 
austerities, and who was all the more irritated by the opposition he en- 
countered, because he had little of the heroic in his nature. Filled with his 
religious ideas and visions, he might well fancy he heard the angel bidding 
him recite what was said to him. There may have been many a revelation 
of this kind which no one ever heard but himself, as he repeated it to 
himself in the silence of the night (Ixxiii. 4). Indeed, the Koran itself 
admits that he forgot soiyie revelations (Ixxxvii. 7). But by far the greatest 
part of the book is undoubtedly the result of deliberation, touched more or 
less with emotion, and animated by a certain rhetorical rather than poetical 
glow." With the exception of the word " undoubtedly," the foregoing 
passage is perhaps near the truth. It is quite evident in reading the Koran 
that numerous passages contradict or repeat one another ; and the abro- 
gation of certain passages or the alteration of their effect by subsequent 
revelations may be taken as proof of the lack of justification for the idea of 
infallible inspiration of the Koran ; but of course this presents no difficulty 
to the Moslem, for to him Grod is a being who can and does change His 
edicts at pleasure, and who might prescribe opposite things in succession 
if it pleased Him. 

One of the most singular evidences of Mahomet's lack of literary percep- 
tion is furnished by his delineation of the old prophets, who are in effect 
duplicates of Mahomet himself. " They preach exactly like him, 
of old they have to bring the very same charges against their opponents, 
prop e s. ^-j^^ ^^ their part behave exactly like the unbelieving inhabitants 
of Mecca " (N.). Mahomet further shows his ignorance of the Jewish scrip- 
tures by his mistakes, such as naming Haman minister of Pharaoh, making 
the fertility of Egypt depend on rain, and not on the Nile. We will not 
further pursue the literary analysis of the Koran, being concerned here 
chiefly with its religious import. 

Although it is by no means arranged in chrQnological order, it is very 
possible to nrnrk out most of the chapters of the Koran, according as they 



THE KORAN AND ITS TEACHINGS. 537 

were delivered at Mecca before the flight or at Medina ; and they have still 
further been subdivided into six sets characterising different chronological 
periods. In the earliest, while the Prophet was still meditating sequence, 
on evil and the terrors of the Last Day, his style is more poetic, fragmentary^ 
and impassioned, with brief sentences and rapidly changing rhymes. To 
this period belongs the Moslem prayer which opens the Koran. With these 
are some most vivid pictures of hell and the judgment. A second series 
marks the opening phases of the Prophet's ministry ; in one chapter, when 
Mahomet has been bidding his clan accept the truth, Abu Laheb exclaims, 
" Perdition to you ! " and in answer the Prophet curses him and his wife 
(cxi.). The later Meccan chapters deal largely with the same subjects 
which had been dealt with more briefly in earlier ones, with the addition of 
many narratives from the Jewish Scriptures and Rabbinical and Arab 
legends. " A sermonising tone predominates. The suras are very edifying 
for one who is already reconciled to their import ; but to us at least they do 
not seem well fitted to carry conviction to the minds of unbelievers. . . . 
In reality these longer Meccan suras appear to have been peculiarly influen- 
tial for the propagation of Islam " (N.). The Medina chapters are mostly 
connected with some definite historical event, or some circumstance which 
called forth the particular revelation. " At one time it is a summons to do 
battle for the faith ; at another, a series of reflections on recently-experienced 
success or misfortune, or a rebuke for their weak faith, or an exhortation to 
virtue. He often addresses himself to the doubters, some of whom vacillate 
between faith and unbelief; others make a pretence of faith, while others 
scarcely take the trouble even to do that. ... A part of the Medina 
pieces consists of formal laws belonging to the ceremonial, civil, and criminal 
codes, or directions about certain temporary compUcations. The most 
objectionable parts of the whole Koran are those which treat of Mahomet's 
relations with women" (N.). We must not omit to state that the Koran 
bears testimony to itself in more than one emphatic passage ; thus, " If men 
and genii were assembled together that they might produce a book like the 
Koran, they must fail " (xvii. 90). 

As regards miracles, the Koran does not assert that Mahomet worked 
tliem, and only a few which are incredible have been attributed to him by 
his followers. In xxlx. 49, we read, " They say. Why are not 
signs sent down to him from his Lord ? Say, signs are in the 
power of God alone, and I am only an open warner." In xvii. 92-97, where 
the unbelievers are represented as asking for miracles, Mahomet is directed 
to say, " Praise be to my Lord. Am I more than a man, and an apostle? " 
Mahometan commentators refer to the cleaving of the moon (liv.), the assist- 
ance of angels at the battle of Bedr (iii.), the night- journey to heaven (xvii.), 
and the revelation of the Koran itself as miracles recorded in the Koran. 
And indeed the reverence with which Mohammedans regard the Reverence 
Koran corresponds with this belief. *' They dare not touch it for Koran, 
without being first washed and purified, and they read it with the greatest 
care and respect, neVer holding it below their girdles. They swear by it, 



538 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

consult it on all occasions, carry it with them to war, write sentences of it on 
their banners, suspend it from their necks as a charm, and always place it 
on the highest shelf or some place of honour in their houses." Whatever 
defects we find in the Koran, it made Arabic a literary language, it has 
influenced the belief and conduct of countless millions of men, and it is at 
this day reverenced and obeyed by an increasing number of persons.^ 

The Koran was first printed in Arabic at Rome in 1530, but was either 

burned or remained unpublished. In 1649 an edition was published at 

. Hamburg, and there have been several subsequent editions. The 

Mahometans themselves have issued versions, interlinear with the 
original, in Persian, Pushto, Urdu, Turkish, and numerous other languages. 
A translation of the Koran into Latin was made in 1143 for Peter, the Abbot 
of Cluny, but was not published till 1543 at Basle. This version was after- 
wards further translated into Italian, German, and Dutch. The first French 
translation was done in 1547 ; this was translated into English in 1649-1688. 
The well-known English translation by Sale appeared in 1734. The Eev. 
J. M. Rodwell published a translation into English in 1861, distinguished 
by the arrangement of the chapters in their supposed chronological order. 
Palmer's translation (1880) is more literal and less elegant. 

Commentaries in Arabic upon the Koran were made very early, and 
probably the Commentary of Tabari (839-923) contains much of their sub- 
stance. Thousands of commentaries have since been written, 

' and many of them are most important aids to understanding 
obscure passages. There are many other Arabic works connected with the 
Koran, its spelling and pronunciation, its beauties, the number of its verses 
and letters, etc. The devotion of Moslems to their sacred book is natural 
when we consider that they believe it to have been eternally existent and 
uncreated in the Divine thought. 

^ Kodwell's Koran ; Palmer's Koran (" Sacred Books of the East," vols. 6, 9). Hughes, " Dic- 
tionary of Islam," — Encijclopadia Britannica, vol. 17, Art. "Mohammedanism," section, "Koran," 
by Dr. Noldeke. "Islam," Quarterly lieview, vol. 127, by E. Deutsch, 





MOSQUE 0? AHMED KHIAGA AND MARKET PLACE, AT BAGDAD. 



CHAPTER YI. 

The First Caliphs— The Ommyads— The death of Hosain— The Abhaside caliphs— Harun-al-Raschid— 
The Fatimite dynasty— Caliphs in Spain— Saladin— Fall of Bagdad— Various Sultanatas— San- 
nit33 and Shiites— Distribution and numbers— Various Sects— Motazilites—Jabarites—Kharijites 
— Malikites— Hanifites— Shaflites— Hanbalites— The Ulema— Imams— Extra-Koranic beliefs— The 
exalted name of God— The essence of the Deity— Sins— Mahometan oaths— Abstinence— Restric- 
tions on eating'-Ablution— Public prayer— The sermon— Circumcision— Marriage— Divorce — 
Concubinage— Slaves— Death— Burial— Funeral processions— The immediate fate of the soul- 
Mosques— Endo-wment and government— The Sacred Mosque at Mecca— The Sacred Hajj, or pil- 
grimage—The Prophet's Mosque at Medina— The Mosque of Omar— The Dome of the Rock— Great 
mosque at Damascus— The Mosque of Cordova— Mosques and tombs at Cairo— St. Sophia at Con- 
stantinople—Indian mosques and tombs— The Jummoo Musjid at Delhi— The Taj Mehal. 

INASMUCH as tlie religion of Maliomefc speedily became inextricably 
mingled with political historj^, in accordance with the injunctions 
frequently repeated in the chapters of the Koran revealed at Medina, to 
spread Islam by the sword, we shall but briefly refer to its historical advance, 
both because it is better dealt with in works of general history, and because 
we are principally concerned with marked developments in its religious 
aspect. 

Islam was consolidated in Arabia by means of the wars which at once 
arose after Mahomet's death, to secure the predominance of the Caliphate, 
and the wars of extension by which it was successively or The First 
simultaneously earned into Syria, Persia, and Egypt. The Gos- ^a^P^is. 
pel of Christ was in these lands for a time overwhelmed ; and the people, 
who had but slightly assimilated it, readily threw it off at the bidding 



540 THE WORLD'S RELIGIOAS. 

of their conquerors. The names of Abu-bekr (632-634), Omar (634-644), 
Othman (644-656), and Ali (656-661), the first four caliphs, are mainly- 
associated with this rapid career of conquest, Omar especially having 
consolidated the Arabian State at Medina. At the beginning of his reign 
he uttered a sentence which has become famous : " By God, he that is 
Aveakest among you shall be in my sight the strongest, until I have vindi- 
cated for him his rights ; but him that is strongest will I treat as the weak- 
est, until he complies with the laws." 

By a strange stroke of fate, the family of the Koreish which furnished 

the leader, Omayya, in the battle of Ohod, and to which one of Mahomet's 

Tii3 most violent opponents, Abu Sofyan, belonged, gave rise to the 

ommyads. great Ommyad line of Caliphs, which lasted from Othman's 

murder in 661 to the death of Merwan II. in 750. Moawiya, the first of 

the line, made Damascus his capital ; his religion, like that of most of his 

successors, became largely subservient to his political aims. Long war raged 

between them and the adherents of All's descendants, the cousin of Mahomet 

and husband of Fatima, the only child who survived him. The Ommj^ads 

plundered Medina, took Mecca, and burnt the Kaaba, which,' however, was 

The death of '^^'^^ rebuilt. The slaughter of Hosain, the son of Ali, on the 

Hosain. 10th Moharram (Oct.) 680, at Kerbela, has given rise to one of 
the most sacredly observed festivals in certain Mohammedan countries. 
Early in the eighth century the power of the Ommyads had extended to 
the borders of China, over North Africa, and all Spain. Before 720, the 
Abbaside movement had arisen, named from Abbas the paternal uncle of 
Mahomet. His descendants enjoyed the greatest consideration among the 
Moslems, and on All's son's death remained nearest of kin to the Prophet. 
The Ommyad Caliphs, however, insulted them so shamefully that they 
conceived the idea of supplanting the ruling dynasty, and allied to them- 
selves Ah's party, b}^ giving out that one of his descendants had appointed 
an Abbaside, Mohammed, his heir. The advance of the Moslems into 
Europe was now first checked by Charles Martel in 732, who defeated Abd- 
el-Rahman near Poitiers, and afterwards drove the invaders back into 
Spain. 

Various provinces of the Arab Empire broke away and set up for them- 
selves. The Ommyad dynasty fell in 750, and Abu '1-Abbas became 
The Abhaside Caliph at Cufa on the Euphrates. The establishment of the dy- 

caiiphs. i-^asty cost, it is said, 600,000 lives. The next caliph, Mansur, 
transferred his capital to Bagdad, which was long the most famous Moslem 
city. Meanwhile Africa and Spain revolted from the power of the Abbasides, 

Harun-ai- ^^^ they made great progress in Asia Minor. The most cele- 

Raschid. brated Eastern caliph, Harun-al-Easchid (786-809), was deVoted 
in his religious duties, especially in pilgrimage, and attempted to secure 
the succession to the Caliphate to his thtee sons in order, by a deed which 
he hung up in the Kaaba, which, however, his eldest son destroyed, and 
in consequence lost his crown and his life five years after his accession. 
The second son of Harun, Maimun, after a stormy beginning, led a life 



542 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



of literary ease, encouraged autliors, and set himself to overthrow the 

widespread doctrine that the Koran was the uncreated word of God ; and 

his successor continued the same policy. From their time the power of 

the Eastern Caliphate declined. Razi (934-940) was the last Caliph who 

The Fatimite led praj^ers and preached to the people. In 910 the Fatimite 

dynasty, cjynasty was founded in Egypt, by Obaid Allah, surnamed the 

Mahdi, '' the directed one," hence fit to guide others, and assuming to be a 

descendant of Fatimah, and consequently entering into the rights of Ali. 

Caliphs The empire of the Fatimites lasted in Egypt and North Africa 

in Spain. \]^ 1171. The Ommyad Caliphs of Cordova, in Spain, maintained 

their rule from 755 to 1236, and the Moorish Caliphs, or Sultans, of Granada 

held sway from 1238 to 1492. 

Meanwhile the Crusades had contributed greatly to the decline of 
the Eastern Caliphate. At first the Arab conquerors of Palestine, in the 
.pj^g seventh century, allowed Christian pilgrims to Jerusalem to build 
Crusades. ^ cliurch and a hospital. Under the Fatimite Caliphs, who con- 
quered Palestine and Syria in the tenth century, the position of Chris- 
tians was less favourable. In 1065 the Seljuk Turks from the Caucasus, 
new converts to Islam, overrunning Palestine, committed great atrocities 
on Christians. This resulted in the first Crusade, which was successful in 
wresting Syria, Palestine, and much of Asia Minor from the Mahometans 
(1099). But this dominion was practically won back by Saladin, 
a Kurdish chieftain who had made himself Sultan of Egypt, and 
the Christians remained free to make pilgrimages to Jerusalem exempt 
from taxation. A still more formidable enemy to the Caliphs, however, 
approached from the north and east, in the person of Jenghiz Khan and 
' Fauof the Mongols. Finally Hulaga, the Mongol sovereign, took Bag- 
Bagdad, (^ad in 1258, and destroyed the Eastern Caliphate. Before this, 
however, governor after governor of dependent provinces had become 
Various practically independent ; and hence we find one power at Kairwan, 
sultanates. \^ Tripoli, another in Fez (Morocco), another in Khorasan, and 
others in various parts of India. The Ottoman Turks set up their dynasty 
in Constantinople in 1299, and it still continues. 

In giving an account of modern Islam, we must first direct attention to 
the two predominant and hostile divisions into which it is divided, and 
sunnites and which date back to the early times of the Caliphate. The Sun- 
shiites. j^ites, followers of the Tradition or path (Sunnah), acknowledge 
the first four caliphs as rightful successors of Mahomet, and accept the 
six " authentic " books of tradition, in addition to the Koran, as the 
guide of faith and conduct. This does not imply that the Shiites, the 
other great division, reject the Traditions, but the Sunnites have appropri- 
ated the name ; while the Shiites, or " followers "of Ali, reject the right of 
the first four caliphs as true successors of the Prophet, and reckon Ali, 
Mahomet's cousin, as the first true imam or caliph. They call themselves 
the true believers, and are also known as the imamiyahs, believing that 
Islam consists in knowledge of the rightful imam. They have traditions 



MODERN ISLAM. 



543 



of the nomination of Ali to succeed liim by Mahomet, and believe that 
special revelations were made to Fatima, Ali's wife, which were inherited 
by the last imam, the Mahdi. They recognise in all twelve imams, includ- 
ing Ali, his sons Hasan and Hosain, Ali son of Hosain, and seven of his 
descendants, the last, Mohammed, the so-called Mahdi, or Director, being 
supposed to be still alive, though withdrawn from sight, to reappear in the 
last days, according to the Prophet's prediction. 

The Sunnites are the 
majority in Arabia, Turkey, 
North Africa, In- ^. , .^ ,. 

-, . mi Distribution 

dia, iurkestan, and 
Afghanistan, and ^^^^'"^• 
Eastern Asia, and in all the}^ 
number something like 150 
millions ; while the Shiites 
are most numerous in Persia 
and in India, though scat- 
tered here and there through- 
out Islam. They are variously 
estimated at between ten and 
twenty millions. Besides 
these, there are the Abadiyeh 
of Oman and Zanzibar, and 
the Zirdites of Yemen, esti- 
mated by Mr. Blunt at four 
and two millions respec- 
tively, and the Wahhabis in 
Nejd and some other regions, 
said to number eight millions. 
Consequently the followers of 
Mahomet at the present day 
cannot be reckoned fewer 
than 175 millions. 

Besides the existent 
sects, we may mention among 
those of the past, 

-1^ PIT p Various sects, 

the followers of 

Hasan of Basra, in the first 

century of Islam, who set 




INTERIOR OF A MOSQUE, CAIUO, 
(S?iou)i(i3 ih.e 'Pxxlp'd am{ t/ie Kiblah). 



himself to settle dogmatic difficulties which the Koran left unsolved. One 
of hi^s disciples, Wasil, founded the sect of the Motazilites (dissentient), 
or Karlarites, recognising man's power (kadar) over his own 
actions, in contradistinction to the orthorlox view of predestina- ^°*^^'*^"- 
tion. Wasil denied the eternity of the attributes of God, reasoning that 
if they were eternal, they constituted so many independent deities. Wasil 
objected to predestination, that it was incompatible with the belief in future 



544 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

rewards and punisliments ; lie also admitted a purgatory. Another sect, the 

Jabarites, agreed with the Motazilites as to the attributes of God, 

Jd.'bsirltBs . . ' 

but maintained the most uncompromising view of predestination, 

denying to man the slightest share in shaping his own conduct. Somewhat 
like the Calvinists, they believed that every man was predestined to heaven 
or hell, and, more consistent than the Calvinists, they denied human responsi- 
bility. A third sect, the Sifatites, partisans of the attributes, interpreted 
the Koranic accounts of God literally, and were gross anthropomorphists. 

Another form of dissent from the Koran and its orthodox upholders 
arose in the middle of the seventh century, among the partisans of Ali. 
It refused to acknowledge the exclusive right of the Koreish to 
furnish a Caliph ajid Imam to Islam, and maintained that the 
origin of the leader of the faithful was a matter of indifference, if he did 
his duty well. This sect, known as the Kharijites, were truer followers of 
Mahomet than the orthodox ; they held that a man was responsible for 
his actions, in spite of predestination, and that a great sinner could not be 
a good Moslem. They were ultimately suppressed in Asia, but long con- 
tinued to have much influence in northern Africa. These sects, together 
with the Shiites, subsequently described, were the ^' protestants " to whom, 
by antagonism, much of the character of Mohammedan orthodoxy is due. 

The Sunnis are divided into four principal sects, the Malikites, Hanifites, 
Shafiites, and Hanbalites ; named after their founders, Malik, Abu Hanifa, 
Shafii, and Ibn Hanbal. These were all established under the 
Abbaside Caliphs, and really differ comparatively little from 
one another. The first great collection of the traditions of Mahomet was 
made by Malik, at Medina, in the eighth century. These he regarded as 
superseding human judgment. Abu Hanifa, his contemporary, who died 
at Bagdad in 770, eclipsed him in fame, being the main pillar of the deduc- 
tive method, which undertook to create precedents in Moslem 
law by analogy, in agreement with the spirit of the Koran, the 
Tradition, and the decisions of the first four caliphs. His system, known as 
the Hanifite law, is the most followed of any. Shafii (born 770), a descen- 
dant of the Prophet's grandfather, a pupil of Malik, founded an intermediate 
„, ^.x system between the deductive and the traditional. One of his 
pupils, Ibn Hanbal, founded the fourth orthodox sect, which was 
a kind of puritanism, aiming at restoring the primitive purity of religious 
H bai't observances. His followers are now comparatively few, though 
it is alleged that the Wahhabis represent the spirit of his teaching. 
Moslem orthodoxy has become fixed within narrow limits, and does 
QOt vary much from century to century or from place to place. Its dis- 
cussions and learning are confined to a narrow kind of scholasticism, 
„^ , analogous to that of the Middle Kw^ schoolmen. Even more than 
in the Roman Catholic Church, the believers are in the hands of 
a clergy, the ulema^ or knowers (singular alim) , who, without being endued 
with any temporal power, and without having any ordination or apostolical 
succession, constitute a spiritual hierarchy of despotic power and enormous 



MODERN ISLAM. 



545 



influence. In fact, they are much more powerful, socially and politically, 
than the temporal rulers of Moslem countries. As a specimen of their strong 
self-assertion, we may quote the declaration of the ulema in Spain, when 
the Sultan Mansur threatened them for opposing him : ''All the evil you 
say of us applies to yourself; you seek unjust gains, and support your 




ENTBANCE TO THE MEDUESSii (cOLLEGE) OE ABDUL AZIZ KUAN, BOKHARA. 

injustice by threats ; you take bribes and practise ungodliness in the world. 
But we are guides on the path of righteousness, hghts in the darkness, and 
bulwarks of Islam. We decide what is just or unjust, and declare the right. 
Through us the precepts of religion are maintained. We know that the Sultan 
-will soon think better of the matter ; but if he persists, every act of his 

N N 



546 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

government will be mill, for every treaty of peace and war, every act of 
sale and purchase, is valid only throngh our testimony." Leaving the 
vizier's presence, they were followed by the Sultan's apology before they 
had passed out of the palace gate. 

The mode in which the numbers of the ulema are kept up is by a 
sort of university education, which is now chiefly obtainable at the famous 
mosque of El Azhar, at Cairo, but formerly from the famous universities of 
Damascus, Bagdad, Kairwan, Seville, Cordova, etc., where there were thou- 
sands of students. They almost all come from the lower classes, in whom 
fanaticism is most abundant, and not unfrequently obtain permission to 
sleep in the mosque, and receive daily rations from the funds of the 
mosque. They enter their names according to their respective sects, and 
attend the lectures of their professors, which are given around the pillars of 
the great court. The subjects are Arabic, Mohammedan dogma, the Koran^ 
tradition, and the law. The Hanafite decisions are most effective in law- 
courts ; but nevertheless the Shafiite and Malikite students are much more 
numerous, and there are very few Hanbalites. The work of a professor is 
not mentally onerous, for, strange to say, they merely give explanations 
from commentaries, being forbidden to add anything of their own. There 
are various standard compendiums and treatises of great length, consisting 
chiefly of arguments like those of the medieval school-men, which the 
students have to master. A few other subjects, such as rhetoric and logic. 
may be taken up ; but the general course is very narrow, and confirms the 
natural narrowness of the pupils. All that does not directly appertain to 
theology is regarded as superfluous or injurious. Theology, being considered 
to be already perfect, can supply no opportunity of progress beyond a cer- 
tain narrow limit. " All originality is criished out, and a blind and ludicrous 
dependence on written tradition — even in things profane — takes its place.'^ 
The students, after three or four years thus spent, having obtained certifi- 
cates from the professors, gain a government appointment in a law court, or 
become teachers, praj^er-leaders, cadis, or muftis in the smaller towns, or 
occupy themselves in the various offices for which a theologian is required. 
There are many sources from which an income may be derived, gifts being - 
not the least abundant of these ; and the higher ulema back up their brethren 
in all ways, so that they form in effect a powerful corporation. There is no 
charge for the instruction given in El- Azhar, and there is no endowment 
for the professors. In Bokhara there is still a considerable attempt at 
theological education, and there are eighty colleges or schools attached to 
mosques ; but they are for the most part centres of mere fanatic ignorance. 
In India every considerable mosque has its college of divinity students, and 
their heads are generally termed moUahs (or maulawis) ; some of them are 
good Arabic scholars, but are otherwise very ignorant. 

Considering their unofficial position, it is surprising how great a power 
the ulema wield. This is in consequence of their representing the spiritual 
influence of the Prophet ; while even the Sultan of Turkey, though he calls 
himself '' the successor of the Prophet," cannot exercise the powers of a pope. 



MODERN ISLAM. 547 

He however nominates tlie Sheikh-ul-Islam (senior or president of Islam), or 
mufti of Constantinople, wlio represents him among the ulema, and whose 
judgments on points of faith and law cannot be appealed against. But the 
choice of this personage is limited to the moilahs, or chiefs of religious 
bodies ; and as no one can become one of the ulema but by examination and 
certification b}^ older ulema, and thus the priesthood is animated by a power- 
ful esprit de corps. 

The imams, or leaders in prayer, are the most important essential 
officials of the mosques. The true imam, or caliph of all the Moslems, is 
the deputy or representative of the Prophet, and should perform 
almost every function which Mahomet performed ; but the term 
has become applied to the leader of any system or school of theology or 
law, and to leaders in prayer at all mosques. There is no ceremony of 
ordination, nor is any ministerial act performed by the imam, except that 
of standing in front and repeating the prayers and reciting the Koran. In 
fact, wherever there are three worshippers, one of them must act as imam 
and the other two follow him. Tradition says that the Prophet spoke 
thus : " Let him act as imam to a congregation who knows the Koran 
thoroughly ; and if all present should be equal in that respect, then let him 
perform who is best informed in the rules of prayer ; and if they are equal 
in this respect also, let him act as imam who has fled for the sake of Islam ; 
and if equal in this respect likewise, let that person act who is oldest ; but 
the governed must not act as imam to the governor." 

Passing now to the teachings and beliefs of these '' clergy " and of 
intelligent Moslems, — although they rely so much on the Koran, they have 
imperceptibly developed and codified much teaching that is not 
Ibrmally contained therein. For instance, as to the personality Koranic 
and nature of God, their detailed statements are to a large extent ^ ^® ^* 
worthy of Christian doctors and full of philosophic acumen. Of course, be- 
lieving so absolutely in predestination and control by the Almighty, they 
hold doctrines which large sections of Christendom would reject, and which 
come very near to complete Pantheism. Thus the words " There is no Grod 
but God," to the Moslem, to quote Mr. Palgrave's language, ''imply that 
this one supreme Being is also the only Agent, the only Force, the only act 
existing througliout the universe, and leave to all beings else nothing but 
pure unconditional passiveness, alike in movement or in quiescence, in action 
or in capacity." Thus even all evil, so-called, is His creation. Yet "He 
has with respect to His creatures one main feeling and source of action, 
namely, jealousy of them, lest they should perchance attribute to them- 
selves something of what is His alone. Hence He is ever more prone to 
punish than to reward, to inflict pain than to bestow pleasure." {Central 
and Eastern Arabia.) It is a consequence of this position, that no pre- 
eminence can rightfully b.) claimed before God by any man ; all are equally 
His servants. 

There is one exalted name of God, supposed only to be known to the 
prophets and great saints; and it is said that Mahomet declared that whoever 



548 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS, 



calls upon God by that name will obtain all his desires. Consequently the 

The exalted Moslem fakirs and mystics spend much of their time in trying 

name of God. -to find it out; those who assert that they know it gain great 

influence over the superstitious. The attributes of God are classified under 

the heads of "Life, Knowledge, Power, Will, Hearing, Seeing, and Speech." 

As a specimen of the best kind of Moslem theological statement, we 

may quote from the famous scholastic divine Al-Ghazzali in the eleventh 

The essence century (1058-1111). He writes thus of the essence of God: 

of the Deity, fc jj^ ^g q^^q^ ^^^ hath no partner ; singular, without anything like 

Him ; uniform, having no contrary ; separate, having no equal. He is 

ancient, having no first ; eternal, having no beginning ; remaining for ever, 

having no end; continuing to eternity, without any termination. He 

persists without ceasing to be ; remains without failing, and never did cease, 

nor ever shall cease to be de- 
scribed by glorious, attributes, 
nor is subject to any decree so 
as to be determined by any 
precise limits or set times, but 
is the First and the Last, and is 
within and without. . . . He 
is too holy to be subject to 
change, or any local motion ; 
neither do any accidents dwell 
in Him, nor any contingencies 
befall Him, — but He abides 
through all generations with 
His glorious attributes, free 
from all danger of dissolution. 
As to the attribute of perfec- 
tion. He wants no addition to 
His perfection." And so on 
through a long exposition. This 
is quoted, not as proving any originality in the Moslem beliefs, but as show- 
ing the high level attained in some directions, and as a proof that, so far 
as regards the Divine attributes, Christians have much in common with 
Moslems — a fact which should moderate denunciations or censure, and give 
rise to an attitude of tolerance. 

With such beliefs as to the absoluteness of Divine control, it is sur- 
prising that Mahometans should admit the possibility of sin ; but they do 
g^ this, although there have been long discussions on predestination, 
and strong endeavours to reconcile it with man's responsibility. 
Learned Mohammedans divide sins into two classes : the kabirah, or great, 
which condemn the sinner to a purgatorial hell ; and saghirah or little sins, 
inherent in man's nature. The great sins are generally stated as seventeen 
in number : inficlelity, despairing of God's mercy, considering oneself safe 
from His wrath, bearing false witness, constantly committing little sins. 




MOSLEM POSTURES OF PBAYER, 



MODERN ISLAM. 



549 



falsely charging a Moslem with, adultery, taking a false oath, drinking wine, 
practising magic, defrauding orphans of their property, usury, committing 
adultery, unnatural crimes, stealing, murder, cowardice in battle with 
infidels, disobedience to parents. 

Mahometans are considerably given to oaths, and, it may be imagined, 
at times run great risks of condemnation for perjury. The Koran itself 
contains many extreme oaths, and it is not surprising that Mahometan 
Mahomet's followers imitate him in this. There are many fine oaths. 
distinctions drawn, after the Talmudic manner, as to the various kinds and 
qualities of oaths, and the guilt of breaking them. The most effective oaths 
are, saying three times " By the great God," taking hold of the Koran and 
sa^'ing " B}' what this contains of the Word of God," placing a sword on 
the Koran and sajdng "I impose on myself divorcement." Notwithstanding 
this, lying is pretty frequent 
among " the faithful." 

As to abstinence from 

wine and intoxicating liquors, 

this is one of the 

, - , • . • Abstinence. 

most characteristic 

Moslem virtues ; but in many 
cases the rule of abstinence is 
broken through. It is to the 
credit of Moslem consistency, 
that opium and tobacco have 
been recognised as included 
under the same ban as wine ; 
but the supposed prohibition 
is less regarded than in the 
case of intoxicants. 

One of the special pro- 
hibitions generally observed, 
is that which forbids eating 
pork ; and there is reason in this in hot climates. Moreover various animals' 
flesh is forbidden as food, the list being very like that of the Restrictions 
Mosaic code. The Koran says (ii. 167) " ye who believe, eat of ^^ eating, 
the good things with which we have supplied you, and give God thanks 
if 3'e are His worshippers. Only that which dieth of itself, and blood, and 
swine's flesh, and that over which any other name than that of God hath been 
invoked, hath God forbidden you." But no flesh may be lawfully eaten un- 
Jess the animal has been killed in orthodox Mahometan fashion, i.e. by cut- 
ting the windpipe and gullet through, repeating at the same time, "In the 
name of God, God is great." According to the traditions, beasts and birds 
of prey may not be eaten. Moslems have no religious objection to eating 
with Jews and Christians, provided the meat or drink be lawful for them, 
and in fact eat with them in various countries, but not in India, where 
hatred of a conquering race has established the custom of exclusiveness. 




MOSLEM POSTUKES OF PEAYEK. 



550 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

The extreme attention of most Mahometans to ablution of the hands, 
mouth, and nose before eating, is well known. It is a religious ceremony, 
depending on the traditional precepts of the prophet. His fol- 
lowers are to eat in God's name, to return thanks, to eat with 
their right hand, and with their shoes off. The devil, it is said, has power 
over that food which is eaten without remembering God. Before begin- 
ning, it is necessary to say '' Bismillah ! " (in the name of God), and after 
finishing, " Glory to God ! " Ablution is also essential before worship. The 
Koran (v. 8) says, "0 Believers, when ye prepare yourselves for prayer, 
wash your faces and hands up to the elbows, and wipe your hands and your 
feet to the ankles." The detail of this ablution is elaborate, but with 
practice it is performed in three minu.tes, the worshipper reciting prayers 
or pious ejaculations meanwhile. The full ablution is not insisted on 
before each prayer time, if nothing unclean has been touched and no 
impurity contracted. When water cannot be had, ablution may be per- 
formed with dust or sand. In special cases washing of the whole body 
is prescribed, and among these occasions are the admission of a convert, 
Friday prayers, the great festivals, and the washing of the dead. The 
Tradition says, that he who performs ablution thoroughly will extract all 
sin from his body, even though it may be lurking under his finger nails. 

The Moslem rule is, that public prayer shall be entirely in Arabic, and 
the place of prayer must be free from impurity. Before it commences the 
muezzin or crier gives the call to prayer from the minaret or 
'outside the mosque, adding in the early morning ''Prayer is 
better than sleep." The first recitation is given by the imam's "follower," 
or by the crier, and is the same as the call to prayers, with the addition, 
"Verily, prayers are now ready." The regular prayers then begin, all 
standing, with the following : " I have purposed to offer up to God only, 
with a sincere heart this morning (or afternoon, or evening), with my face 
towards the kiblah, two (or more) rakeh prayers." The word rdkeli signi- 
fies a form of prayer ; farz are prayers enjoined by God ; sunnali,, those 
founded on the Tradition of Mahomet ; nafl^ the voluntary performance of 
two raJcehs. The number of rakelis to be said varies for the different hours 
of prayer ; at night seven are said after all the usual series have been gone 
through. A devout Moslem will go through the same form of prayer 
seventy-five times in the day. Any travelling of the eyes or mind, a cough, 
etc., vitiates the prayer, and the worshipper must recite all again. Yet a 
late-comer, after reciting the preliminary, and the " God is great," may join 
the congregation at the stage which they have reached. 

The siiblian follows, ascribing holiness and praise to God and praising 
His name, followed by the declaration, "I seek refuge from God from 
cursed Satan." Then follows the first chapter of the Koran, after which 
the worshipper may repeat as many chapters of the Koran as he desires, 
but at least should say one long or two short verses. Very frequently the 
122nd, a short chapter, is chosen : " Say: He is God alone: God the Eternal. 
He begetteth not and is not begotten ; and there is none like unto Him." 



MODERN ISLAM. 



551 



*' God is great," and '' I extol the holiness of my Lord, the great,'' are re- 
peated frequently in various attitudes of devotion. After every two rakehs 
the following prayer is offered: ''0 Grod, have mercy on Mahomet and on his 
descendants, as Thou didst have mercy on Abraham and his descendants. 
Thou art to be praised and Thou art great" ; and also, '• God our Lord, 
give us the blessings of this life, and also the blessings of life everlasting. 
Save us from the torments of fire." At the end of prayers follows tli^ 
salaam : '' The peace and mercy of God be with you ! " repeated once Avith 
the head turned to the right and once to the left, followed by the supplica- 
tion, a series of prayers from the Koran or the Tradition, and not infre- 
quently said in the vernacular. 







EGYPTIAN FUNERAL PROCESSION. 



There are also special prayers for Friday, for a traveller, at funerals, 
during the fast, during eclipses, etc. ; but the specialty consists rather in 
the number of extra ralxelis than in the substance of the prayers. There 
are many directions for prayers in the Traditions, and promises or assertions 
of blessing for special acts of prayer. One curious regulation is as follows : 
" When any one of jow says his prayers, he must have something in front 
of him, but if he cannot find anything he must put his walking-stick into 
the ground, or if it be hard, place it lengthways before him ; but if he has 
no staff, he must draw a line on the ground, after which there will be no 
detriment to his prayers from any one passing in front of him." Sincere 
as the Moslem may be, one cannot but see how mechanical and superstitious 
his devotions tend to become when governed by such multitudinous formal- 
ities and repeated so often ; and, in fact, the lip-service of a large proportion 
of Mohammedans is notoriously combined with deceit and evil. 



552 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

The Friday sermon is given at the time of noonday prayer, and on the 
two great festivals at the prayer after sunrise. There is usually a special 
preacher who delivers this, after the first four sets of prayers. It 
' is in Arabic, and includes prayers for Mahomet, his companions, 
and the sovereign. Its nature is a matter of choice with the preacher, but 
it consists very largely of assertions of the various Moslem doctrines. An 
eloquent New Year's Day sermon given in Lane's "Modern Egyptians'' 
contains the following passages : " servants of God, your lives have been 
gradually curtailed, and year after year hath passed away and yo are sleep- 
ing on the bed of indolence, and on the pillow of iniquity. Ye pass by the 
tombs of your predecessors, and fear not the assault of destiny and destruc- 
tion, as if others departed from the world and ye must of necessity remain 
in it. Ye rejoice at the arrival of new years, as if they brought an increase 
to the term of life, and swim in the seas of desires and enlarge your hopes, 
and in every way exceed other people in presumption ; and ye are sluggish 
in doing good. Oh, how great a calamity is this ! God teacheth by an 
allegory. Know ye not that in the curtailment of time by indolence and 
sleep there is very great trouble ? Know ye not that the night and day 
divide the lives of numerous souls ? Ye are now between two years. . . . 
Is any of you determining upon diligence in doing good in the year to 
come ? or repenting of his failings in the things that are passed ? " etc. In 
the latter half of the sermon : " God, assist the forces of the Moslems, 
and the armies of the Unitarians \i.e. believers in the one God] ! God, 
frustrate the infidels and the polytheists, Thine enemies, the enemies of 
the religion ! God, invert their banners and ruin their habitations, and 
give them and their wealth as booty to the Moslems!" etc. " Lord, we 
have acted unjustly towards our own souls, and if Thou do not forgive us 
and be merciful to us we shall surely be of those who perish." 

Circumcision, usually performed on boys between the ages of five and 

twelve, is not a sacred rite, though ordained by the Tradition. There is 

. . nothins: about it in the Koran, and no record of Mahomet's cir- 
Circumcision. .? __ . . . ' , _, . _ .., . ^. . 

cumcision. Marriage also is celebrated with very little religious 

ceremony ; at the making and signing of the marriage contract the open- 
Marriasr ^""^^ chapter of the Koran is recited, together with an address or 
exhortation and some Koranic prayers and recitations. The 
actual marriage may be performed with much or little religious ceremony, 
according to the discretion of the cadi or other person performing it ; and 
the ceremony does not take place in a mosque. The bridegroom usually 
repeats after the cadi, " I desire forgiveness of God ; " four short chapters of 
the Koran, the creed, and a profession of belief in God, the angels, the 
Koran, the Prophet, the Resurrection, etc. The bridegroom then form- 
ally consents to the marriage, and the cadi prays that mutual love may reign 
between the couple, as between Adam and Eve, Abraham and Sarah, 
Joseph and Zuleika, Moses and Sarah, Mohammed and Ayesha, Ali and 
Fatima." The legal regulations about marriage are more properly political 
than religious ; four lawful wives are permitted. Divorce is easy, needing 



MODERN ISLAM. 



553 



only that the husband should say to his wife, '' Thou' art divorced," after 
which three months' waiting is enjoined, when the divorce is 
permanent. A husband may divorce his wife after any misbe- ^^^orce. 
haviour, or without assigning cause. In some few cases a wife concubinage, 
may obtain a divorce. Concubinage with any woman held as 
a slave is lawful ; and among the Shialis, temporary marriages, for a 
few hours, afford the most 
degrading form of concu- 
binage. In other respects 
slaves are usually well 
treated, and often attached 
to their masters ^^^^^ 
and mistresses. 
The Tradition praises and 
blesses the emancipation of 
slaves, and they are not 
infrequently emancipated, 
especially at the death of 
the owner. But the abso- 
lute power which a Moslem 
master has over the life and 
person of his slave is most 
deleterious to the character 
of both ; and this, together 
with the looseness of matri- 
monial relations, constitutes 
perhaps the most evil fea- 
ture of Islam. 

The Koran teaches that 
the hour of death is fixed 
for every one; ^^^^ 
and m the Tra- 
dition Mahomet teaches 
that it is sinful to wish for 
death. " Wish not for death, 
not even if thou art a doer 
of good works, for perad- 
venture thou mayst increase 
them with an increase of life. 
Nor even if thou art a sinner, for with increase of life thou may est obtain 
God's pardon." He is also reported to have said, " Whosoever loves to meet 
God, God will love to meet him, and whoever dislikes to meet God, God 
will dislike to meet him. When death comes near a believer, God gives 
him a spirit of resignation, so that there is nothing a believer likes so much 
as death." 

When a Moslem is about to die, some skilled reader of the Koran is sent 




EGYPTIAX MOHAMMEDAN TOMB WITH THE ENTRANCE 
UNCOVERED. 



554 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

for, that he may read the 36th chapter to tranquillise the soul. The creed is 
also said aloud by all present. Early burial is the rule in Islam, 
as the sooner the dead are buried the sooner they are believed to 
reach heaven ; while the bad man must be buried quickly that his lot may 
not fall upon his famity. The burial service is believed to be based on the 
practice of Mahomet. It may properly be recited by the nearest relative, 
but is usually led by the family imam or the cadi. It is said in a mosque 
or in some open space, and includes many of the ordinary prayers, with 
prayer for the soul of the deceased, after which the people say : " It is 
the decree of God," to which the chief mourner replies, " I am pleased with 
the will of God," and then says to the people, " There is permission to 
depart." After this the body is placed on its back in the grave, with the 
head to the north and the face turned towards Mecca, the words of burial 
being, " We commit thee to earth in the name of God, and in the religion 
of the Prophet." On the third day after burial it is usual for the relatives 
to visit the grave and recite selections from the Koran, the whole of it 
being sometimes recited by moUahs paid for the purpose. 

Funeral processions on foot are the rule with Moslems, and it is a merit- 
orious act to carry the bier. This is done at a quick pace, that the righte- 
Funerai o^s may arrive soon at happiness. The elaborate funeral proces- 
processions. gions of Egypt are well described by Lane ("Modern Egyptians," 
Ilinerva Library^) and we must refer readers to this book for many excel- 
lent accounts of Islam in Egypt. 

We have already given an account of the Moslem doctrine of Paradise, 

but we may here give a summary of what Mahomet is alleged to have said 

Ti,o ,•«,«,«. about the immediate fate of the faithful dead. At death, white-faced 
Tne imme- ' 

diate fate of angels descend to meet them, and at first sit apart, while the Angel 
of Death comes and calls the pure soul to come forth to God's 
pardon and pleasure. When the soul comes out, the Angel of Death takes it, 
but the other angels take it from him immediately, and carry it upwards to 
heaven, where it is received by God, his name is inscribed in the register of 
good Moslems, and then the soul is returned again to the body to wait for 
the resurrection with joy. Similarl}^ an infidel is attended by black-faced 
angels,' after which the Angel of Death comes and bids the impure one come 
forth to the wrath of God. The angels take the soul up to the highest 
heaven, when God says, " Write his history in Sijjin," that is, the lowest 
earth; and the soul is thrown down with violence. It is again replaced 
in the body, and endures misery, and begs that the resurrection may be 
delayed. There can be no doubt that the Moslem believes seriously in a 
future life and state of rewards and punishments ; but his idea of paradise 
is usually very material, and it can largely be secured by ceremonial and 
formal merits. 

Mohammedan mosques are much less varied and complex in their struc- 
ture than Christian churches. They are usually square buildings of stone 
or brick, with an open central court-yard, and cloisters and cells 
around for students. In the centre of -the wall turned towards 



MODERN ISLAM. 



555 



Mecca and farthest removed from the entrance, is a niclie, the kiblah, which 
indicates the direction of the Kaaba; and the pnlpit is placed to the right 




of this. A large tank is in the conrt-yard, at which ceremonial ablutions 
can be performed. Frequently in Egypt, Turkey, and Syria, liowever, the 
mosques are completely covered buildings. The side turned towards Mecca 



556 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

is the only extensive covered area in most mosques. In front of the pulpit 
there may be a raised platform from which exhortations are chanted, and 
lecterns for the reading of the Koran. There are also minarets, or peculiar 
turrets not diminishing regularly in size, but only at successive stages 
marked by external galleries, from the uppermost of which the muezzin 
or crier sounds the calls to prayer day and night. Blind men are often 
employed in this office, since they cannot see into the privacy of houses 
from their elevated station. 

The mosques are often most costly buildings, decked with elaborate 
carving in marble or other stone, inlaid with mosaics, agates, etc. The 
kiblah and the pulpit are elaborate works of art, and many forms of gor- 
geous ornament are lavished upon various other parts of the mosque. 
Windows of rich tracery pierced in marble or stucco, filled with richly 
coloured glass in small pieces, often occur. Many mosques have rich trea- 
sures of valuable Arabic manuscripts. 

Most mosques have considerable endowments, managed by an officer 

who often appoints the imams, of whom one recites the Koran and leads the 

Endowment ^^^^y Players, while the other, known in Arabia and Egypt as 

and the khatib, preaches the Friday sermon. The imams usually have 
' some other occupation, such as school-teaching or trade. The 
mosques are used as places of general resort; and between prayer-times 
people are to be seen discussing secular topics, and even eating and sleeping 
in them, contrary to the precepts of the Prophet. They are also very 
generally used as places of rest and abode for travellers. 

The Sacred Mosque at Mecca and the Prophet's Mosque at Medina must 

be more particularly described. The former, which contains the Kaaba, 

(Cube-House) or House of the Sacred Black Stone, is 250 paces 

Mosque at long by 200 broad, enclosed on all sides by a colonnade with 

^^^^ quadruple rows of pillars more than twenty feet high on the east 
side, and triple rows on the remaining sides. Above every four pillars, sup- 
ported on pointed arches, rises, a small dome, externally whitened. These 
domes are said to be 152 in number. Lamps hang from every arch, some 
being lighted every night, and all during Ramadan. A great outer wall 
encloses the colonnade: parts of this are ancient, having escaped the 
various destructions and repairs which have occurred. Some of the walls 
are gaudily painted in stripes of red, yellow, and blue, as also are the 
minarets. The style of the columns is in general coarse Saracenic. 

Seven paved causeways converge towards the Kaaba, an oblong build- 
ing which might almost be called a low tower, eighteen paces long, fourteen 
broad, and thirty-five to forty feet high ; the roof is flat. It is roughly 
built of grey stone, the present building dating from 1627. There is only 
one door into it, on the north side, about seven feet from the ground, and it 
is only opened two or three times a year. The famous " Black Stone " is 
let into the wall at the north-east corner of the building, about four or five 
feet from the ground. Burckhardt described it as an irregular oval about 
seven inches in diameter, with an undulated surface, composed of about a 



MODERN ISLAM, 



557 



dozen smaller stones of different sizes and shapes, joined by a little cement 
and surrounded by a silver setting. It appears to be a meteoric stone ; but 
its present surface does not show its nature, for it is greatly worn by the 
millions of touches and kisses it has received. Its colour is a deep reddish 
brown, approaching black. On the north side of the Kaaba near the door 
is a little hollow in the ground lined with marble, in which it is thought 
meritorious to pray, as it is the spot where Abraham and Ishmael, the fabu- 
lous builders of the Kaaba, are said to have kneaded their chalk and mud 
for mortar. 




MOSQUE OF THE PAL.VCE, KUIVA. 

In continuation of a pre-Moslem custom, a covering (the kisweh or veil) 
of black silk stuff conceals the exterior of the walls of the Kaaba (the roof 
being bare), openings being left to show the black stone and another 
stone at the south-east corner. A new veil is put on every year, in the first 
month, after the Kaaba has been left bare for about a fortnight. At first it 
is tucked up high by cords, afterwards it is gradually let down, but is not 
fastened tightly, so that any wind moves it slowly. These movements are 
treated by the worshippers as signs of tlie presence of its guardian angels. 

Opposite the four sides of the Kaaba are four small erections, used re- 
. spectively by the imams of the four orthodox sects to lead the devotions of 



558 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

tlieir followers. One of these for tlie Shafiites is over the well Zamzam^ 
which yields an everflowing supply of water for drinking and ablution to 
the Meccans, and is believed by tho Moslems to be the well found in the 
wilderness by Hagar. This building is beautifully ornamented with coloured 
marbles. At one time the shereef of Mecca exacted a high price for this 
water ; but one of the first acts of the Wahhabis was to abolish this payment^ 
and the water is now distributed gratis, except that a small charge is made 
when it is drawn up and presented by the regular water carriers. It is 
regarded as a certain cure for all diseases, and a great improver of health, 
rendering even prayers to Grod more acceptable. Enormous quantities of it 
are drunk by some persons ; many strip themselves and have bucketsful 
thrown over them ; and few pilgrims leave Mecca without taking some of 
this water to drink in illness or for their ablution after death. 

A movable wooden staircase on wheels is used for entering the Kaaba^ 
being ordinarily kept at some distance. Not very far from this is the pulpit^ 
of white marble, highly ornamented, the preacher's station being sur- 
mounted by a gilt polygonal steeple. Here several of the elder ulemas in 
Mecca preach in rotation, girt in a white cloak covering head and body^ 
and with a stick in the hand as if prepared against a sudden surprise, as in 
the early ages of Islam. Eound the base of the pulpit the congregation 
deposit their shoes. Besides one or two other less important buildings, the 
enclosure of the sacred mosque contains a small one which is said to contain 
the sacred stone upon which Abraham stood to build the original Kaaba^ 
and believed to show an impression of his foot ; but this stone is always 
kept entirely covered. At this building worshippers regularly pray for 
the good offices of Abraham. 

The larger part of the enclosure consists of gravelled spaces which^ 
together with part of the marble pavement surrounding the Kaaba, is 
covered at evening prayer with carpets from sixty to eighty feet long and 
four feet wide, which are rolled up after prayers. Other parts are covered 
with pilgrims' own carpets, or with mats which they bring with them. 
During the pilgrimage this vast space is sometimes nearly half filled, 
although the Meccans believe that the mosque could contain all the faithful 
at once. Burckhardt could never count more than ten thousand persons in 
it at one time. The mosque has no fewer than nineteen gates, one of these, 
the Bab-es-Salam, being that by which every pilgrim must enter it. None 
are ever closed ; indeed they have no doors. Burckhardt entered at all 
hours of the night and always found people there, either at prayers or 
walking about. There are seven minarets on the exterior of the mosque^ 
A number of houses which formerly supported the wall of the mosque are 
now private property, mostly let out to the richest pilgrims, and with 
windows looking into the mosque, giving the privilege of performing 
Friday's devotions in their own houses. 

This sacred mosque is the one true temple of the Mohammedans, and 
inasmuch as it contains the Kaaba towards which every Moslem turns in 
prayer, it is the only place of prayer where believers can turn in any 



MODERN ISLAM. 



559 



direction they please and j^et fulfil the law. It will be very evident from 
the description of other mosques, how different they are in plan from this. 
It is a striking commentary on the aim of Mahomet to uphold the unity and 
spiritual worship of God, that an Arab idol of long standing should be the 
object most venerated by his followers. Sura ii. 144, 145 sa^^s, " From 
whatever place thou com est forth, then turn thy face towards the Sacred 
Mosque; for this is a duty enjoined by th}^ Lord." 

Here is the most convenient place for describing the Sacred Hajj, or 




ilOSQUE OF OMAR, "D:)ME OF THE ROCK," tiEC.USALEil. 

pilgrimage to Mecca. Just as the old Arab idol, or fetish, is the central 
object of Moslem reverence, so the pilgrimage to Mecca, which had r^^^ sacred 
existed long before Islam, has become the greatest function of the Hajj, or 
religion. Every Moslem is properly bound to make a pilgrimage 
to Mecca once in his life, and it should be completed in the twelfth month 
of the Moslem year, although an ordinary pilgrimage may be made at any 
season. Most essential features are the visits to sacred spots in the neigh- 
bourhood of Mecca, and the pilgrimage ends with a visit to the Kaaba. "We 
cannot detail the numerous features of interest attending the setting out 



56o THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS, 

for Mecca from distant countries, tlie troubles and inconveniences of the 
journey or voyage, the sacrifices which good Moslems will make to accom- 
plish this great life-object. We will simply note that the number who 
reached Mecca in 1880 was computed by Mr. Blunt as somewhat over 
93,000, of whom 33,000 were Arab pilgrims, 15,000 British subjects from 
India, 12,000 Malays chiefly from Java and other Dutch possessions, 9,500 
subjects of the Ottoman sultan, 8,500 Persians, 6,000 Egyptians, 6000 North 
Africans, 2,000 Soudanese negroes, and 1,000 Zanzibaris, etc. Thus in fifty 
years about five millions of pilgrims may visit Mecca. Probably only 3 or 
4 per cent, of Moslems ever see Mecca ; but multitudes of others long for 
the opportunity. 

There are three points essential to the lawful completeness of the 
pilgrimage : the wearing of no garment but the ?7iram, consisting of two 
seamless wrappers, one girding the waist and the other loosely thrown 
over the shoulders ; to stand in Arafat, the Mount of E,ecognition, twelve 
miles from Mecca, where Eve is related to have been found by Adam ; 
and to make the circuit round the Kaaba. There are five other observ- 
ances which are obligatory, but their omission does not constitute absolute 
infidelity, although it is a sin. These are, to stay in Al Muzdalifa, half- 
way between Mina and Arafat ; to run between the hills of Safa and 
Marwah ; to perform the ceremony of casting the pebbles at Mina ; to make 
an extra circuit of the Kaaba, if not Meccans ; and to shave the head at the 
end of the pilgrimage. 

When the pilgrim arrives at the last stage, near Mecca, the ceremonies 
begin by his bathing, saying two rakeh prayers, then putting on the pilgrim's 
garb, after which he neither anoints his head, pares his nails, nor shaves 
until the whole of the ceremonies are over. Facing Mecca, he says aloud 
what is termed the intention : "0 Grod, I purpose to make the hajj ; make 
this service easy to me and accept it from me." He then goes to the city, 
reciting or singing the pilgrims' song (p. 523), enters the sacred mosque, 
kisses the black stone, and makes the circuit of the Kaaba seven times, three 
times at a run, four times slowly, each time kissing the black stone and 
touching the other sacred stone. He then says two prayers at the station of 
Abraham, returns and once more kisses the black stone. He next goes to 
the so-called hill of Safa, 76 paces from the mosque, and three times recites 
the Moslem creed, adding, '' He hath performed His promise, and hath aided 
His servant, and hath put to flight the hosts of infidels by Himself alone." 
He then runs from this hill to that of Marwah seven times and back, 
repeating the same sentences each time on each hill. This is usually done 
on the sixth day, and on the seventh the khutbah or sermon at the 
mosque is listened to. On the eighth day the journey is made to Mina ; 
on the ninth the pilgrim goes to Mount Arafat, and after saying prayers 
and hearing a sermon, stands on the hill and shouts Labbeik, and recites 
prayers and texts till sunset. Early on the next day a second stand is 
made by torchlight for a short time round the mosque of Muzdalifa be- 
tween Mina and Arafat ; but the chief ceremony on this day is at Mina. 



MODERN ISLAM. 



561 



This is the day of sacrifice, on which the pilgrim throws seven stones at 
each of three pillars in Mina, saying, " In the name of Grod the Almighty, 
I do this, and in hatred of the devil and his shame." Then a victim has to 
be slain at Mina, from a sheep to a camel, according to the pilgrim's means, 





ENCAMPMENT OF riLGBIMS IN THE VALLEY OF MIXA. 

part of the flesh being given to the poor ; and finally Mecca must be visited 
again and the black stone kissed. At this time a great fair takes place at 
Mina, and the sacrifice may be made on any day of the fair. The pilgrim 
then gets shaved, takes off his pilgrim's garb, and the pilgrimage is over. 

o o 



562 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

Shiites allow performance of tlie pilgrimage by deputy, and it is con- 
sidered very meritorious to pay the expenses of one who cannot afford it. 
But any Moslem who has not made the pilgrimage may leave money to 
some one else to make the pilgrimage, and is thus considered to have ful- 
filled his duty. The pilgrim becomes known as a hadji, and retains that 
title ever afterwards before his proper name. ISTotwithstanding ablutions, 
the Meccan assemblages are dangerous centres of infectious diseases ; 
and Mecca is reported to be a hotbed of vice.^ The whole Meccan pilgrim- 
age strikes an outside observer as a strangely meaningless superstition, one 
that does not elevate the character of the worshippers, and only pro- 
duces an inordinate self-satisfaction on its completion. Its great utility to 
Mohammedanism is evident, in giving it a centre and a uniting impulse. 

A visit is very generally made to Medina after the pilgrimage is over, 
except by Wahhabis, who regard such a visit as idolatry. The Prophet's 
The Prophet's ™-*-'^^^® ^^ ^ very extensive building, much larger than the 
mosque at original one ; it is between 400 and 500 feet long by about 300 
in breadth, with an elaborate principal gate leading into a deep 
portico with ten rows of pillars, along the southern wall. Near the farther 
end of this is a walled enclosure without doors, believed to contain the 
graves of Mahomet, Abubekr and Omar, and close to this is a similar build- 
ing which encloses the tomb of Fatima. Both are enclosed within an iron 
railing covered with brass wire-work. Through some small apertures pil- 
grims address prayers for intercession to the prophet and the other saints. 
The idea of Mahomet's coffin being suspended in the air by magnets is an 
European fable. There is a great dome above the prophet's tomb, and there 
are striking minarets ; but otherwise the mosque is not very remarkable in 
construction, and is not more than 400 years old. 

The Mosque of the Caliph Omar, at Jerusalem, built soon after his entry 
into the city in 637, was supposed to be built upon the site of Solomon's 
The Mosque Temple, and to be the place to which Mahomet was carried from 
of Omar. ]\j[ecca On his celebrated '' night- journey." The original small 
building still exists, though it is uncertain whether it is a chamber east 
of the next mentioned, or that to the west, known as the Mosque of the 
Mogrebins. Abd el Malik, Caliph of Damascus, built another mosque here 
in 691. It is a square covered building with seven aisles, as large as many 
of our cathedrals, and it lacks the square court usually found in mosques. 
Its north porch was added in the fourteenth century ; the rest of the building 
is very barn-like. 

The building called by Europeans '' the Mosque of Omar," is certainly 
not Omar's, and it is rightly termed " the Dome of the Rock," according to 
The Dome of Moslem nomenclature. It is a beautiful octagonal building of 160 
the Rock, feet diameter, with a high circular dome, and it is according to 
Fergusson a nearly unaltered Christian building of the 4th century, erected 
by the Emperor Constantine. Its pillars are of the most precious marble, 

^ For interesting speculations as to tlie origin of all the ceremonies at Mecca, see VV. 
Robertson Smith, art. " Mecca," FmcycloiKEcUa Britannica. 



MODERN ISLAM. 563 

either from Herod's or Hadrian's temple ; and exquisite mosaics and magni- 
ficent painted glass windows combine to make it one of the most beautiful 
buildings in the world. 

The great mosque at Damascus, successively a heathen temple and a 
Christian church, was, in the first century of Islam, used jointly by Chris- 
tians and Moslems. The present splendid building was then Great mosque 
erected by the Caliph Walid. It is 508 feet by 320, enclosing a^*^^"^^^^^^- 
very large court. The covered side has three aisles, and is 126 feet wide. 

One of the finest mosques of the typical form was that at Cordova, in 
Spain, built in 786-790, now transformed into the cathedral. The original 
main covered part has no fewer than twenty rows of marble The Mosque 
columns, and they are so arranged as to appear to stretch with- °^ Cordova, 
out end in every direction, like the Hall of pillars at Karnak. Moreover, 
formerly rows of orange trees formed aisles in the open court continuing the 
lines of the columns. Among the notable mosques of this normal type are 
those of Amr, Old Cairo, that of El-Azhar at Cairo, the great mosque of Old 
Delhi, and those of Fez and Kairwan. 

The mosques of most complex structure are those of Cairo, the reason 
being that subsidiary buildings, such as schools, colleges, courts of justice, 
hospitals, etc., have been aggregated around them. The mosque jyjosq^es ^nd 
of the Sultan Hasan (14th century) is cruciform in plan, the tombs at 
central court open, the eastern arm forming the place of prayer 
and preaching, and the domed tomb of the sultan being east of this. There 
is a splendid entrance on the north-west, with a very high arch. Many pages 
might be devoted to these splendid mosques ; but we must only notice the 
tomb-mosques of the Egyptian sultans, outside the walls of Cairo. They 
have beautiful domes and minarets ; and they owe much to Byzantine, 
Persian, and even Christian gothic architecture, Islam itself having pro- 
duced few great original architects. There are over four hundred mosques 
in Cairo. Northern Africa has many fine mosques. Persia has but a few 
fine early mosques remaining. At Ispahan there is the splendid Masjid 
Shah, built by Shah Abbas I. (1585-1629), with a very large pyriform dome 
165 feet high. 

When the Turks took Constantinople, in 1453, they at once appropriated 
seven or eight of the chief Christian churches as mosques, and at the head 
of them St. Sophia, which they sincerely admired and set to work g^ gopwa at 
to imitate; 100 different mosques at Constantinople testify to the constanti- 
influence of this type. We may briefly describe it here as an ac- 
tual Mohammedan mosque, though constructed as a Christian church by the 
Emperor Justinian, in 532-537, the architect being Anthemius. It is almost 
a square of 250 feet added to a nave of more than 200 feet long. Externally 
it has little beauty, and its great beauty is internal, the great dome being 
continued by two half domes east and west. The arches on which the great 
dome rests are about 100 feet across and 120 feet high. The pillars are of 
the most precious marbles or porphyry, the capitals admirably carved ; all 
the flat surfaces are covered with exquisite mosaics. Fergusson calls it the 



564 THE WORLUS RELIGIONS. 

most perfect and beautiful Christian church. The mosque of Suleiman the 
Magnificent adopts the combined dome form, has a great fore-court, and on 
the opposite side a large garden containing the tombs of the founder and 
members of his family. 

Indian mosques and tombs are among the most splendid and varied 
buildings of that country, rich in splendid buildings as it is. The Moslems^ 
Indian Carrying the dome and minaret ideas with them, elaborated and 
mosques and adapted them to the native architecture, and produced a succes- 
sion of styles, as numerous as all European styles, and all worthy 
of notice. We can only mention a few remarkable features. The mosques 
and tombs of Ahmedabad, of Bejapore, the tomb of Mahmoud, with its ex- 
traordinary dome larger than that of the Pantheon at Eome, externally 198 
feet high, and the mosques of Agra and Delhi compare even with the exqui- 
site Hindu temples. The great mosque ( Jummoo Musjid) at Delhi, with it& 
The Jummoo grand porch with pointed arch, its lofty minarets and three great 
Musjid, DeUiLpyj,-|Qj,^-j^ domes, its courtyard with open colonnades, was, like the 
Pearl Mosque at Agra, built by Shah Jehan. The latter is entirely of white 
marble from base to summit, without any ornament. The Taj Mehal at 
The Taj Agra is the most perfect mausoleum perhaps in the world, also 
MehaL erected by Shah Jehan to contain the remains of his favourite 
wife, Minutaz Mehal, who died in 1631. He meant to build a more splendid 
one for himself, but died before accomplishing his intention, and he now 
rests beside her in the Taj Mehal. The whole is enclosed in exquisite 
gardens ; within is a very large court with splendid gateway, leading to a 
platform 18 feet high and 313 feet square, upon which are two beautiful 
detached minarets, and the mausoleum 186 feet square, with the corners cut 
off. The dome is 58 feet in diameter and 80 feet high, covering the show- 
tombs, a vault beneath containing the true tombs. Light is admitted 
through marble trellis-work of exquisite design. Indeed, the whole build- 
ing is of white marble, and visitors say that no words can express its beauty.. 
All the important parts are inlaid with precious stones in exquisite designs. 




CHAPTER YIL 

The Bairam festival— Ramadan— The breaking of the fast— The Kisweh and the Mahmal — Other fasts 
and festivals— The Moharram fast— The holy war. — The dervishes or fakirs— Various orders— 
Rifayeh— Dancing dervishes— Performance in Tashkend— Various rites— The Doseh— Saints- 
Worship of deceased saints— Sufism— Relation to pantheism— The Shiites— Their chief distinc- 
tions—Their mollahs and colleges— Persian dervishes— Passion plays— Babism—Ali the Bab— 
Abadites and Zeidites— The Wahhabis— Their founder— His teaching — His champion — The 
Wahhabi kingdom— Mecca and Medina taken— Defeats by Mehemet Ali and Ibrahim— Extension 
in India— Special doctrines and defects— The Druses— Origin— Hakim— Durazi-Hamza-Recent 
history— Tenets— Seven great duties— The Akals— Meetings— Turkey— Kerbela-Meshed-India 
—China - North Africa— Central and Eastern Africa— Contrast between Pagan and Moslem Negro 
—The Koran unifies and elevates the Negro. 

THE year of twelve lunar months is still observed by Moslems, and is 
eleven days short of the solar year ; thus it brings round all the festi- 
vals in turn to different seasons. For ordinary purposes of life, however, the 
solar year is used. The festivals and fasts of the Mohammedan year are of 
great importance. They have already been incidentally referred to, and we 
need only here describe certain special points. The Feast of Sacrifice, in 
Turkey and Egypt known as the Bairam festival, is the great ^he Bairam 
festival of the year. As part of the Meccan pilgrimage we have festival 
already described it, but it is observed all over Islam on the same day, the 
tenth of the last month of the Mohammedan year, as a time of great re- 
joicing. A special place outside the city is chosen for the special festival 
prayers, which are led by the imam, and afterwards a sermon is delivered, 
emphasising the significance of the day, and commending the offering of 
sacrifices as capable of carrying the believer across the narrow bridge or 
road to Paradise. On returning home, the head of each family takes an 
animal, a sheep, cow, goat, or camel, according to his means or the number 
of his family, turns its head towards Mecca, and says, '' In the name of 
the great God : verily my prayers, my sacrifice, my hfe, my death, belong 
to God, the Lord of the worlds. He has no partner : that is what I am 
bidden ; for I am first of those who are Moslems : " after which he kills the 
animal. One-third of the flesh is kept for the family, one-third is given to 
relations, and one-third to the poor. 

The fast of Eamadan, the ninth month of the Moslem year, has been 
already explained. Its observance in the letter is rigorously necessary for 
all good Moslems, except the sick, the infirm, nursing and preg- j^^^^^^ 
nant women, young children, and travellers. When the month 
falls in the hot season, the day-long fast is extremely trying, for not a 



566 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



drop of water may be drunk during the day ; also twenty additional rakelis 
or forms of prayer must be gone through after the night prayer. It is 




customary for good Moslems to stay for considerable periods in the mosques 
during this month, reading the Koran, and refraining from conversation on 



MODERN ISLAM. 567 



worldly affairs. It is imagined by many that the Mohammedan fast of 
thirty days was derived from the Christian Lent. 

The Feast of Alms, or minor festival, is kept on the day after Ramadan 
is over, and is called the Festival of Breaking the Fast. After the general 
distribution of alms, there are special prayers outside the city, The breaking 
followed by a sermon, special petitions for remission of sins, re- of the fast, 
covery of the sick, rain and abundance of corn, safety from misfortune, and 
freedom from debt. After the service the people salute and congratulate 
one another, and then spend the day in feasting and rejoicing. In Egypt 
it is a custom to visit the tombs of relatives on this or the following days, 
the visitors often canying palm-branches to lay on the tombs, reciting the 
creed, and more or less of the Koiran. This is not the custom in India, 
where tombs are visited in the Mohurram festival. 

There is a considerable festival in Cairo a few daj^s after this, when the 
Kisweh, or covering of the Kaaba, is conveyed from the citadel to the 
mosque of the Hasanein, to be sewn together and lined before „. j.. ^ 
'the pilgrimage. An elaborate procession which escorts it is well and the 
described by Lane. The Mahmal, or canopy, is carried at the 
same time, but has also a grand procession of its own two or three weeks later, 
before the departure of the great caravan of pilgrims. The Mahmal is a 
covered litter or canopy borne on a camel, as an emblem of royalty origi- 
nally sent to represent a sultana of Egypt in her absence. 

A festival largely observed in India, is the fifteenth day of Shaban, the 
eighth month, when it is said that God registers all the actions of mankind, 
and all births and deaths for the coming year. Originally in- other fasts 
tended to be observed as a fast, it has become a festival, and is a^^^ festivals, 
great occasion for letting off fireworks. New Year's Day is a great festival 
of the Persians. The last "Wednesday of Safar, the second month, is 
observed in some parts of Islam as a feast, commemorating a mitigation of 
Mahomet's last illness and his last bath. The birthday of Mahomet on the 
twelfth of the third month, is kept in Turkey, Egypt, and some parts of India, 
alms being distributed and additional religious exercises being performed. 

The first ten da^^s of the first month, Moharram, are kept in memory of 
the martyrdom of Hasan and Hosein, as days of lamentation, by xhe Mohar- 
Shiites only ; but the tenth day is kept as a fast by Sunnites ^^^ ^^^*- 
generally, as being the day on which heaven and hell, life and death, Adam 
and Eve, were created. 

There can be no doubt that the propagation of Islam by the Jihad, or 
holy war, has been one of the most potent means of securing its success. 
It is enioined in the Koran as a religious dutv. But there is ^ , 

•^ " *^ . The holy war. 

nothing which forbids the spread of Islam by peaceful persuasion 

and example, and at the present day this is largely the method by which 

the Moslem faith is being diffused in Africa. It is enjoined, however, that 

Avhen an infidel country is conquered, the people shall be offered the option of 

becoming Moslems, of paying a poll-tax for protection (except in the case of 



568 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

Arabian idolaters and apostates), or death by the sword. It is held by the 
Hanifites that the injunction is sufficiently obeyed when any one tribe of 
Moslems is engaged in spreading the religion by the sword. It is not held 
right to attack any infidels without previously calling upon them to accept 
the faith. There are many detailed regulations for the conduct of a sacred 
war in the books of Mohammedan law. 

The fakirs or dervishes are very prominent characters in Islam, answer- 
ing in some ways to the Christian monks in the middle ages. The word 
The dervishes dervish^ — more accurately darweesh — is a Persian word, signifying 
or fakirs, those who beg from door to door ; the Arabic fakir means " poor " 
before God, not necessarily poor in a worldly sense. Both terms are in 
general use for those who lead a religious life, with special practices or 
exercises. There are many fakirs or dervishes who, while professing to 
be Mahometans, do not follow the Koran ; those who obey the Moham- 
medan law are of very varied types or orders, all having special rules, many 
of which it is impossible to ascertain, being known orAj to the votaries them- 
selves, and kept strictly secret. It is claimed, but without foundation, that 
they deduce their origin from the brotherhood which was formed in the 
first year of the flight between the emigrants from Mecca and the citizens 
of Medina, establishing a community of property and common religious 
rites of penitence and of mortification. These men took the name of Sufis 
(the meaning of which word is uncertain), and it now designates any 
Moslem devoted to religious contempl-ation, exercises, and painful rites. 
They practically include the fakirs, A long history might be given of the 
various orders of dervishes, their founders and their history ; and their 
existence is a standing contradiction of Mahomet's command, " Let there 
be no monasticism in Islam." Tradition says that Mahomet declared, " The 
retirement which becomes my people is to sit in a corner of a mosque and 
wait for the time of prayer." We can only give a few details out of many. 
One order, the Baktashiyeh, which was founded by a native of Bokhara, 
and which gave rise to the Janissaries, is marked by the mystic girdle, 
Various which the members put off and on seven times : saying at the 
orders, successive times, ''I tie up greediness, and unbind generosity ; " 
"I tie up anger, and unbind meekness ; " ''I tie up avarice, and unbind 
piety ; " ''I tie up ignorance, and unbind the fear of God ; " "I tie up 
passion, and unbind the love of God ; " ''I tie up hunger, and unbind 
(spiritual) cop.tentment ; " " I tie up Satanism, and unbind Divineness." 

The Rifayeh dervishes, very numerous in Egypt, include a sect who 
pretend to thrust iron spikes into their eyes and bodies without injuring 
themselves, to pass swords through their bodies and thick needles 
through their cheeks without wound or pain. Another of their 
sects handle serpents with impunity (but have first extracted their fangs) ; 
it is this sect whose head or sheikh performs the ceremony of the doseh (see 
p. 570). 

The Dancing or Whirling Dervishes are the most popular order in the 



MODERN ISLAM. 



569 



Turkish empire. Their usual services take place every Wednesday and 
Sunday at two o'clock. Their special exercise consists in spinning Dancing 
round, dancing, and turning with extraordinary speed, their bell- dervishes, 
shaped petticoats thus acquiring a whirling umbrella shape. 

Mr. Eugenie Schuyler, in his book on Turkestan, has graphically de- 
scribed the exercises which he saw in the mosque at Tashkend. A consider- 
able number of men were on their knees in front of the kiblah, performance 
reciting prayers with loud cries and violent movements of the ^^ '^^^^^®^^- 
body, the prayers being as follows : 
" My defence is in Allah ! May 
Allah be magnified ! My light, 
Mohammed — God bless him ! 
There is no God but God!" 
These words were chanted hun- 
dreds of times over in a low 
voice, the devotees' heads being 
violently thrown to the left over 
the shoulder, then back, then over 
the right shoulder, then down. 
The movements, at first slow, con- 
tinually increased in speed, till 
the performers were exhausted. 
'' When their voices became en- 
tirely hoarse with one cry, another 
was begun, and finally the cry 
was struck up of ' Hai, Hai ! Allah 
Hai ! ' (Live, Allah, the immortal), 
at first slowly, with an inclination 
of the body to the ground ; then 
the rhythm grew faster and in 
cadence, the body became more 
and more vertical, until at once 
they all stood up ; the measure 
still increased in rapidity, and 
each one placing his hand on the 
shoulder of his neighbour, and 
thus forming several concentric 
rings, they moved in a mass from 
side to side of the mosque, leaping about, and always crying, ' Hai, Allah 
Hai ! ' " and this was only a small part of one performance. 

Some of the rites of the dervishes are observed only by particular 
orders, some by many orders. Some observe a forty days' fast occasionally 
(that is, from daybreak to sunset each day), others confine them- 
selves in a cell in a sepulchre-mosque north of Cairo, remaining 
there three duj^s and nights, scarcely eating during that period, on the 
occasion of the festival of the saint of the mosque. During this time they 




THE MAHMAL (p. 5G7). 



570 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

continually repeat certain special forms of prayer, coming out of their cells 
into the mosque to join in the five daily prayers, and making no answer to 
any one who speaks to them but " There is no God but God." 

Almost all the dervishes in Egypt, says Lane, are tradesmen, artisans, 
or agriculturists, and only occasionally join in the ceremonies of their orders. 
Some do nothing but perform their special religious exercises at the festivals 
of saints and at private entertainments, and chant in funeral processions. 
Some are water-carriers, a few wander about and subsist on alms, wearing 
fantastic or characteristic dresses. Many Turkish and Persian wandering 
dervishes in Egypt are among the most importunate for alms. 

A vokime might be filled with accounts of the dervishes, but we can 

only give in any detail a notice of the ceremony of the Ddse/i, or ''treading "^ 

m^ . ' , on prostrate dervishes by the horse of the sheikh or chief of the 
The doseh. oi t t t • t i p t " n ^ -r-r 

baadiyeh dervishes, preacher oi the mosque oi the Hasanem. 

After noon prayers on a certain Friday, when the Prophet's miraculous ascent 
to heaven is celebrated, the sheikh, seated on a horse of moderate size, goes 
to visit the sheikh El Bikree, who is the head of all the dervishes of Egypt. 
Before he reaches his destination, a considerable number of dervishes lie 
down upon the ground, side by side, as close as possible, with backs up- 
ward, legs extended, and arms placed together beneath their foreheads, and 
constantly murmuring " Allah ! " Twelve or more dervishes then run along 
over their backs, some beating little drums and exclaiming " Allah ! " Then 
the sheikh approaches on his horse, and with some little difficulty the 
animal is urged over the prostrate bodies, being led by two men who them- 
selves also run over the bodies. Apparently no one is hurt, and all jump up 
and follow the sheikh immediately. Each receives two treads from the horse, 
and their escaping injury is considered to be a miracle granted specially to 
the sheikh of this order. Another remarkable performance of a dervish 
order is the chewing of a mouthful of red-hot charcoal without showing any 
sign of pain. Epileptic fits often occur during some dervish performances. 

Nearly akin to the regard paid to dervishes is the worship of reputed 
saints, both living and dead. Many of the reputed saints of Egypt and 
other Mahometan countries are harmless lunatics or idiots whose 
mind is imagined to be in heaven. Some even go about naked, 
others in the strangest or most absurd garbs. The term loali^ properly ap- 
plicable only to a very eminent saint, has consequently become degraded to 
mean also " fool " or simpleton. Any privilege and reverence is readily 
accorded to such ; and it is believed that there exists a certain most holy 
wall, who is not known as such, and who may perhaps be seen anywhere. 
He is reported to be almost constantly seated at Mecca on the roof of the 
Kaaba, and at the gate of Cairo called Bab Zuwxyleh. Many persons when 
they pass this gate recite the Moslem prayer, and give alms to a beggar 
seated there. Persons having headaches drive a nail into the door to charm 
away the pain ; sufferers from toothache extract a tooth and insert it in a 
crevice of the door. The holiest wali is believed to be able to transport 
himself in an instant from Mecca to Cairo, and also to wander at will 



MODERN ISLAM. 57 1 



through the world, distributing, through other wahs, blessings and evils. 
Many walis, who often live in desert places, are regularly supplied with 
food by the faithful. In numerous cases they are believed to have the power 
of working miracles. 

Deceased saints are venerated and even worshipped more than living 
ones. Large mosques are erected over the tombs of the more celebrated ; 
and even minor saints in Egypt are honoured with small square -^oj-gjiip of 
white-washed buildings crowned with a cupola. Over the saint's deceased 
vault is an oblong monument, usually covered by silk or linen, 
with some words from the Koran worked upon it. The most notable 
memorial of a saint in Egypt is the great mosque of the Hasanen, in which 
the head of Hosain, the son of Ali and grandson of Mahomet, is said to be 
buried. The people regard the deceased saints as interceding for them with 
God, and consequently make offerings and pay visits of veneration to them, 
reciting the Moslem prayer before the door of the monument and on each of 
its four sides, also saying, " Grod, I have transferred the merit of what I 
have recited from the excellent Koran to the person to whom this place is 
dedicated," and prayers are said in which the saint's help as intercessor is 
besought. Almost every village in Egypt has some patron saint, whose 
tomb is visited by the people on a particular day of the week, making 
various offerings or vows ; and all the chief saints have anniversary festivals 
or molids, when varied special observances are gone through, when many 
persons visit the tombs to obtain special blessings, and dervishes perform 
their exercises or portions of the Koran. 

Sufism as a form of mysticism is far from being exhausted by an ac- 
count of the dervishes or of reverence for saints. They all agree in giving 
a mystic spiritual meaning to the Koran, and consider that their 
system has existed since the foundation of the* world. In fact, it 
is a Moslem adaptation of the Vedanta Hindu philosophy, and the allied 
])hilosopliy of Buddhism, together with some influence from the early 
Christian anchorites. They all profess implicit obedience to a spiritual 
guide, and that they are either inspired by God Himself, or are in union with 
God. The leading doctrines of Sufism may be thus expressed : God alone 
exists, and is in all things, and all things are in Him. All beings are an 
emanation from Him, and are not really distinct from Him. There is no real 
difference between good and evil, all being from and in God, who fixes man's 
actions. The soul existed before the body, in which it is constrained, and 
longs to be set free by death to return to the Divinity. The main occupa- 
tion of the Sufi is to meditate on the unity of God, to perform the exercises 
of his special order, and to progress rightly in the journey of life. This 
journey is described in different stages, the lowest of which is the obser- 
vance of the law. Later, in answer to his prayers, he reaches the true love 
of God, followed by the desire for seclusion, which by contemplation leads to 
knowledge. Often this produces ecstasy, during which direct revelation of 
truth from God may be received, through which union with God may be 
reached even in the present life. It is tliis union which the eccentric exer- 



572 ' THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

cises of the dervislies are designed to promote. There is a considerable 
literature describing Sufi thought, for which subject Hughes's " Dictionary 
of Islam," and Palmer's '' Oriental Mysticism," may be consulted. 

Poetry is a very prominent feature in Sufism ; and indeed the poetry of 
Saadi and the odes of Hafiz are as a sort of Scripture to the Persian Sufis. 
The author of the " Masnawi " (a.d. 1302) thus expresses some Sufi 
doctrines : — 

" Are we fools ? We are God's captivity. 
Are we wise ? We are His promenade. 
Are we sleeping ? We are drunk with God. 
Are we waking? Then we are His heralds. 
Are we weeping ? Then His clouds of wrath. 
Are we laughing ? Flashes of His love." 

Mahmoud writes : — 

" All sects but multiply the I and thou ; 
This I and thou belong to partial being. 
When I and thou and several being vanish, 
Then mosque and church shall find thee nevermore." 

A poem of another author has the following lines : — 

" Joy ! joy ! " I triumph now ; no more I know 
Myself as simply me. I burn with love. 
The centre is within me, and its wonder 
Lies as a circle everywhere about me." 

Thus we see that Sufism is really a form of pantheism, and, strangely 
like the Buddhist, the votary seeks to lose his own identity. Sufism is not 
Relation to true Mohammedanism, but rather an erection starting from it, of 
pantheism. ^ mystic creed in which the inner light or some spiritual teacher 
becomes paramount, and which can dispense with moral law. Consequently 
one Sufi sect openly neglects morality, and professes community of property 
and women. Such people regard any sin they are inclined to as imposed 
by fate ; and do not consider themselves guilty whatever they maj^ do. 

We pass by a natural transition to the Shiites, who abound in Persia, 
the stronghold of mysticism. The word Shiah literally means " followers," 
Th shiit ^^^ ^^ ^^ ^^'> ^'^ liiisband of Fatima. They maintain, as we have 
' already said, that Ali was the first true imam or caliph, and that 
true religion consists in the knowledge of the rightful imams. Of these 
the leading sect, or Twelveans, recognise twelve ; the last, Mohammed Abu 
I'Kasim, being supposed to be still alive, and to be about to appear as a 
precursor of the Day of Judgment. This is why pretenders to this title 
appear at various times, and, if favoured by circumstances, gain such a large 
following. But the apparently simple faith of the Shiites has admitted of 
much controversy and schism, and there are nearly as many sects of them 
as of Sunnites. 

The principal differences between Shiites and Sunnites, says Prof. A. 



MODERN ISLAM. 



573 



Milller in the EncijcJopcecUa Brltannlca, depend on their legitimistic 
opinions {i.e. their opinion as to the rightful imams or caHphs), cr Their cMef 
are accommodations of the rites of Islam to the Persian nationality? distinctions, 
or else are petty matters affecting ceremonial. Thus they reject all the 
" Traditions " of the Sunnites as being compiled under illegitimate caliphs^ 
and they have their own borly of tradition, alleged to be compiled under Ali^ 
but not genuine. They 
add to the ordinary Moslem 
creed, " and Ali is the Wali 
(vicegerent or confidant) of 
God." Some of their sects 
regard Ali as Divine, and 
many of them recognise him 
as partaking of the Divine 
nature. Those who have 
deeply studied Persian Mo- 
hammedanism, like Sir 
Lewis Pelly, have discovered 
that the Shiite schism is 
really an expression of the 
race antagonism between 
the Iranian Aryans of Per- 
sia and the Semites. 

The Shiites reject the 
conclusions of the four great 

schools of Sun- Their moUahs 

nite law founded ^^ coueges. 
on the Traditions, and de- 
rive all their law from the 
Koran ; but they depend 
upon their mollahs or re- 
ligious teachers to declare 
its correct interpretation. 
The mollahs are trained in 
madrasas, or colleges at- 
tached to the mosques ; but 
their training is inferior to 
that of Cairo and Bokhara. 
The most noted Shiite ma- 
drasa is at Kerbela, 50 
miles south-west of Bagdad, in the Turkish dominions, said to be the scene of 
the martyrdom of Hosain the son of Ali. The students, when passed out of 
the colleges, become local mollahs, and later may join the college in a larger 
town, each of which has a chief mollah known as the Sheikh ul Islam. Certain 
presidents of the chief mosques are known as mujtahich or " enlightened 
doctors," and their opinion is taken as final in all matters of Moslem law and 




THE D ;SKy. 



574 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

doctrine. In Persia the cadi is an inferior judge who acts instead of the 
Sheikh nl Islam in special cases ; a mufti, or sohcitor for the court, prepares 
cases to come before the cadi. There was for long a sort of war between 
the Government of Persia and the Mohammedan doctors ; and the Govern- 
ment has good ground of offence in the corruption of the courts, while the 
rights of spiritual asylum and protection by the clergy are most valuable to 
the common people. 

The Persian dervishes belonging to the Shiites are, it is said, more im- 
moral and unworthy of respect than any others. '• At the great feasts 
Persian especially they quarter themselves impudently in wealthy houses, 
dervishes. ^^^ deafen the indwellers with their unceasing cry of Yd TiaTck 
(' truth ! ' the mystical equivalent of ' God ! '). The wise and modest 
dervish who in Saadi's poems tells the greatest Sultan the truth as to the 
hollowness of his royal state has degenerated into the half-mad and insolent 
hanger-on who thrusts himself into audience-chambers and claims the seat 
of honour beside the grandees. The multitude of these motley vagabonds, 
some harmless, others dangerous, is explained by the love of idleness, 
buffoonery, and story- telling, which is even more marked in Persia than in 
other parts of the East." (M.) 

Undoubtedly Islam as practised in Persia is a very degenerate cult. The 
great majority of those who profess it belie it by their lives. They attach 
much more importance to their distinctions from Sunnites and Jews than 
to the teaching of the Koran. The Persian " natural turn for lying and 
hypocrisy" comes out very evidently in their religion. Private drunkenness 
and mere temporary ^^ marriages " are very common among them, and the 
mollahs even countenance them. 

The Persians set great store by religious festivals and shows. "While 
they celebrate the great sacrificial feast or Bairam festival, they attach 
Passion ^^^^e greatest importance to the Moharram (see p. 567), which is 
plays. celebrated by passion-plays, consisting of several parts, one of 
which is enacted on each successive day of the mourning. In these are 
most pathetically and vividly set forth the events of the life of Hosain and 
the tragedy of his death ; and the spectators become fanatically excited as 
they witness the successive scenes. " I have seen some of the most violent 
of them," says Morier, ''as they vociferated, '0 Hosain! ' walk about the 
streets almost naked, with only their loins covered, and their bodies stream- 
ing with blood, by the voluntary cuts which they have given to themselves, 
either as acts of love, anguish, or mortification." The Shiites, who are very 
numerous in Oude and in other parts of India, also celebrate the martyrdom 
of Hasan and Hosain at the Moharram festival by miracle plays, which are 
fully described by Sir Lewis Pelly in his '' Miracle Play." We illustrate the 
Moharram festival at Bombay by a representation of a procession. 

Yet there is some vitality remaining in Persian Mohammedanism, as 

evidenced by the growth of sects which aim at purifying or improving 

the popular religion. Some hold Ali to be a divine incarnation, 

others explain away the resurrection. The most remarkable of 



MODERN ISLAM. 575 



the modern sects, however, is that founded by Ali, a young man of Shiraz, 
in 18-13. He taught a sort of communism and pantheism, the unity of God, 
and the re-absorption of all things in Him ; that God reveals His Aii, 
will by a series of messengers who are divine as well as human, "The Bab." 
each being the revealer of some new truth. Of these Moses, Jesus, Ma- 
homet, and himself were the chief, while he looked for a greater to come 
after him, the great Revealer. A fanciful theory of numbers, especially 
connected with the number 19, was one of his specialities. He chose 18 
chief disciples, who with himself made up 19. The great work of reve- 
lation was to contain 19 chapters, of which he wrote eleven, leaving the rest 
to be written by his successor, etc. His person was most attractive, his 
life pious and regular, and his doctrine gained such sway that the State 
became alarmed. He took the title of '' the Bab," that is " the Door," the 
only one through which men can reach God. He discountenanced poly- 
gamy, forbade divorce, and abolished the veiling of women. He also 
sternly exposed the vices of the mollahs : and consequently they were his 
bitter enemies. This fact secured him toleration by the Government for 
some time, and his converts spread his cult widely in Persia. One of his 
chief followers, Hosain, formed a camp of Babis, as the new religionists were 
called, at Castle Tebersy, which in 1848 was stormed and Hosain killed. In 
Tarious provinces the Government attacked the Babis, imprisoned and 
martyred men, women, and children, and killed the Bab himself under 
circumstances of great cruelt}^ and contumely on 18th July, 1849. A new 
Bab, indicated by supposed divine signs, was chosen by his followers, named 
Yahya. A further massacre of the Babis took place in 1852, since which 
time the sect has not dared to show itself openly, though zealously propa- 
gated in secret. It is unknown whether the new Bab is still living, and how 
many Babis there are is doubtful. A recent traveller puts them at 100,000 
(see Contemporary Review^ Dec, 1885). They write many books, which are 
secretl}^ circulated, and their teachings are said to have taken the greatest 
hold of the most intelligent classes in Persia. 

We must briefly mention two heretical sects, possibly descended from 
the Khawarij, who revolted from Ali after the battle of Sifdn, being- 
offended because he submitted his right to the Caliphate to human decision, 
when according to them it ought to be left to Divine arbitrament. They 
also believed that any man might be made Caliph, of whatever Abadites and 
tribe or nation, provided he were a just person, and also that a zeidites. 
Caliph who was a wrong-doer might be put to death or deposed. The Aba- 
diyeh of Oman and Zanzibar hold this doctrine at the present day, and are 
said to number four millions. They reject a vast quantity of Sunnite 
traditions, and have no communion with Sunnites. The Zeidites of Yemen 
are probably akin to them in belief, rejecting the traditional Caliphate, but 
passing themselves off as Sunnites when on pilgrimage. They do not 
number more than two millions. 

The Wahhabi movement, now nearly two centuries old, has been one 
of the most potent that has ever arisen in Islam, and is by no means ex- 



576 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

tinct, though shorn of much of its former influence. It arose by the preach- 
The i^g of Mohammed Abd el Wahhab, the son of Wahhab, whose 
WahhaMs. name has been given to the movement, since his own proper name 
would have confused it with that of the Prophet. He was born in the 
Their centre of Nejd, the great desert tract in Arabia, in 1691, was 
founder, educated as a Hanbalite, visited and studied at Mecca, Basra 
(Bassorah), Bagdad, and Medina, and returning home started his mission as 
a religious teacher. Fired with zeal for primitive Islam and hatred for the 
extravagances, excrescences, and evils he had noted in various Moslem 
countries, he taught the pure unity of God, rejected all the tra- 
eac ing-. ^j^^^Q^^g except those derived from the Companions of the Prophet, 
and claimed the right of private judgment as to the Koran and the Tradi- 
tions. He abolished the invocation and worship of saints and the dead, and 
forbade the use of intoxicants and tobacco, the wearing of silver and gold, 
and every practice forbidden by the Koran. Thus his movement partook 
both of Puritanism and Protestantism. 

The new teacher began to preach at about forty years old, and soon 
drew down upon himself great opposition. He had to take refuge at 
His Deraieh, with Mohammed ibn Saood, who espoused his cause 
champion, eagerly, and sought to establish his own conquests on the basis 
or pretext of the new doctrines. He began a career of conquest which ex- 
tended the Wahhabi principles and the rule of his own dynasty over the 
greater part of Arabia. On Ibn Saood's death in 1765, Nejd was a strong 
kingdom, and his son's successor, Abd-ul-Aziz, assumed the titles of imam 
and sultan. The founder of the Wahhabis lived on till 1787. Abd-ul-Aziz 
TheWahhahi continued his conquests till 1803, when he was murdered by 
kingdom. ^ Persian fanatic. His son Saood took Kerbela, containing the 
tombs of the Shiite caliphs, and destroyed everything that savoured of 
idolatry, from the golden dome of Hosain's tomb to the smallest tobacco 
. pipe. In 1803 he took Mecca and performed similar destruction, 
Medina though without any personal outrage on the people. Medina 
*^ ®^- -^as taken in 1804, and the dome over the Prophet's tomb was 
destroyed. The usual pilgrimages were now suspended, none but those who 
conformed to Wahhabi views bsing allowed to approach the holy places. 

The Sultan of Turkey was at last roused to vigorous action, and in a 
succession of campaigns under Mehemet Ali and Ibrahim Pasha, lasting 
Defeat by ^^^^ 1811 to 1818, the Wahhabi dominion was practically crushed, 
Mehemet Ali and Deraieh, its capital, destroyed. In a short time, however, the 
' Wahhabis showed signs of revival, and Riad in Nejd became its 
stronghold, and the capital of a kingdom which gradually extended over 
the greater part of the central desert land of Arabia, although it never 
regained its supremacy in Oman, Bahrein, and Yemen. 

When it appeared destined to extinction, the Wahhabi faith was still 

taught by some teachers at Mecca; and Seyyid Ahmed, a freebooter of 

Extension inBareilly, but a descendant of the Prophet, learning the truth from 

India. them, returned from Mecca in 1822 resolved to reclaim Northern 



MODERN ISLAM. 



577 



India to the true belief of Islam. He was hailed as the true caliph or 
mahdi, propagated the Wahhabi doctrines widely, started a religious war 




m 1826 against the Sikhs, but failed after some years' time But in 
recent years Wahhabism has been still more widely spread in Ind 
books, and is now exercising a powerful influence there. 



more 
ia by 



p p 



578 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS, 

Some of tlie doctrines of the Wahhabis, beyond those already men- 
tioned, are : that at the last day Mahomet will obtain permission of God to 
Special intercede for His people ; that no prostration or perambulation of 
doctrines, glints is lawful, not even of Mahomet's at Medina ; that women 
should not visit graves, because of their excessive weeping ; that only four 
festivals should be observed — those of the Sacrifice, of the Breaking of the 
Fast (after Eamadan), the 10th Moharram, and the Night of Power. 

No' doubt Wahhabism has some strong features ; but it is too com- 
pletely reactionary and puritanical. Its end, if it were successful, would 
be to spread a Moslem propagandism over the world ; and it 
Its defects. ^^^^^^^ refuse to recognise anything not known during the early 
years of Islam. What injured it more than anything, was its capture and 
exclusive possession of Mecca and Medina, and the destruction of venerated 
objects and relics there. 

The Druses may be most conveniently mentioned here. They inhabit 
the mountains of Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon, and the Hauran to the east of 

the Sea of Galilee, and extend as far north as Beyrout, and east 
Tlie Druses 

' to Damascus. Altogether they number about 70,000, having over 

100 towns and villages of their own, and occupy more than twice as many 

in common with Christians. They appear to have originated 

from mixed Arab, Kurd, and other — even Indian — tribes, who 

aggregated there in a spirit of lawlessness and self-defence, beginning as 

far back as pre-Moslem times. 

The sixth Fatimite caliph in Egypt, Hakim Biamrillah, who began to 

reign at Cairo in a.d. 1019, a tyrannical and half-insane ruler, believed that 

he had direct communication with the Deitv, and indeed was an 

incarnation of the Divine. In 1029 these claims were publicly 

asserted in Cairo, and supported by his confessor Darazi. The latter had to 

fly, owing to the popular indignation. He took refuge in "Western 

Hermon, and propagated his belief considerably. A little later, 

however. Hakim's vizier, Hamza, a Persian mystic, was more successful in 

elaborating the new doctrine with various additions of his own, 

and succeeded in getting it widely accepted. Hakim was at last 

assassinated, in 1032 ; but it was given out by Hamza that he was only 

gone for a time, and that his followers were to expect his coming again with 

confidence. Darazi was termed a heretic by Hamza, and is still hated by the 

Druses, who probably derive their name from him, while Hamza is revered as 

the founder of their faith. We cannot detail their subsequent history, which 

is told in Churchill's " Druses and Maronites," 1862. They have nearly 

always been at war among themselves, with the Christians, or with the 

Recent Turks. In modern times they became bitterly hostile to their 

history, neighbours the (Christian) Maronites, and the most cruel warfare 

was carried on for many years between them (1841-1861), It was at last 

composed on the appointment of a Christian governor independent of the 

district (1864), since which time disturbances have practically ceased. 

The Druses are extremely conservative, and do not seek to make 



MODERN ISLAM. 579 

converts. Their doctrines include, together with much of the Koran and 
Sufism, a considerable infusion from the Pentateuch and the . 
Gospels. They believe in one God, without seeking to define His 
nature or attributes, and call themselves Unitarians. God has, according 
to them, been at different epochs manifested to mankind in a human form, 
without weaknesses or imperfections, Ali and Hakim being among these 
The latter was the last and final incarnation. Finally, when the troubles of 
the faithful have reached their fulness. Hakim will come again and over- 
come the world, so that the true religion may reign supreme. The first of 
God's creatures they name Universal Intelligence ; he is always manifested 
together with the Divine Incarnation, and Hamza was the last of such 
manifestations. He alone has direct communication with God, and imparts 
his knowledge and gifts to all subordinate ministers. He will be the 
medium of Hakim's conquests, and will distribute rewards and punishments. 
The Universal Intelligence is also lield to be the creator of every soul. At 
death souls pass into other bodies, and rise to a superior degree if truly 
attached to truth, or descend if they have neglected religious meditation. 

The seven great duties of the Druses are : (1) Truth in speech (towards 
one another only), (2) mutual protection, (3) rejection of all other religions, 
(4) separation from all who are in error, (5) belief in the unity seven great 
of God, (6) resignation to His will, (7) and obedience to His duties, 
commands. Prayer is considered to be an impertinent attempt to interfere 
witli God's designs ; but the freewill of man is clearly held. The faithful 
are commanded to keep their doctrines secret from unbelievers, and to this 
end the}^ are permitted to make outward profession of any religion which 
prevails around them. 

There is a special class of Druses who alone are admitted into the deeper 
knowledge of the religion, known as the Akals. This class, constituting 
15 per cent, of the whole people, is open to any one after a 
year's probation and proof that he w^ill strictly keep the laws of 
the religion. All these abstain from tobacco and wine, and wear no gold or 
silver or gorgeous clothing. They are often ascetics, wear a distinctive white 
turban, and show great devotion and purity. Friday being their day of 
rest, as among the Mahometans, on Thursday evenings the 
Akals assemble in their plain meeting-houses in retired spots 
and read their religious books. These meeting-houses have revenues 
belonging to them, devoted to the poor and to showing hospitality. Their 
-acred books, which are numerous (in manuscript), are marked b}^ a high 
tone of morality : and there is no proof of the allegations of nefarious 
l)ractices which the Maronites have brought against them. For hospi- 
tality, charity, and fidelity to guests they stand high. Polygamy is 
forbidden ; near relations often marry. Divorce is freely allowed. Those 
who die in righteousness are buried in their own houses. Numerous 
manuscripts of the Druses are to be found in European libraries. 

A brief review of the distribution of Islam must suffice. The Sultan 
of Turkey is reputed the only true successor to the caliphs, and bears the 



58o THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

title " Successor of the Prophet/' But lie is very mucli under the control of 
the ulemas, headed by the sheikh-ul-Islam (or grand mufti), whom^ 
Turkey. jiQ^ever, he nominates as his deputy in the imamate. But he 
must choose him from among the mollahs or superior ulemas ; and from his 
judgment on matters of law and religion there is no appeal. The con- 
servative and dilatory spirit of the ulemas of Constantinople is one of the 
great obstacles to Turkish reform. The Turkish official and ruling classes 
are very largely hypocrites, unbelievers, or formalists ; such reality as is 
found in Turkish Islam is chiefly to be met with in the lower classes. The 
ordinary Turk of Roumelia or Asia Minor to a large extent really believes 
and practises his religion. The very general profession of Islam in Arabia, 
Persia, and Syria will have been gathered from what has gone before. 
Kurdistan, Turkestan, and Tartary are mainly Mohammedan, as are 
Afghanistan and Beluchisfcan. Kerbela, not far from Bagdad, 
is the most holy place of the Shiites, having the tomb of 
Hosain, the son of Ali. They believe that whoever lives or dies there will 
have nothing to fear in the world to come ; and many Shiites leave in- 
structions in their wills that they shall be buried there. Besides the 
numerous caravans bringing dead bodies for burial, Kerbela is visited by 
many pilgrims. 

Next to Kerbela the Shiites revere Meshed, the capital of Khorasan, the 

burial place of the Imam Ali or Riza, the eighth imam. His shrine is 

• annually visited by 100,000 pilgrims, and he is dealt with as if 

actually living. Kum, between Teheran and Ispahan, is almost 

equally famous, as the shrine of Fatima, his sister. 

The Mohammedans of India are largely found in Bengal, the IsTorth-west 
Provinces, and the Punjab, and approach 50 millions in number. They have 
a vast influence, and are among the most zealous adherents of 
their faith. They have many magnificent mosques and mauso- 
leums, as the Jummoo Musjid at Delhi (p. 581), the Taj Mehal at Agra 
(p. 583), etc., which we figure. Even in Benares, the great centre of 
Hinduism, there are 330 mosques. 

Even in China Mohammedans exist in large numbers, though it is 
very difficult to estimate them exactly. In some parts of North China, 
however, they form a third of the population ; but they are 
largely of foreign extraction, Turkish or Persian, and their settle- 
ment in China took place chiefly after a.d. 1000. They keep up the 
exclusiveness of their religion, sometimes marking their houses or signs 
with the words Hwei-hwei (Mahometan) ; but they are not unfrequently to 
be found in the Government service, and in office conform outwardly to 
the State religion. They read the Koran in Arabic, which is taught in the 
schools attached to the mosques ; but the tenets of their religion are also 
learned from Chinese works. For their mosques they adopt the Chinese 
style, with some Western features ; and they are ornamented with Arabic 
and Chinese inscriptions painted on monumental boards. The people are 
certainly not so attentive to daily prayer as in other countries, and they 



MODERN ISLAM. 



581 



do nob now make the pilgrimage to Mecca. Several million Malays are 
Mohammedans, mostly under Dutch rule. 




In North Africa, Islam shows some of its least inviting aspects, es- 
pecially in Morocco. Here exclusiveness and antagonism to Christians are 



5 82 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

most markedly displayed. The Sherifs, or so-called descendants of tlie 

Prophet, hold sway and insult others with impunity; and the 

' Marabuts or Saints claim and gain great reverence. In Tunis, 

the holy city of Kairwan is a noted almost exclusive domain of Islam, and 

has one of the finest mosques in Northern Africa. 

In many countries Mohammedanism seems to be decaying, and to have 
lost all power to elevate the people ; in Central Africa it is seen in most 
vigorous life, and it has succeeded where Christianity, as hitherto 
Western presented, — together with small-pox and the gin bottle, — has 
Africa. fg^j;|g(^^ js^q unprejudiced person who has compared the descrip- 
tions of the Mohammedan countries of the Soudan and Western Africa 
with that of pagan negroes, can fail to admit that the former include the 
most active, intelligent, progressive of the Negro races. This may be par- 
tially due to admixture of Semitic, Abyssinian, or other non-negro blood ; 
but this admixture is often slight, and many of the most zealous African 
Moslems are pure negroes. Who can deny that the fetishism of the Fantis 
and Ashantis is far lower than the belief in one God, the simple, regular 
Moslem prayers, the devoutness of mosque worship ? or that the abstinence 
from intoxicants which Islam preaches is preferable in tropical climates to 
the indulgence of the European, to which he tempts his African brethren ? 
The simplicity of the creed makes it easy of comprehension by the 
untutored African. In Islam "everything," as Mr. Joseph Thomson says 
{Contemporary Review^ vol. 50, p. 883), " is within the range of the negro's 
comprehension — a very terrible One God, who sits in judgment, and a 
very real heaven and hell." 

From the tenth century onwards Mahometanism has been advancing 
continuously in Africa, from Egypt and Abyssinia, spreading westward 
Contrast be- and southward, until now nearly all the large States stretching 
*and MoSm across the So Lid an to the West Coast are under its sway. Many 
negro. Christian observers testify to the contrast between a Mahometan 
and a heathen negro State. " The love of noisy terpsichorean performances, 
so noticeable in pagan communities," says Dr. Blyden, himself a negro 
Christian of high character and abilities, " disappears as the people come 
under the influence of Mohammedanism. It is not a fact that ' When the 
sun goes down, all Africa dances ' ; but it might be a fact, if it were not 
for the influence of Islam. Those who would once have sought pleasure in 
the excitement of the tom-tom, now repair five times a day to the mosque, 
where they spend a quarter of an hour on each occasion in devotional 
exercises. After the labours of the day they assemble in groups near the 
mosque to hear the Koran recited, or the Traditions or some other book 
read." In every State schools have been established, in which the usual 
Moslem education is given ; and few villages are now without several men 
who can read or write Arabic. In some cases they even go for further 
education to Cairo. The polygamy which Islam sanctions is not attended 
with the seclusion or veiling of women imposed in other countries, and there 
are several other respects in which Islam in the Soudan is more tolerant 



MODERN ISLAM. 



583 



than elsewhere. Still there have been many religious wars in the Soudan ; 
and in Bornu the position of non-converts has been aggravated by their 
being always liable to be carried away into slavery. Even in Lagos 
Mahometan schools are to be found, as well as followers of the Prophet who 
have made the pilgrimage to Mecca. 

The influence of the Koran as an educator has been very marked in 
Africa, especially in unifying, supplying common ground for study and 
Avorship, and inspiring a common antagonism to paganism. The Koran 
'' Even where the ideas are not fully understood," says Dr. Blyden, ^ei^vltes^ 
'• the words seem to possess for them a nameless beauty and negro, 
music, a subtle and indefinable charm, incomprehensible to those acquainted 
onl}^ with European languages." No translations could replace it, and thus 
Arabic is now spreading far and wide. Moreover, just as Islam in former 




THE TAJ MEHAL, AGUA. 



times produced many a hero-prophet, so in modern times has it been in 
Moslem Africa, although Europe has known nothing of it. Among those 
in the middle of this century may be mentioned the Sheikh Omaru Al-Hajj, 
a native of Fatah Toro, between Timbuctoo and the West Coast. He was 
a great proselytiser and religious leader, banished paganism from Sego, and 
elevated and purified the Mahometanism of several Fulah nations. He 
wrote many Arabic works in prose and poetry ; and his poems are recited 
and sung in man}- Moslem towns and villages from Sierra Leone as far in- 
land as Kano. And the feeling he had is shared in a degree by all negro 
Moslems. To propagate Islam is the one object worthy of enthusiasm, 
whatever sufferings they or their opponents may have to endure. While 
Christian missions in Africa are an expensive exotic, only to a slight extent 
permanently impressing the negro nature, the natives of the Soudan keep 



584 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



up mosques, services, schools, etc., and contribute to support the missionaries 
who come to them from Arabia or elsewhere ; and this even in Sierra Leone. 
Grood observers attribute this partly to the fact that Mohammedans do 
really place the negro convert on a moral level with themselves, give him 
a career that inspires him with ambition, and practically make him re- 
spect himself. Moreover Islam has done in Africa what it has scarcely done 
anywhere else except in China, it has adapted many of its customs to suit 
the negro. The Arab type has been grafted on the negro, and has not 
wrecked it. Since the influence of Timbuctoo, which was a replica of 
Morocco, has given way to that of Kuka and Kano, the negro amalgama- 
tion has gone on rapidly, and much stability as well as power of spreading 
has been imparted to African Islam. Perhaps, above all, the Arab consti- 
tution has suited the climate of Africa ; the Arab has found his way every- 
where. His skin has not repelled the negro nor contrasted too greatly with 
his. The two races have understood one another far better than the higher 
European. 

Thus on the whole we may anticipate a great future for Islam in Africa 
and in India. Even in other regions, where religion seems sunk in evil, 
we may yet witness an uprising of moral and spiritual reform which may 
revivify the popular religion. Christians may and should acknowledge 
freely the important elements of truth which they hold in common with 
Mohammedans ; yet they cannot shut their eyes to the evils of slavery and 
fatalism, of polygamy and the subjection of women, which largely prevail 
throughout Islam, though not so extensively as many imagine. 

[EncyclopcecUa Britannica : " Sunnites and Sbiites," Prof. A. Miiller (M.) ; Palmer, "Oriental 
Mysticism"; Lane's " Modern Egyptians ; " W. S. Blunt, " The Future of Islam;" J. P. Brown, 
'• The Dervishes ; " Lady Anne Blunt, " A Pilgrimage to Nejd ; " Eugene Schuyler's " Turkestan ; " 
Edkin's "Eeligion in China," chap. xv. ; Morier, " Second Journey through Persia ; " " Christianity, 
Islam and the Negro Kace," E. W. Blyden, LL.D.] 





MOUNT HOREB, OR SINAI. 

BOOK VI. 

THE JEWISH RELIGION. 



CHAPTER I. 



Old Testament the chief authority— Its growth and editing— Elohist and Jehovist narratives— 
The cosmogony of Genesis— Dean Perowne's view— The Jehovist narrative of creation— The fall 
variously interpreted— History of Adam's descendants— Longevity of man— The deluge— The 
covenant with Noah— The confusion of tongues— The history of Israel begins— Abraham's mi- 
gration—His worship of God— Abraham and Melchizedek —Divine appearances— Abraham's 
character— Sacrifice of Isaac— Jacob and special providence— Sacred stones and household 
images— Jacob's great struggle— Patriarchal moral character— Jacob's dying blessings— Israel 
in Egypt— Egyptian influences— Education of Moses— His long residence in Midian— The 
Divine commission— The plagues of Egypt —Passage of the Red Sea— The decalogue- 
Character of Moses. 

WE must preface our remarks upon the Jewish religion by saying that 
it is outside the scope of this work to offer any discussion on the 
question of the inspiration of the Bible, respecting which so many different 
views are current, even amongst divines. It is simply sought to give an 
account of Jewish religion and its growth in the same manner as has been 
done with some other religions, noting the principal features of Old 
Testament teaching, and their historical development, and especially those 
points in which a comparison can be made with other religions. For this 



586 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

purpose it is, of course, necessary to examine the historical records of the 
Old Testament in a manner as unprejudiced as possible by theories of 
inspiration, which on any theory acted through human instruments. 

It is somewhat singular that the Old Testament is almost the only 

authority for much ot the history of the Jews, owing to the absence of 

Old Testa- contemporary records in stone, and of relics of buildings, etc., 

™cwef^^ which in other countries have thrown light on religion ; and it 

authority, jg \^ the religious history of Chaldaea, Assyria, Philistia, and 

Egypt that the most interesting facts have come to light which illustrate 

the development of religion among the Jews. 

Taking the Pentateuch and the Historical Books of the Old Testament 

as a whole, it is pretty generally agreed that, whatever be the date of their 

Its er wth ^'^^^i^g®^^^^^ ^^^ promulgation in the form in which we have 

and them (and this is variously placed in the period between Hilkiah's 
^^^* discovery of the Law in Josiah's reign, in the seventh century 
B.C., and its recitation by Ezra about B.C. 445), the compilers or authors 
had before them previous records, some of which may be distinguished 
from one another by their language, while of others we have only the 
names, such as the Book of the Wars of Jehovah. There are many indica- 
tions in the Pentateuch that it was at least extensively revised long after 
the date of Moses ; and, indeed, there is nowhere in the Pentateuch any 
assertion that Moses wrote the books which have generally been attributed 
to him, and which speak of him in the third person. Discussion as to how 
much Moses has contributed to the Pentateuch would be out of place here. 
It is stated in numerous passages that Moses wrote records of events, and of 
the commands of Jehovah ; and in several passages of the Old Testament 
this is definitely attributed to him. Great knowledge of Egypt and Egyp- 
tian customs is shown by the writer, thus according with the opportu- 
nities Moses had of gaining such knowledge. The value of the historical 
works of the Old Testament as sources of history is extreme ; and many 
facts therein recorded have been remarkably confirmed by archaeological 
and geographical investigations, especially by those of the Palestine Ex- 
ploration Fund. 

A most conspicuous result of modern criticism of the Pentateuch, is the 

discernment of at least two authors or documents, one describing the 

El h' t d supreme God as Elohim, " the Mighty," a plural title which was 

Jehoyist well understood by the peoples surrounding the early Israelites, 

narra ives. ^^^ among whom the briefer El was a common designation 

for their own chief deity ; the other using the term Jehovah, or Jahveh, 

translated "the Lord." A third variation is found when the names are 

coupled together. The passage in Exodus vi. 3, where Jehovah says to 

Moses, " I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, as God 

Almighty (El Shaddai), but by My name Jehovah I was not known to 

them," appears to fix all narratives in which the name Jehovah is used as 

later than that revelation to Moses ; but this is by no means agreed upon by 

critics. We m_ay, however, study the religious development of the Jews in 



EARL Y JE WISH HISTOR V. 587 



two periods — tliat in which the name of the Deity was some form of El or 
Elohim, and that in which it was Jehovah. 

The first book of the Pentateuch, commonly termed Genesis, in the 
first place gives a cosmogony (i. to ii. 3) in which the Creator is spoken of 
as Elohim. It is undoubtedly superior to any other ancient cos- ^^^ ^^^_ 
mogony. It describes every act of creation as directly the work mo^ony of 
of Elohim, and this is the predominant note of the narrative. 
An orderly procession of events is traced, and identified with days which 
may be referred to immense periods of time, though there is no evidence 
that the narrative was originally understood in any sense but that of days 
consisting of evening and morning, or twenty-four hours. The narrative 
appears to imply, though it does not expressly assert, the creation of the 
world out of nothing, and it represents the Creator as in express re- 
lation to His w^ork, regarding it as " good," and " very good." Many 
attempts have been made in modern times to bring the statements as to 
the '' days " of creation into connection with distinct or marked geological 
periods ; but all these appear to fail. In the one case we have a graphic 
representation of the order of creation, drawn out on broad lines appre- 
ciable by mankind in an early stage of literary development, and by 
children and the unlearned of all ages ; on the other we have an attempt at 
inductive and detailed history. The present writer regards the attempt to 
draw out a detailed correspondence between the two as futile. Nor does it 
appear necessary that even those who regard the narrative of creation in 
Genesis as an inspired and infallible document should read into it all the 
discoveries of modern science in order to establish or confirm its value and 
interest. In any case, we have a grand series of pictures, ending with the 
creation of man, or " Adam," male and female, on the sixth day, and a con- 
clusion which gives a foundation and sanction for the Sabbath as observed 
by the Jews, by attributing to the Creator " rest " on the seventh day, 
and the sanctification of the dsij. Bishop Harvey Goodwin {Contemporary 
Review^ vol. 50, p. 52-1) argues that the week did not take its rise from the 
sacred history, but that the form in which the history was cast depended on 
the WTiter's knowledge of the division of time by weeks, and of the Sabbath 
as an institution already existing long before the time of Moses. Bishop 
Goodwin regards the story of creation as either a speculation, or a poetical 
picture, or the record of a vision accorded to some gifted seer. The narrator, 
requiring some framework for his vision, and knowing the division of time 
by weeks, naturally used it as the most appropriate.^ 

In this connection we may quote Dean Perowne's words in Smith's 
*' Dictionary of the Bible" (article Genesis). "It is certain that the author of 

^ Bishop Goodwin further observes tliat "when we speak of tlie ' literal interpretation' 
of this portion of Holy Scripture, we are using lanj^uage which, when examined, has no 
definite meanin«^. The whole history of creation is necessarily supra-literal. ' The Spirit 
of CJod moved upon the face of tlie waters.' What literal meaning is there here? 
' (Jod said. Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.' How can we assign to 
such transcendental language any sense which can properly be called literal^ And so 
on throughout the whole creative history." 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



the first chapter of Grenesis, whether Moses or some one else, knew nothing 
Dean ^^ g^o^ogj ^r astronomy. It is certain that he made use of 
Perowne's phraseology concerning physical facts in accordance with the 
limited range of information which he possessed. It is also' cer- 
tain that the Bible was never intended to reveal to us knowledge of which 
our own faculties rightly used could put us in possession. And we have 
no business, therefore, to expect anything but popular language in the 
description of physical phenomena. Thus, for instance, when it is said that 
by means of the firmament God divided the waters which were above from 
those which were beneath, we admit the fact without admitting the implied 
explanation. The Hebrew supposed that there existed vast reservoirs above 
him corresponding to the ' waters under the earth.' We know that by 
certain natural processes the rain descends from the clouds. But the fact 
remains the same, that there are waters above as well as below." It must, 
however, be admitted that the extent to which modern science is consistent 
with the broad outlines of the picture in Genesis is remarkable. 

The section Genesis ii. 4 to iii. 24 is admitted to be very distinguishable 
from the preceding, especially in its using the form " Jehovah or Jahveh 
The Jehovist ^lohim " for the Deity twenty times. This combination is only 
narrative found elsewhere in the Pentateuch in Exodus ix. 38. The name 
■ Elohim is also used three times by itself. The narrative begins 
by a very different and condensed account of the creation of the world and 
of living things, with a particularisation of man as ^' formed of the dust of 
Adamah, or the ground," whereas he is previously described as " created in 
His own image," and " male and female." The second account goes on to 
describe the primitive dwelling of man, the separate command to Adam or 
the Adam to refrain from eating of a particular tree, on pain of death, the 
naming of all cattle and fowl by Adam, the framing of a woman as his help- 
meet out of his side, this being made the basis for the recognition of 
husband and wife as " one flesh." 

It is not necessary to repeat here the story of the Fall, which has been 
so differently interpreted by thinkers of all ages since criticism began. 
Thefau ^^ny interpret it allegoric ally, as signifying a deep spiritual 
variously truth, of which, however, various accounts may be given. Apart 
* from questions of theology, it is of great interest as showing the 
early Hebrew mode of accounting for the presence of sin in the world. 
The description of the garden in Eden may be referred to some tract of 
Mesopotamia, from which region the ancestors of the Israelites migrated ; 
but it is impossible to identify with any certainty the limited tract that is 
meant. The narrative appears to describe the creation of animals after that 
of man, but it is evident that it does not attempt to give a chronological 
account. Altogether, the description is one showing many marks of 
antiquity, whether or not we suppose the name " Jahveh " to have been 
inserted at a later date. The conception of the Deity '' walking in the 
garden in the cool of the day," and taking part in a series of dialogues, is 
an anthropomorphism which of itself indicates a state of mind which is 



EARL V JE WISH HISTOR Y. 



589 



paralleled in many primitive races, whose inward impressions are heard as 
outward voices, and attributed to spirits or gods. The connection of the 
first wearing of clothing with the first consciousness of sin, the repre- 
sentation of the loss of a primeval state of bliss and ease, the exclusion 
from the garden by cherubims and the flaming sword, the idea of a 
possible seizure of immortality by man, — all these denote an early stage of 
self-conscious reasoning upon the phenomena of life, which has been 
presented to us in such simplicity and charm by no other religious book. 
We may note that the serpent had in the East a reputation for sagacity 
which has not stood the test of later investieration. 




NOAD S SACr.IFICE. 



Genesis iv. contains the story of Adam's family through Cain down 
to Lamecli, with the murder of Abel by Cain, and narrates the earlj' 
occupations of mankind, pastoral and agricultural, the de- 
velopment of the use of metal for cutting implements, and the Adam's 
invention of musical instruments. The two main varieties of ^®^^®^^^^*^- 
early offerings to God are here already established, namely " the fruit of the 
ground," and " the firsthngs of the flock, and of the fat thereof," and the 
superiority of the latter is implied in their acceptance. The punishment of 
murder on earth by a severer sentence than death is indicated, and the 
power of conscience is strongly asserted. In this narrative the name Jahveh 



590 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS, 

is used, and at the close, after describing the birth of Seth as the progenitor 
of the chosen people, we are told that " then men began to call upon the 
name of the Lord." Chapter v. is essentially a genealogical chapter, 
beginning with a third brief account of the creation of man, '' male and 
female," and termed collectively '^ Adam." Here the name ^' Elohim " is 

Longevity ^^^®^' ^^^^P^ "^ '^^'^' '^^' ^^ ^^^^ i^ this chapter mainly that 
of record of longevity which Owen - and many other eminent 
^^^' zoologists and physiologists declare to be incompatible with the 
present physical structure of man, especially of the teeth, while no traces of 
men with any structure admitting of such length of days can be found. Of 
course, if the early calendar was reckoned on some other basis than ours, this 
difficulty disappears ; but, humanly speaking, it is useless to look for modern 
scientific accuracy in a record dating from very early times ; in fact, the power 
of using considerable numbers is a comparatively advanced achievement. 
These records are best looked at as representing the ancient genealogy of 
the Jews preserved in the most authentic form they knew about ; and to 
attempt to reconcile them with modern views on the antiquity of man is a 
fruitless endeavour. We know that names were left out and genealogies 
drawn up in round numbers of generations by the Jews, of which there are 
numerous examples in the Bible. It has been suggested that the account of 
Enoch's translation represents an interesting stage of the mode by which 
heroes become deified in many countries. 

In the history of Noah we come into closer contact with the traditions 
of other nations, and especially with the Chaldsean deluge story, alread}^ 
referred to (p. 494). Moral evil had risen to a great height, 
^ ^ ^ ' owing, as the early Hebrews believed, to an intermixture of the 
daughters of the Adam with a powerful race, the sons of Elohim, or the 
mighty ones, giving rise to " giants." Jahveh is represented as " repenting " 
of having made man, and as threatening his extinction. Noah, a righteous 
man, was selected to be preserved during the impending destruction, and 
was instructed to make a great " ark " in which he could save his family, 
and two of " every living thing," an expression which must be taken with 
obvious limitations. We need not follow the details of the Flood, but note 
that it is obviously impossible that this can have been a universal Deluge in 
the sense in which that term would now be understood. The conception of 
a plain only broken by comparatively low hills, covered by water as far 
as the eye could see, suffices to adequately fulfil the conditions really 
demanded. The " mountains of Ararat " are rendered the '' mountains of 
Armenia " by many, and it is nowhere said that the highest mountains were 
meant. Noah's offering of a burnt sacrifice to God consisting of " every 
clean beast and every clean fowl " is of great interest as showing religious 
advance, and as indicating that a sort of classification of animals into clean 
and unclean had been made. The narrative, among other anthropomor- 
phisms, represents the Deity as '' smelling a sweet savour." 

The great covenant which Noah now received and promulgated is of 
prime interest in whatever way it may be regarded, whether as a direct 



EARL V JE WISH HISTORY. 59i 

Divine revelation, or as an evidence of a stage in natural religious develop- 
ment. A very orthodox commentator regards the covenant as The covenant 
expressing Noah's strong inward convictions in answer to his ^i^iiNoaii. 
prayers during his sacrifice. They express hopefuhiess of future good, not- 
withstanding the evil so prone to arise in man's heart, and confidence in 
God's beneficence. They contain a sort of charter of man's supremacy on 
the earth and over animals, which in its broad lines is unique at such an 
early period. The responsibility for human life is laid down as a funda- 
mental human obhgation, resting upon man's brotherhood, and his relation- 
ship to God as being made " in His image." Noah, appalled by the late 
destruction, was reassured that neither men nor beasts were to be cut off by 
a flood in futm-e. The rainbow was to Noah the sign of this covenant, a 
fact b}^ no means impl^dng, what so man}^ have imagined, that the rainbow 
then first appeared, an idea incompatible with the laws of light. In the 
histor}^ of Noah, then, we trace the broad outline of the conception so much 
developed and filled in later in the Jewish and Christian religions, of the 
fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man. 

The next great cosmological conception in the Book of Genesis is in the 
stor}^ by which the variety of languages was accounted for. It is closely 
paralleled by some fragments of Babylonian tablets in which are The confusion 
described the anger of Bel at the sin of the builders of the walls °^ tongues. 
of Babylon and the mound of the tower or palace. The builders, whose 
attempts were directed against the gods, were confounded on the mound, 
as well as their speech. The winds are said to have finally destroyed the 
impious works. This story may very well have had its origin in the building 
of the great temple on the mound of Birs Nimroud or some other notable 
temple raised in successive stages. Primitive peoples regarded such huge 
enterprises as impiety against the gods, much as the originators of railways 
were denominated impious. The divergence of language between people a 
few miles apart, which must have been far more marked then than in 
modern civilised countries, was similarly considered an act of vengeance 
directly due to the gods. In Genesis, to quote another orthodox divine. 
Dr. Pa^'ne Smith, " Jehovah is described as a mighty king, who, hearing 
in his upper and heavenly dwelling of man's ambitious purpose, determines 
to go and inspect the work in person, that having seen, he may deal with 
the offenders justly." And in order to defeat men's unlimited ambition, 
diversity of speech was brought about, so that men were not intelligible to 
one another. 

The history of Israel now properly begins with the narrative of the 
life of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the three great ancestral patriarchs of the 
Jewish people. Some scholars, who cannot believe that any The history of 
ancient narrative at all closely corresponds with fact, have ^^^^^"^ begrins. 
imagined these to be mythical beings, and have given fanciful interpreta- 
tions of their biographies. But the sober style of the narrative lends little 
countenance to sucliideas, while much confirmatory evidence from language, 
antiquities, geography, etc., gives support to the belief that we have here the 



592 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

most authentic early biographical records which have come down to ns, 
although it cannot be expected that they have been transmitted with per- 
fect accuracy in all details. Leaving questions of general criticism aside^ 
we will trace the conception of the Divine power and of religion which the 
Abraham's narratives convey. Abraham's migration from Mesopotamia is 
migration, undertaken by Divine command, and is inspired by a great hope 
of founding a nation which shall become a blessing to all the earth. At 
Sichem, in the centre of Canaan, it was shown to him that his seed would 
possess the land ; and he built an altar to Jehovah, " who appeared unto 
him." It is impossible to settle in what form the Divine manifestations to 
Abraham may have been made ; it is equally impossible to doubt that the 
narrative represents a genuine belief in their reality. Abraham built altars 
His worship to God in various places afterwards historically famous as places 

of God. of worship ; and on one occasion is represented as signalising a 
covenant with God by dividing a heifer, a she-goat, and a ram, into halves, 
a ceremonial implying the most solemn ratification. Abraham on this 
occasion begged for a confirmation of his having an heir born to him in his 
old age. In a deep sleep following his watch over the exposed animals^ 
Abraham saw a symbol of fire pass between the divided halves, and received 
a promise of the future greatness of his posterity, in connection with which 
is narrated a prediction of their servitude "in a land that is not theirs." 

An interesting episode in Abraham's life, showing that he did not feel 
himself cut off from the local worship of El under different names, is his 
Abraham and conduct after his return from the slaughter of the confederates 
Meichizedek. ^-p Chedorlaomer, king of Elam. Abraham received a blessing 
and gave a proportion of his booty to Meichizedek, whose title King of Salem 
(Melek-Salem) is by some understood to mean " King of Peace," as his first 
name Meichizedek means King of righteousness. It is impossible to be certain 
that by Salem the site of Jerusalem was signified. Whatever his local 
habitation, Meichizedek officiated as priest of El-Elion, " God most high," 
and represented El-Elion as having delivered Abraham's enemies into his 
hand. Abraham, according to the narrative, identified the God he worshipped 
with the God of Meichizedek, and here again rose beyond conceptions of 
local or tribal gods towards that of a Supreme and Universal Deity. 

All through the narrative of Abraham we have records describing 
familiar intercourse between the Deity and Abraham, whether by imdefined 

Divine " appearances," by the intervention of " the angel of the Lord," 
appearances. Qj, ^f human figures. Thus we see how deep-seated was the 
belief in direct Divine intervention and appearances in the time from which 
these records date. In the Elohistic narrative of Genesis xvii., which gives 
the ancient authorisation for the circumcision of the Hebrew males, we find 
the name El Shaddai, El AU-Powerfui or Almighty, applied to God. There 
is evidence that circumcision was known and practised by other nations 
long before this ; but its adoption by Abraham was an important epoch in 
the development of the Jewish religion. The idea of the Almighty as 
coming down from His high enthronement above the earth is still prominent, 



EARLY JEWISH HISTORY. 



593 



as in the phrase, "He went up from Abraham." The birth of Isaac is pro- 
mised expressly, as the heir of the covenant made with Abraham. 

The position of Abraham at the head of the Jewish reHgion and in the 
regard of Christians is assured. To quote Dean Stanley (" Jewish Church," 
i. 16), "it is true that Abraham hardly appears before us as a Abraham's 
prophet or teacher of any new religion. As the Scripture repre- c^^aracter. 




•sents him, it is rather as if he was possessed of the truth himself, t;lian as if 
he had any call to proclaim it to others. ... He was the first distinct 
historical witness, at least for his own race and country, to Theism, to 
Monotheism, to the Unity of the Lord and Ruler of all, against the primeval 
idolatries, the natural religion of the ancient world." No doubt he is the first 

Q Q 



594 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

great exemplification of tliat wliicli hencefortli distingnislied higher from lower 
religions, faith in the Supreme Being and in ultimate good, first for himself 
and his descendants, and secondarily for all mankind. His intended sacri- 
sacrifice ^^e of Isaac, — related probably to the frequent Canaanitish immo- 
of Isaac, lations of the eldest son, — is explicable by his intense belief that 
the command came from God ; and viewed in this light it highly strained 
his belief that Isaac was the divinely-given heir of the future of his race. 
One commentator puts it thus, in reference to the Canaanitish practice: 
"The question might easily arise within, 'Wouldst thou be able to do the • 
like to please thy God?'" The substitution of a ram for Isaac was of 
fundamental importance in establishing the antiquity of the later Jewish 
sin-offering, and the sanctity of Mount Moriah, the subsequent site of the 
Jewish temple. Moral strength, mixed with some moral weakness, first 
rises to distinct portraiture in Abraham, whose character, clearly related 
to features still familiar in Semitic life, has become almost equally precious 
to Mohammedans and Christians. His date, somewhere before or after 
2000 B.C., we cannot attempt to settle. 

In the history of Jacob we find a development of the personal aspect of 

belief. . Special Providence watches over his conduct, appears to favour his 

Jacob and <^® signs, and by the stress of events drives him into a more up- 

speciai right path than he had at first sought. The belief in the validity 

and value of patriarchal blessings is clearly evidenced in both 

Isaac's and Jacob's dying blessings; "We note, too, that it comes upon 

Jacob as a surprise when he becomes convinced at Bethel that it too, " far 

from the holy places of his family, is a place of Jahveh's gracious presence," 

whereupon he raises a stone, after the manner of the Phoenicians and other 

surrounding peoples, as a memorial, and pours oil upon it, naming it Beth-el, 

the house of God, long afterwards famous as a place of sacrifice and a sanc- 

sacred tuary. We note, also, the continued use of household images, 

household whether mere images of guardian spirits or of ancestors, in 

images. Laban's family, and believed to ensure, or be essential to, the 

good fortune of the household. 

Of great significance in the history of Jacob is the development of 
prayer, in reliance upon what he believes to be the promises of God ; although 
Jacob's great prayer is still mainly, if not entirely, for temporal benefits. The 
struggle, memorable " wrestling " of Jacob, whatever it may mean physi- 
cally, has become the type and model of innumerable spiritual struggles, 
and indicates changes in moral character as the product of earnest resolution. 
In the view of very many, it stands as a conspicuous memorial of man's 
elevation by struggle and resolve, ever blessed by the Supreme Power. To 
Jacob the struggle was a Divine revelation : "I have seen Elohim face to 
face, and my life was preserved." The personal guidance of God is again 
brought into vicAV in the later scene when Jacob goes to Egypt by the com- 
mand of God received in the visions of the night — an example of the power- 
ful influence allowed to dreams and visions in those times. 

In all this patriarchal period polygamy is nowhere condemned, and is 



JEWISH HISTORY— MOSES. 595 

freqiientl}^ practised ; deceit is approved towards enemies, and even towards 
hosts, and, with various questionings, towards members of the same house- 
hold ; morals had as yet become comparatively little developed 
as a corollary of religious belief. AVe have no account of Divine moral 
worship except as associated with special occasions. The outlines ^^^^°*®r- 
of the patriarchs are very differently drawn from those of the heroes and 
demigods of most other religions. No perfection is attributed to them. 
They fall again and again into error and evil-doing ; yet they rise by ex- 
hibiting a faith in the Divine superior to that of their neighbours, and by 
obeying inward monitions more than others did. They are in no sense 
raised beyond humanity ; they are distinctly human all through ; and thus 
their histories, though probably intermixed with later traditions and edited 
to an unascertainable extent, contain highly credible and valuable accounts 
of primitive life and of the rise of religious belief. 

Now comes the important period of the Israelitish sojourn in Egypt, which 
must have had considerable effect on the religious development of the people. 
Yet we hear little of it till the great uprising which led to the Exodus. 

Meanwhile the death-bed of Jacob is the occasion for the delivery of 
characteristic blessings, often prophetic in their character. One clause, 
'' The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from Jacob's dying 
between his feet, until Shiloh come ; and unto him shall the i>iessings. 
gathering of the people be," has especial significance in the history of the 
Christian Church, as indicating the person and rule of Christ. Some modern 
critics translate one phrase, " until he come to Shiloh," in Ephraim, where 
the ark of the covenant was at one time. Many read " Sheloh," instead of 
Shiloh, meaning " he whose it is," or '.' whose right it is^ The fact that 
the Jews themselves interpret the passage as a Messianio prophecy is of 
moment ; and whether the prophecy assumed its present form compara- 
tively later or earlier, it no doubt existed long before the time of Christ. 

The residence of the Israelites in Egypt must be esteemed of the high- 
est importance to their religious development, both for what it taught 
them to dislike and for what it led them to appreciate and adopt. Israel in 
An enormous gulf separates the primitive patriarchal religion, Egypt, 
with its open-air altars, its rare sacrifices, its memorial stones, and its sacred 
trees, from the elaborate priestly religion which grew up on the foundation 
of Moses. Although it is not expressly stated in the Pentateuch, we find 
from Joshua xxiv. and Ezekiel xx. that the Hebrews to a considerable extent 
served the gods of Egypt, and lapsed from the purity of the Egyptian 
patriarchal faith. Again and again, in their wilderness-sojourn iiifluences. 
and in later times, are Egyptian lapses, Egyptian longings made a subject 
of reproach to them. Accustomed to the worship of the black calf at the 
Temple of the Sun in On (Heliopolis), and to that of other idols and deified 
animals, not all the sanction of the Second Commandment nor all the influ- 
ence of their loftiest leaders could keep them from frequent outbreaks of 
worship more or less idolatrous ; and the symbolism of the Ark of the Cove- 
nant, borrowed very closely from Egyptian models, was required to give 



596 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

them a centre for their adoration, to satisfy the cravings excited by their 
Egyptian experiences. On the other hand, the absolute power of the king, 
and the divine worship which was paid to him, may surely be credited with 
some part in that reaction which kept the Israelites, though numerous and 
powerful, so long without a king. Having suffered the extremes of pain 
and misery at the hands of a god-king, they can scarcely brook for the length 
of a short war the absolute rule of a military leader ; and when at length 
they submitted to a king, they were far from worshipping him. 

Again, the education of Moses, as a priest, "in all the wisdom of the 
Egyptians," in itself implies a mighty Egyptian influence upon the Israel- 
Education i'tes. The foremost intellectual man among them found his force 
of Moses, tenfold intensified by his culture. We can imagine him keenly 
surveying the varied observances and criticising the lore of the initiated 
priests of Egypt, and selecting from them those parts which seemed condu- 
cive to the welfare of the people, and waiting his time to adopt or enforce 
them in legislation. Their medical knowledge he absorbed and utilised 
largely in his domestic and sanitary regulations. And since he had no king 
in his scheme, his priestly class had the more opportunity of enforcing his 
ordinances and of obtaining the means of support, since there was none of 
that heavy levy of taxes and forced labour which made life a burden in 
Egypt. Yet that Moses found much to object to, much to discard in Egyp- 
tian religion, is evident from the fewness, on the whole, of the points of 
agreement between it and the Jewish religion. 

But it was not only the education of Moses in the wisdom of the 
Egyptians, but also his long isolation and solitary thought in Midian, after 
his relinquishment of all his Egyptian privileges, that must have 
residence matured his intellect and developed his moral courage. It was not 
in Midian. ^^ unprepared soul that received the heavenly mission to redeem 
his people, yet it was one schooled to modest self-depreciation, and capable of a 
forcible estimate of the difficulties in his way. We need only imagine these 
latter, to realise how strong must have been the evidence and conviction upon 
which Moses took up his mission ; and it is only natural that this should 
The Divine ^^ accompanied by a deeper insight into the Divine nature w^hich 
commission, could carry him through ' countless dangers and human impossi- 
bilities. The expression, " I am that I am," otherwise rendered, " I am 
because I am," " I am Who am," " I will be that I will be," gives a view 
of the Self-existence, the Uncaused Nature of the Supreme Being, which no 
previous statement -arbcut the Divine nature had done ; and whatever view 
be taken of tlie'miraculouf ,\4t is at least certain that the Jews profoundly 
believed' in the miraculous si^ns granted to Moses in proof of his Divine 
mission, and in the miraculous n^^^ure of the plagues which afterwards came 
upon the Egyptians. The narrative of Moses's commission is the type of 
that conviction of Divine support and authorisation which most gr6at reli- 
gious reformers have felt intensely. 

We pass over the actual Exodus \as not directly concerned in our object, 
merely noting that the plagues of Egypt need not be deemed the less im- 



MOSES. 597 



posing or effectual because they proceeded by means the most natural and 
the most appropriate in Egypt. The miraculous of one age may The places 
appear the natural to another age, which may possibly discern °^ ^^p*- 
orderly causes for that which formerly terrified a people or authenticated 
a mission. To many who view all events, all causes as equally the work of 




IHE lASSOVER IN EG VI' I. 



the Supreme Being, it is nowadays comparatively unimportant to attempt 
to closely distinguish between miraculous and non-miraculous, supernatural 
and natural ; but that in past times enormous effects were produced by 
events deemed miraculous, superhuman, supernatural, cannot in the least be 
doubted ; and that many such events occurred, striking terror or producing 



598 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

conviction, convincing the senses or tlie mind in ways not to be upset, is 
equally certain. Thus, even though the crossing of the Red Sea has re- 
Passage ^^"^^1 \>Q^Ti explained in a most plausible manner as a thoroughly 
of the natural occurrence, its effect in the great chain of events cul- 
minating in the destruction of the Egyptian army, was not the 
less striking in fact, and was handed down as a miraculous interposition of 
Jehovah. And without taking up any dogmatic position, we may be per- 
mitted to say, that for human beings, with all their imperfections of power 
and discernment, to deny that '^ miracles " have occurred, or the possibihty 
of miracles, is to take up a position of superiority in relation to natural 
phenomena and causation, and of over-confidence in present knowledge, 
which is little warranted by past experience of changes of thought and 
knowledge. 

Apart from the customs or systems which welded the Israelites into a 
nation, we have to seek the most important religious phenomena in the 
history of Moses. The first place undoubtedly belongs to the Decalogue, 
The and its promulgation and enforcement as a direct Divine revela- 
Decaiogue. ^-^^^ Moses gave the Israelites a series of positive precepts, the 
'' Ten "Words," which have kept their place at the head of legislation, and 
have influenced a large part of the world's population. They have been re- 
cognised as right by the higher conscience of the most diverse peoples, and 
including as they do the monotheistic doctrine which had previously been 
known, they constitute the greatest contribution to practical morality, apart 
from Christianity. Perhaps in their original form the longer command- 
ments did not contain the explanatory clauses, as is indicated by divergences 
in the versions we have ; but we still to a large extent fall behind the theology 
and the morality they enshrine, and thus we are still living in the period of 
the Decalogue. Till monotheism is universal, the first commandment has its 
mission ; till images and representations which may be worshipped cease to 
be bowed down to or worshipped, the non-Christian world falls below the 
Mosaic standard, and such Christian Churches as permit this are behind the 
Jews ; till irreverent or blasphemous employment of the Divine name is no 
more heard, the third commandment speaks unavailingly to deaf ears. The 
fourth commandment, like the second, has been exchanged more or less by 
Christian Churches for another, and is but rarely observed as the Mosaic 
code intended. The fifth commandment might have been given to the 
Chinese, for they observed it long before Moses gave it ; but its spirit is not 
quite in keeping with modern democracy, which reads it with qualifications. 
The precepts of social morality which follow might be justly alleged as con- 
demning vast numbers of professing Christians and Christian States ; and 
breaches of them have too often been condoned by Jesuits and others who 
consider that the end justifies the means ; but no man can truly say that 
the Decalogue is outworn or dethroned. The progress of mankind since its 
promulgation has been towards its realisation, especially as interpreted by 
the simpler and wider commands of Jesus. Simple, pure worship of one 
God, family order, justice and self-restraint between man and man, with 



MOSES. 599 



a weekly rest-day, are the elements powerfully set forth in the Decalogue, 
which, from the human point of view, forms a work of genius of the highest 
order. Because of beliefs in the Divine truth and communication of the 
precepts, the merit of Moses, viewed as a mail, must not be lessened ; the 
Divine message or inspiration came to him, and he did not reject it, but 
boldly promulgated it in the most powerful way possible to him. His 
genius as a legislator must be based on the Ten Commandments, as well as 
on his other achievements ; if we regard him as a mere channel for Divine 
communications, he becomes no more than a medium. 

It may be noted that the Commandments do not in any way favour 
breaches of morality towards persons of other tribes, which were so common 
among early peoples. On the other hand, polygamy is not forbidden. The 
reason for the institution of the Sabbath is, in one place, the Creator's rest 
on the seventh day, and in another, ^' that thy manservant and thy maid- 
servant may rest as well as thou." The deliverance of Israel from Egyptian 
servitude is further given as an incentive to keep the Sabbath. 

"Without attempting a complete characterisation of Moses, we may assign 
to him a position, as a religious leader and originator, above that of any man 
we have previously described. He practically created a nation out of an en- 
slaved people, and he did it not merely by adequate government, a task which 
he found difficult enough many times in his career, but most of all character 
by the elevated conception of the Divine nature ^hich he pro- °^ Moses, 
mulgated, and his strong faith in his Divine mission and in the personal 
guidance and direction which he received from Grod. From him was de- 
rived, in its essence at least, that sublime conception of a people ruled 
directly by God, which in its developed form constitutes the grandest ideal 
of human life ; for what conception can be more perfect than that of a race 
knowing the laws of its Creator and voluntarily obeying them ? 

As an example of triumph over natural infirmity — timidity, unreadi- 
ness, want of eloquence, hesitation — Moses is not less conspicuous than as 
a man of true self-effacement, only brought to act prominently and indi- 
vidually by Divine impulse and command. With all that has been said as 
to the genius of Moses, we must couple the narratives of Divine g^g Divine 
visions and communications to him, which no one is entitled to visions, 
summarily reject as fabrications. Doubt is of course justifiable wherever 
narratives can be proved to have been written long after the events de- 
scribed ; and here is the crucial point of criticism. It may be pointed out, 
as regards visions and other communications, that almost all great teachers 
and spiritual reformers have had them, and in circumstances which throw 
no doubt upon their veracity and their belief in their reality. Of all men 
up to his time Moses may be regarded as the man who came into closest 
relation with the Divine ; and if this be granted, modes of appearance, 
whether subjective or objective, are less important than the truths Revelations 
revealed. Who, for instance, that feels the higher truths can to Moses, 
fail to appreciate the teaching, " Thou canst not see My face ; for there shall 
no man see My face and live," or the inspiration which gives rise to the 



6oo THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



magnificent declaration of Exodus xxxiv. 6, 7, respecting the Name, the 
Essential Essence of Jehovah, " merciful and gracious, long-suffering, abun- 
dant in goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin, and 
that will by no means clear the guilty." Contemplating the descriptions of 
such revelations, we cannot wonder at the consensus of earnest theologians 
longing to be " with Moses on the mount." 

What, then, are we to think of the remarkable absence of direct teaching 
by Moses on the subject of immortality and a future state of rewards and 
Absence of punishments? This has been a subject of abundant discussion 
^^a^uture*** and speculation. Are we to consider that because the Egyptians 
state. lield strongly the belief in immortality, and detailed the stages of 
the future state, therefore Moses must be understood as consenting to their 
beliefs, and tacitly assuming them ? Or are we to regard him as to some 
extent a sceptic on that question ? The inference has been drawn from the 
frequent use of the phrases, " went to his fathers," " was gathered to his 
people," etc., that they imply a belief in the continued existence of the 
fathers, and this does not seem an unreasonable supposition ; but its precise 
value cannot be ascertained. It is probable that the Israelites, surrounded 
and influenced by nations who believed in a future state, did not dissent 
from the prevailing view, or else we should have had it markedly expressed. 
But Moses was concerned especially to exalt the view of Jehovah as a per- 
sonal Guide and Ruler in this life ; and this may be the reason why the 
future was not dwelt upon, though it would be too much to deny positively 
that it is implied in numerous phrases. 

As a prophet, Moses's position is assured by the numerous Divine reve- 
lations he was commissioned to make, by his authorship — more or less — ot 
sacred books, by his Law, and by his addresses, which, if authentic, often 
Moses as refer to what will come to pass in a future time in the land of 
a prophet. Canaan. We may wonder that Moses was never deified by his 
countrymen ; this fact in itself proves that his teaching about the one God, 
and the mode in which He must be served, had a powerful effect, and pre- 
vented the tendencies that were so strong in Egypt from having their 
natural effect in relation to him. If we cannot adopt Josephus's statement 
that " He wrote the account of his own death in the sacred books, fearing 
lest he should be deified," we must at least allow that he was the most 
remarkable teacher who has not been worshipped by his followers as a 
god or a demi-god. That Moses worked miracles is assuredly claimed by the 
narrative ; and those who disbelieve it have a very heavy task in explaining 
the whole of the events in a non-miraculous sense. 

[Among works of importance on this subject are Ewald's "History and Antiquities of Israel," 
Stanley's " Lectures on the Jewish Church," and the various Commentaries and Bible Dictionaries ; 
Eobertson Smith's " Old Testament in the Jewish Church," and the articles " Pentateuch " and 
" Israel " in the Encyclojycsdia Britannica, ninth edition,] 




ALTABS IN HIGH PLACES. 



CHAPTER II. 

€\)t SrVoisft ilflision : Kegislatiou, jTesftifaals, iMoialsf* 

Altars and oflFerings— The Ark of tlie Covenant— The Tabernacle— Development of the Law— Modem 
criticism— Various offerings— The trespass oflfering— The Day of Atonement— The scapegoat- 
Meaning of Day of Atonement— The Shechinah— The Sabbath- Origin of the Synagogue— Officials 
of Synagogue— Order of service— The seventh month— The Sabbatic year— The year of Jubilee— 
The Passover— Passover in later times— Pentecost— Feast of Tabernacles— Feast of Trumpets— 
Prayer and forms of worship— Vows— Fasting— Nazarites and Rechabites— Consecration of the 
whole people to Jehovah— Clean and unclean animals— Means of purification— Burial— Marriage 
limits— Nature the property of Jehovah— Blood-revenge— Cities of refuge— "An eye for an eye'* 
—Usury— Slaves— Treatment of strangers— Parents and children— Wives and concubines— 
General moral condition of Israel. 

ONE conspicuous peculiarity of Moses's earlier religious teaching is, that 
religion is not made to consist in so many offerings, in formal cere- 
monies, but in simple worship and reverence to God, and obedience to moral 
precepts. Yet, to satisfy the spirit of worship, altars of earth or Altars and 
of unhewn stone were allowed, for burnt offerings and peace ofrerings. 
offerings. The phrase in Exodus xxii. 29, " the firstborn of thy sons shalt 
thou give unto Me," is understood by some as indicating that human sacri- 
fices were still allowed to exist, while the majority interpret it as meaning 
simply a dedication to Jehovah, to be redeemed by an offering ; in this way 
Moses may be considered as adopting current forms, and giving to them a 
pure character. 

It is impossible here to discuss the complex questions which arise 
through all attempts, such as those of Kuenen, to trace the Jewish religion 



6o2 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

as a growth through centuries, and to assign to their respective periods 
behefs and observances which are considered not to have their origin from 
Moses. In any case the institution of the Ark of the Covenant as well as 
the Tabernacle must be referred to Moses, with the foundation of the priestl}^ 
code, and of the laws of ceremonial and of practical conduct. 

The Ark of the Covenant, which had a marked resemblance to arks 
carried in Egyptian religious processions, was an oblong chest of acacia- 

TheArk of wood, nearly four feet long, by two and a half broad and deep, 
the Covenant, jt ^g^g overlaid with gold both inside and outside, and on its lid 
was the mercy-seat, or place of Divine communication to Moses, and to the 
high priest after him. , At each end was a golden figure termed a cherub, a 
compound creature-form with wings extended upwards and faces directed 
'' towards one another, and towards the merc3^-seat " ; and here ends our 
knowledge of the nature of this symbol. Whether it had any relation to any 
one of the numerous symbolic animal-figures of the other Semitic peoples and 
the Egyptians we cannot tell. The importance of the ark lay in two features : 
one, that it contained the two tables of stone on which Moses had written 
the Ten Words ; the other was expressed in relation to the region above 
the mercy-seat, that there Jehovah would meet with Moses, and commune 
with him. The ark was provided with rings at the corners, through which 
were passed staves of acacia- wood overlaid with gold, by which certain 
Levites carried it when it was moved from place to place. Thus the 
Israelites were furnished with a symbol of the Divine presence, satisfying 
that demand of human nature which has been exemplified in so many 
nations and ages, yet never seen except by the high priest. 

This ark formed the central or most important object in the Tabernacle, 

which was erected as the representative of a temple. It was forty-five feet 

The long by fifteen broad, open at the end intended to be pitched 

Tabernacle, eastward as if towards the rising sun, and divided into two parts, 
the inner or Holy of Holies into which the priest alone entered rarely, 
divided by pillars and curtains from the larger Holy Place, containing a 
golden candlestick with seven branches, a small lamp being placed on the 
end of each, an altar for the burning of incense, and a table overlaid with 
gold, on which twelve newly-baked loaves were placed every Sabbath, 
sprinkled with incense, remaining till the following Sabbath, when they were 
eaten by the priests in the Holy Place. Whether it was thus offered weekly 
as a symbol of the derivation of bodily nourishment from God, or whether 
it had other meanings, is undecided. The strict meaning of shewbread is 
" bread of the faces," and the table is called the " table of the faces." Out- 
side the tabernacle proper was a great oblong court enclosed by screens, in 
the western half of which was the tabernacle, while in the eastern half was 
the altar of acacia-wood, overlaid with brass, for burnt offerings, furnished 
with pans and other utensils, and having four projections or horns at the 

corners ; and between this and the tabernacle was a laver, a vessel in which 

the priests washed their hands and feet before entering the tabernacle. 

Those critics who have separated the narratives in the Pentateuch into 



THE JEWISH RELIGION: LEGISLATION, ETC. 



603 



component portions regard the tabernacle which Moses erected as a much 
simpler structure (Exodus xxxiii. 7-11) than the elaborate tabernacle de- 
scribed, as they assert, by the priestly narrator after the exile of the Jews. 




They claim also that it was devised as a means of giving an ancient sanc- 
tion^to^the elaborate ritual of the second temple. According to this view, 
the simple form of tabernacle continued in use during the migrations of the 
ark until the building of Solomon's temple ; but there is no proof of this. 



6o4 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

Without attempting to determine, where the most learned disagree, the 
precise steps by which the Mosaic code of laws grew to its full development, 
Development we may yet note the very general agreement or admission that it 
of the Law. ^^^ actually develop, even in the view of the narrative as it 
stands, and that there is a gfeat difference between its presentation in the 
book of Deuteronomy and in previous books. Again and again we learn 
how certain regulations originated from particular occasions. "While there 
are various discrepancies between Deuteronomy and the earlier books, as 
well as important additions in the former — especially noteworthy being the 
command to worship God and make all offerings at one particular place — • 
there are numerous references to Egypt and Egyptian customs which Moses 
would be the most competent and likely to make, and we have direct asser- 
tions that Moses wrote it. Yet there is no reference to the Book of the Law 
in the books of Judges and Samuel. In the books of the Kings it comes 
into prominence, and is very plainly described in Ezra and Nehemiah. The 
difference of style between Deuteronomy and other parts of the Pentateuch 
is a difficulty for those who regard all as the work of Moses ; but it is not 
insuperable if a thorough revision and incorporation of other traditions by a 
writer in the times of the Kings or of Ezra be allowed. 

From the time of Ezra, undoubtedly, the Jews possessed the complete 
Pentateuch very much as we have it, and they believed that it had existed 
Modern from the first in that form. But it is held by many modern 
criticism, writers that various records in the books of Joshua, Judges, 
Samuel, and Kings, as well as in the Pentateuch itself, are incompatible 
with the complete early promulgation of the contents of the Pentateuch. 
The Israelites either disobeyed the extended law, or did not know of it. 
Especially was this the case in regard to the worship of Jehovah at local 
sanctuaries and high places, instead of at the one central place, the existence 
of images in the worship of Jehovah, and the admission of other gods as at 
least worthy of toleration, though secondary. That which defenders of the 
traditional view regard as simply the measure of the defection and degene- 
ration of the Israelites from the truth, modem critics regard as proving that 
the fully detailed law of the Pentateuch had not yet been promulgated, 
that not taking place till the times of Josiah and of Ezra. They in fact say 
that the Levitical Law continued the work of the earlier prophets, and was 
in large part unknown to the prophets. No doubt, they say, when made 
known to Ezra, it professed to be the Law of Moses ; but this is explained 
as referring to its embodying the kernel of Mosaic legislation, with old 
priestly decisions handed down in their families, having been given or 
arrived at as necessity arose.^ 

1 It will be convenient to give here separately Prof. Robertson Smith's grouping 
of the laws in the Pentateuch, in his " Old Testament in the Jewish Church." There is 
(1) Exod. xxi. to xxiii., directly connected with the revelation of the Ten Commandments, 
" containing a very simple system of civil and religious polity, adequate to the wants o£ 
a primitive agricultural people : " the title being, " These are the judgments which thou 
shalt set before them." (2) Deuteronomy : the laws proper, beginning at chap. xii. 1,^ 
" These are the statutes and judgments which ye shall observe to do," ending at xxvi. 19 \ 



6o6 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

Coming now to the main features of the law as affecting religion and 

morals, bnrnt-offerings formed a prominent feature of the worship. Morning 

Various and evening a lamb was offered, with wine, oil, and flour ; and in 

offerings, addition males of the herds and flocks, or turtle doves or pigeons, 

were offered voluntarily as general atonements. The whole of these offer- 

tliis is described as an independent reprodnction of the substance of (1), with extensions 
and modifications. (3) The Levitical legislation, or priestly code, scattered through 
Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers, but capable of removal without making the rest 
unintelligible. This includes the fulty developed ritual for sanctuary, priesthood, sac- 
rifices, etc. " The form is historical, but the essential object is legal. The law takes the 
form of recorded precedent " in great part. This view assigns the first to Moses, with 
additions hy priestly decisions; the second (it is said) was first made- known as the 
starting-point of Josiah's reformation, abolishing all local sanctuaries ; and this refor- 
mation and the authority gained by Deuteronomy were based on the teaching of Isaiah 
and other prophets who had so loudly called for religious reform and amendment. 

Prof. Eobertson Smith and others see in Ezekiel's scheme of worship (ch. xl.-xlviii.) the 
basis on which the Levitical law was fully developed ; and this is alleged to be confirmed 
by Jeremiah, who knew no law of sacrifices. In Ezekiel's scheme the Levites, who had 
lent themselves to idolatrous practices, are lowered in functions. Regular sacrifices are 
provided for \>y the prince out of the fixed tribute received by him. The sin-offering and 
ritual of atonement are made prominent, the altar requiring to be purged with sin-ofFer- 
ings for seven consecutive days before burnt-offerings can be properly offered on it. 
Ezekiel also appoints two great atoning services j-early, at the beginning of the first and 
the seventh months, to purge the temple ; and this is alleged to be the first appearance, 
outside the Levitical code, of anything corresi^onding to the great Day of Atonement, and 
Ezekiel's service falls short of its solemnities. This is regarded as a first sketch of the 
priestly Torah or law, resting on old priestly usage, and reshaped so as to bring it into 
conformity with the ideas of the holiness of Jehovah expressed by the earlier prophets 
and by Deuteronomy. 

" Li proportion as the whole theory of worship is remodelled and reduced to rule on 
the scheme of an exclusive sanctity, which presents, so to speak, an armed front to every 
abomination of impure heathenism, the ritual becomes abstract, and the services remote 
from ordinary life. In the old worship all was spontaneous. To worship God was a 
holiday, an occasion of feasting. Religion, in its sacrificial form, was a part of common 
life, which no one deemed it necessary to reduce to rule. Even in Deuteronomy this view 
predominates. The sacrificial feasts are still the consecration of natural occasions of joy : 
men eat, drink, and make merry before God. The sense of God's favour, not the sense of 
sin, is what rules at the sanctuary. But the unification of the sanctuary already tended 
to break up this old type of religion. Worship ceased to be an everyday- thing, and so 
it ceased to be the expression of everyday religion. In Ezekiel this change has produced 
its natural result in a change of the whole standpoint from which he views the service 
of the Temple. . . . The individual Israelite, who, in the old law, stood at the altar 
himself, and brought his own victim, is now separated from it, not only by the double 
cordon of priests and Levites, but by the fact that his personal offering is thrown into 
the background hj the stated national sacrifice. ... In Ezekiel, and still more in the 
Levitical legislation, the element of atonement takes a foremost place. The sense of sin 
had grown deeper under the teaching of the prophets ; and amidst the j'troofs of Jehovah's 
anger that darkened the last days of the Jewish State, sin and forgiveness were the main 
themes of prophetic discourse. . . ° . Now, more than in any former time, the first 
point in acceptance was felt to be the forgiveness of sin ; and the weightiest element in 
the ritual was that which symbolised the atonement, or ' wiping out,' of iniquity. The 
details of this symbolism cannot occupy us here. It is enough to indicate in one word 
that the ritual of atoning sacrifice was so shaped by Divine wisdom that it supplied to 
the New Testament a basis intelligible to the Hebrew believers for the explanation of the 
atoning work of Christ. Not, indeed, that the blood of bulls and goats ever took away 
sin. The true basis of forgiveness, in the Old Testament as in the New, lies, not in man's 
offering, but in a work of sovereign love. It is Jehovah, for His own Name's sake, who 
blots out Israel's transgressions, and will not remember his sin. But the atoning ritual 
ever held before the people's ej^es the mysterious connection of forgiving love with 
awful justice, and pointed by its very inadequacy to the need for a better atonement of 
Jehovah's own providing."— 0/fZ Testament in the Jeicish Cliurch^ pp. 379-382. 



THE JEWISH RELIGION : LEGISLATION, ETC. 607 

ings was burnt, and the fire on the altar Avas never to go out. Next in 
order among usual Cifierings was the meat-offerii]g, meat referring here to 
natural produce of the earth, such as unleavened flour, or cakes, oil, and 
frankincense, of which only part was burnt, the rest being given to the 
priests. The next and less frequent offering was termed a peace-offering, 
being either given as a thanksgiving, in fulfilment of a vow, or as a volun- 
tary offering. It consisted of the fat of one of the herd or the flocks, the 
remainder (excluding the blood) being eaten by the offerer. 

The sin or trespass-offering had a more special importance, but was 
made at any period, for sins of ignorance, vows unwittingly broken, or for 
ceremonial impurity, or for wilful sins, such as concealment of The trespass, 
truth, lying, false swearing, etc. In this case confession had to be offering, 
made, and various offerings, including money, might be accepted, according 
to the ability of the penitent ; part was burnt, and the remainder belonged 
to the priests. 

There were other special sacrifices, but that on the great Day of Atone- 
ment, once a year, on the tenth day of the seventh month, was the most 
important, constituting as it did an annual atonement for all the The Day of 
sins of the people, made on a special day of fasting and affliction atonement, 
of soul. On this day only the high-priest, purified and dressed in white 
garments, might enter the inner sanctum, the Holy of Holies. Besides 
making offerings on his own and his family's account, he bought two goats 
on account of the people, and presented them at the door of the tabernacle. 
He then cast lots upon them, one for Jehovah, the other for Azazel, or, as 
it is usuall}^ translated, the scapegoat. The meaning of the latter The 
name cannot be settled, many imagining it to represent some scapegoat, 
spirit antagonistic to Jehovah. The goat on which Jehovah's lot fell was 
offered as a sin-offering ; the other was " presented alive before the Lord, to 
make an atonement with him, and to let him go for a scapegoat (Azazel) 
into the wilderness." The bullock offered for himself and his family having 
been sacrificed, the high-priest took some of its blood, with a censer of 
burning embers and a handful of incense, and went into the Hftly of Holies. 
Then, casting the incense upon the embers, he raised a cloud before the 
mercy-seat, and dipping his finger into the blood, sprinkled it seven times 
before the mercy-seat. K similar ceremony afterwards took place with the 
blood of the slain goat. A further sprinkling of blood took place in the 
outer sanctum, or Holy Place, some of the blood of both victims being 
sprinkled on the altar of incense. Similarly the outer altar in the enclosure 
was sprinkled, especially the horns of the altar. The whole tabernacle 
being thus purified, the live goat was brought, and the high-priest laid both 
his hands on its head and confessed over it "all the iniquities of the children 
of Israel, putting them upon the head of the goat"; and finally the goat 
was sent away, in charge of a suitable man, into the wilderness, that he 
might carry away all their sins '" into a land not inhabited." After bath- 
ing, the high-priest offered the two rams, one for himself and one for the 
people, as burnt-offerings. The fat of the sin-offerings was also burnt, and 



6o8 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

their flesh was carried away and burned outside the camp. The traditional 
form of the prayer offered by the high-priest over the head of the goat is 
thus given in the later treatise of the Mishna, entitled Yoma : " Lord, 
the house of Israel, Thy people, have trespassed, rebelled, and sinned before 
Thee. I beseech Thee, Lord, forgive now their trespasses, rebellions, and 
sins, which Thy people have committed, as it is written in the Law of 
Moses Thy servant, saying that in that day there shall be ' an atonement 
for you to cleanse you, that ye may be clean from all your sins before the 
Lord.'" 

The remarkable significance of this Day of Atonement is evident. Li 
addition to continual expiations of known sins by individuals, together with 
Meaning of "^^^^ous voluntary offerings, the whole nation is considered to need 
Day of confession of sin, atonement, and purification before Jehovah ; 
and the high-priest, as representing the nation, makes atonement, 
and purifies the sanctuary and the people. The offering of goats and other 
animal offerings is probably connected historically, though perhaps uncon- 
sciously, with the offering of human sacrifices by nations around, and with 
Abraham's offering of Isaac, and with the idea of substitution of animals 
for human victims. In any case, such is the natural interpretation of the 
laying of the hands on the head of the victim while making confession. 
But we cannot yet, with certainty, explain why there were two goats, and 
the sending forth of one into the wilderness ; for it, like the other, formed 
part of the sin-offering to Jehovah. Many consider that it was sent into 
the wilderness to signify the carrying of the sins of the people out of the 
presence of Jehovah. In any case, we may find in the ceremonies of the 
Day of Atonement the most impressive of the many solemnities we have 
hitherto surveyed. 

Here we may fittingly refer to those visible manifestations in which 
Jehovah is recorded to have appeared to His people or His priests, often 
The referred to by the name Shechinah (majesty or presence of Grod), 
shechinaii. ^Hch word, however, is not found in Scripture, and is first found 
in the Targums, or Jewish Commentaries. It expresses the visible presence 
of Grod as dwelling among His people, said to be lacking in Zerubbabel's 
temple, while pertaining to that of Solomon, and to the tabernacle. The 
appearance was described as a brilliant light enveloped in a cloud, which 
alone was for the most part visible. The " glory of the Lord " is stated to 
Lave rested upon Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days ; and on 
the seventh day, " the sight of the glory of the Lord was like devouring 
fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel." When 
the tabernacle was finished, a cloud covered it, and the glory of the Lord 
filled the tabernacle, so that Moses was not able to enter it. On occasions 
when he did enter it, the cloud descended to the door of the tabernacle, and 
'' the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh to his friend." 
In Numbers vii. 89 we read that " when Moses went into the tent of meet- 
ing to speak with Him, then he heard the Voice speaking to him from above 
the mercy-seat." 



THE JEWISH RELIGION: FESTIVALS, ETC. 



609 



After the Day of Atonement, the two most peculiar observances of the 
Israelites were the weekly Sabbath and the annual Passover. The The 
Sabbath was no doubt related to a very general Oriental practice, SaDbatiL 
as old as Vedism and Zoroastrianism, and very early in use among the 




Semites, of arranging their reiigious festivals or meetings in accordance 
with the four quarters of the moon. Abstinence from work was its chief 
characteristic among the early Israelites. This became a grievous burden ; 
no fire might be lighted on the Sabbath, and it is related that a man was 

R R 



6to the WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

once stoned to death, for gathering sticks on that day. Although, in the 
writings of Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Nehemiah, we read of various infractions 
of the Sabbath having become frequent, the general practice of the Jews 
was to obey the law strictly; and in the time of Mattathias (b.c. 168), even 
fighting in self-defence was abstained from, with disastrous results, until he 
asserted its lawfulness. The minuteness Avith which the Pharisees and the 
Rabbinical schools regulated Sabbath observances in the time of Christ is 
well known, as well as the resistance which He offered to this. Conse- 
quently, it is not surprising to find that no regulations for its observance 
were given in the writings of the apostles, and that Sabbath-breaking is 
never denounced by them. The orthodox Jews still maintain the Sabbath 
of the seventh day, beginning on Friday at sunset and ending with the next 
sunset. 

Regular Sabbath services, such as those of the synagogue, did not arise 
in Mosaic times, nor indeed till after the return of the Jews from Babylon. 
The morning and evening sacrifices by the priests were doubled on the 
Sabbath, and there are grounds for believing that the well-to-do feasted on 
sacrificial meat on that day. In Isaiah Iviii. 13, 14, it is indicated that the 
Sabbath should be called a delight, and should be honoured by " not doing 
tbine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own 
words." The synagogue services may well have arisen as an elevating influ- 
ence, in reaction from the debased character of the meetings and local ob- 
servances at a distance from the great religious centre, of which the magnifi- 
cent ephod made by Gideon, the graven and the molten images and the 
teraphim of Micah, were some of the apparatus, while groves and high- 
places were some of the scenes. Although the prophets and prophetical 
Origin of tiie schools appear to have met for sacrifice and praise on fixed days, 
synagogue, j^ ^g probable that the Babylonish captivity, with its isolation 
emphasising the need of frequent meetings for mutual comfort and worship, 
witnessed the true origin of synagogue worship, which after the return 
played an important part in preserving the Jews as a peculiar people. After 
the Maccabsean uprising, the establishment of local synagogues spread, 
until almost every town had one or more synagogues. Inasmuch as it was 
apart from the temple service, and did not essentially depend on the priests, 
the synagogue tended to establish a freer atmosphere of study and criticism, 
and it is significant that the first teaching of Jesus took place in country 
synagogues, where He met with far less opposition than He immediately 
received when He taught in the Temple precincts. 

The synagogue, of varying size, stood if possible on the highest ground 
in or near the town, and was so arranged that worshippers on entering, and 
in prayer, faced towards Jerusalem. At its Jerusalem end was placed an 
ark or chest containing the roll of the Law of Moses, and near this were the 
chief seats, for which the scribes and Pharisees competed. A lamp per- 
petually burned near it, while other lamps were brought by worshippers for 
the Sabbath ; the special seven-branched candlestick was only lighted up 
on the great festivals. Near the middle of the building was a platform, on 



THE JEWISH RELIGION: FESTIVALS, ETC. 6rt 

the middle of which stood a pulpit. The mass of the people sat, according 
to sexes, on either side of a low partition. 

The officials of the synagogues were an elder, or rabbi, or a chapter of 
rabbis (rulers of the synagogue), presided over by a chief rabbi ; these could 
excommunicate, or " put out of the synagogue," any who were officials of 
held to have broken the law, and not purged their offences, synagogue. 
There was usually a chief reader of prayers and of the law, who was not 
engaged in business, and was chosen by the congregation, and set apart by 
the imposition of hands. Each synagogue also had a body of ten men, 
making up a legal congregation, and attending all the services. 

The Law of Moses was read in the synagogues on every Sabbath morn- 
ing in regular order, so as to be gone through once a year ; the Prophetical 
books were read as a second lesson in like manner. Afterwards order of 
came an exposition, or sermon, drawn from one of the lessons, service, 
delivered by one of the rulers, or a person appointed or allowed by them. 
Prayer preceded and benediction concluded the service. This was the 
principal service. On the Sabbath afternoon, and also on Mondays and 
Thursdays, there was a reading of the Law, and services were of course held 
on festivals. 

The Jewish Sabbath was the basis of a series of observances in which 
the number seven was predominant. Every seventh month, the seventh 
year, and the forty-ninth or fiftieth (the jubilee year), were speci- The seventh 
ally sacred. The seventh month opened with the Feast of ^o^*^- 
Trumpets, when offerings were doubled, and trumpets were blown through- 
out the day, instead of merely at the time of sacrifice. This month was 
further notable for containing the Day of Atonement, and the joyful Feast 
of Tabernacles. In the seventh, or Sabbatic year, the land was to lie fallow, 
" that the poor of thy people may eat ; and what they leave the The sabbatic 
beasts of the field shall eat." The spontaneous produce of the ^^^^' 
fields was to be for the poor, strangers, and cattle. In Deuteronomy xv. 
the Sabbatic year is also a year for the release of debts ; but it is not certain 
that they were abolished, and they may have been merely postponed. 
Many think the Sabbatic year was only enjoined to be observed the seventh 
year after the settlement of Canaan, and that it was rarely observed until 
after the Captivity. We may regard this law as intended to signify an 
acknowledgment of the Divine ownership of the land. 

The year of jubilee was an extra Sabbatical year, announced on the 
Day of Atonement by the blowing of trumpets throughout the land. The 
word '' jubilee" either means the trumpet itself, or the sound it The year of 
produced. Every Israelite was to recover the land originally J^^i^^e. 
assigned to his family, however it might have been alienated. The soil was 
to lie fallow during the year, and only the natural growth was to be 
gathered. The law of freedom extended also to servitude ; all Israelites 
who had become bondmen recovered their freedom. Houses in the open 
country followed the law about land, while those in walled cities were not 
affected by it. Undoubtedly this legislation had a strong tendency to pre- 



6i2 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

vent the accumulation of great wealth, in the hands of a few, and was an 
additional feature distinguishing the Israelites from surrounding nations. 
We have no knowledge as to how far the Sabbatic and Jubilee years were 
observed. 

Next to the Sabbath the most enduring Jewish observance is the 
Passover, and the Easter festival in which it is represented by Christians. 

The Thus the Exodus from Egypt is linked with an annual world- 
Passover. ^^^^ festival of Christianity. It combined the significations of a 
harvest thanksgiving and an anniversary of the escape from Egypt ; and 
some critics think the latter association was later than the other. To detail 
all particulars connected with it would be too lengthy ; but the narrative 
of the Exodus lays stress on the eating of unleavened bread, because of 
the hurry of departure from Egypt not allowing time for the slow-working 
leaven to be used, on the killing of a lamb or kid without blemish, the 
sprinkling of the side-posts and the lintel of the house door with the 
animal's blood, its being roasted whole, and on keeping the bones unbroken. 
The haste of the meal, the preparations for a journey, the staff in the hand, 
are all graphically described ; and in memory of this, and the death of the 
firstborn of Egypt, all male firstborn were consecrated to God, the animals 
to be sacrificed, the sons to be redeemed. 

In later directions for the observation of this festival we find that the 
offering of the Omer, or first sheaf of wheat harvest, a seven days' eating 
of unleavened bread, and a series of expensive sacrifices of bullocks, 
rams, lambs, etc., were ordained. Also the sacrifice of the Passover was 
to be made only at the national sanctuary. This latter regulation is 
regarded by those who argue for the late origin of Deuteronomy and of 
the priestly code as having only arisen when Israel was united under the 
kings, and when a centralisation took place of all great acts of worship at 
Jerusalem. 

The later Israelitish observation of the Passover began on the 14th of 
Nisan (part of March and April), when all leaven was put away from dwell- 
Passoverin i^gS) ^^cl every male Israelite repaired to Jerusalem, taking an 
later times, offering of money in proportion to his means. As the sun set, 
the lambs offered were slain, and the fat and blood given to the priests ; the 
animals were then roasted and eaten whole, with unleavened bread and 
bitter herbs (endive, chicory, wild lettuce, or nettles), no portion being left 
till the morning. On the 15th was a holy assembly, and no work might be 
done. On this and the following days additional animals were sacrificed, 
but it is probable that these were omitted in later times. On the 16th 
the first sheaf was waved by the priest before Jehovah, and the festival 
ended with a solemn assembly on the 21st. We do not know when the 
drinking of wine at the Passover meal was introduced ; but it became the 
custom to provide at least four cups of wine, mostly red, to be drunk with 
water, the cups being passed round at certain intervals. Another addition 
to the early forms was the singing of a series of psalms of praise, known as 
the Hallel (a shortened form of Hallelujah) ; Psalms cxiii. and cxiv. were 



THE JEWISH RELIGION: FESTIVALS, ETC, 613 

sung early in the meal, and Psalms cxv. to cxviii. after the fourth cup had 

been passed round. 

The next great festival, following the Passover after an interval of seven 

weeks from the second day, was that generally known as Pentecost, but also 

as the Feast of Weeks, or of the First Fruits. This period of seven ^ , 

' -^ . . Pentecost, 

weeks included the whole of harvest time, from the beginning of 

barley-harvest to the complete ingathering of the wheat. At this feast, in 
addition to the regular sacrifices, two loaves of leavened bread made from 
the new wheat were to be waved before Jehovah by the priests, who after- 
wards ate them. At the same time seven lambs, a bullock, and two rams, 
and other offerings were to be sacrificed. This was a more joyful celebration 
than the Passover, and special directions were given that the Levite, the 
stranger, the fatherless, and the widow should share in it. 

The principal autumn festival was the Feast of Tabernacles or of In- 
gathering, when the whole of the crops of the year had been gathered in. It 
lasted seven days, followed by a special day of assembly and Feast of 
sacrifice, sometimes called an eighth day. During the seven days Tabernacles, 
the people were commanded to live temporarily in booths, which were made 
of the branches of olive, palm, pine, and other trees with thick foliage. In 
Jerusalem these booths were built on the flat roofs of the houses, in their 
courts, in the court of the Temple, and in the principal streets. Specially- 
numerous animal sacrilices were offered throughout the week, including 
seventy bullocks, in addition to private offerings, so that more animals were 
slain at this period than at any other. On the eighth morning the booths 
were dismantled, and the people returned to their houses. The booths may 
be regarded as a standing memorial of the Israelites' former nomadic life. 

We must not omit to mention that the spring festival or Passover, 
Pentecost, and Feast of Tabernacles were the three great national festivals 
at which every male Israelite in later times was bound to go up to Jeru- 
salem, in earlier times to the place where the tabernacle was pitched. This 
regular resort to a common centre must have had a powerful influence in 
uniting the people. Thus we see the rise of one of the great systems of 
religious pilgrimage still so powerful among the Hindus, Mahometans, and 
Roman Catholics. 

It remains to mention the Feast of Trumpets, which took place on the 
'lay of the new moon which preceded by ten days the Day of Atonement. 
It was one of the seven days of special holy assembly and sacri- peast of 
fice ; on it trumpets were blown all day. Possibly it was in- Trumpets, 
tended to prepare the people for the solemnities of the Day of Atonement ; 
but it was clearly a sort of New Year's Day, introducing the seventh or 
Sabbatical month of the Jewish calendar. 

To complete here the account of forms of worship, no form of prayer 
was enjoined by the Mosaic code, and it is from later history pj^yer and 
<^hat we derive the most emphatic testimony to the habit of forms of 
; >rayer among the Israelites ; and it is extremely improbable, 
seeing the abundance of prayers in the Egyptian and Semitic religions, that 



6 14 l^HE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

there was any lack of them in early Mosaic times. The beautiful bene- 
diction of Numbers vi. 24-26 — " Jehovah bless thee and keep thee ; 
Jehovah make His face shine upon thee, and be gracious to thee ; Jehovah 
lift up His countenance upon thee, and give thee peace " — is a very early 
example of the form of liturgy which arose to such high development 
in the Book of Psalms, in which are included prayers, praise, confessions, 
triumphal songs, and formal recitals, traversing the whole field of human 
experience, often in the loftiest strain of poetry. But in their great days the 
Jewish people were not given to the vain repetitions of prayers and sacred 
phrases which afterwards became baneful. A form for use when offering 
first fruits is given in Deuteronomy xxvi. 5-10, 13-15. Probably prayer 
was offered after every sacrifice. In later Jewish times individuals appear 
to have gone up regularly to the Temple to pray, and when away from Jeru- 
salem they prayed with their windows open towards Jerusalem. Numerous 
remarkable and well-known prayers, both on public and private occasions, 
are recorded in the Old Testament, among which we may note the prayer 
of Solomon at the Dedication of the Temple, and that of the priests, in the 
second Temple, in Nehemiah's time. 

Apart from the regular offerings, the consecration of persons and 
things to Jehovah, and the making and fulfilment of vows, entered largely 
into the Jewish religion. Ev/ald (" Antiquities of Israel ") thus 
describes the making of vows: "In order to obtain from God 
some good thing, the want of which he felt with painful keenness, a man 
desired to give up on his part something dear to himself ; but because his 
own weakness made him despair of being able to make this sacrifice, or 
at least because it could not be made immediately, he bound himself 
tlirough an oath to God, spoken out clearly and with the utmost seriousness, 
that he would fulfil it. This naturally inspired him with a strength which 
had previously failed him, and which, perhaps, without this spasmodic 
flight, he would never have possessed." The occurrence of extraordinary 
emergencies sometimes, as in other religions, inspired the most tremendous 
vows — such as the sacrifice of Jephthah's daughter — which were fulfilled ; 
but the Law allowed of the annulling of some vows, such as those of a 
wife or unmarried daughter by the head of the family, and the redemption 
of others by a valuable offering, according to a scale carefully drawn up. 
The last degeneration of such a practice was seen in the corban custom 
at the time of Christ, when a man might prevent himself from giving to 
another, or even to his parent's utmost need, by vowing his property to 
God, even without actually resigning its possession and enjoyment. 

In prohibiting all mutilations or tortures of the human body, excepting 
that which constituted the rite of circumcision so largely in vogue in South- 
western Asia and Egypt, the Jewish religion was left with 
^^ ^ ^ fasting as an important means of self-discipline in addition to 
vows and offerings. Fasting, individual and national, figured considerably 
in their system. The annual fast on the Day of Atonement showed the 
recognition granted to it, and it was often resorted to in limes of national 



THE JEWISH RELIGION: LEGISLATION, ETC. 615 

clanger or misfortune. Another form of self-discipline was found in the 
offering of the hair and abstinence from wine ; and the period of thirty 
da^^s' abstinence, during attendance at the sanctuary, became specially 
commendable. Groups of persons who took certain religious Nazarites 
vows were formed from time to time, such as the Rechabites and 
and the Nazarites (more correctly Nazirites), the latter of whom 
consecrated their bodies and all their powers to Jehovah for a limited 
time or for life. Wine and even grapes were forbidden to them ; no 
change in their body was allowable, even the hair might not be cut ; dead 
bodies must not be approached. At the end of the period of the vow, 
special offerings were made in the Temple. Samson, Samuel, and John 
the Baptist appear to have all been Nazarites for life. 

How far the Jewish religion was from the other religions we have 
described can partially be judged by comparing them in detail, though 
our brief survey leaves many topics unnoticed. The deification of heroes 
or priests, the worship of relics, monasticism, the worship of ancestors, 
wizardry, and magic, found no home in the Jewish system. And consecration 
perhaps that which prevented these from arising, and which %eopiI^?^ 
elevated the nation most in the religious scale, was the declaration Jehovah, 
and the constant inward sense that the nation and its individuals were 
holy, consecrated to Jehovah, and must therefore be kept pure from all 
inward and outward defilement, and when defiled in any way must be 
purified by appropriate submission, repentance, and offerings. The people 
are declared in Deuteronomy to be the children of Jehovah ; and the 
dedication of the first-born children and the offerings of firstlings and 
first-fruits kept in memory and expressed gratitude for the deliverances 
which Jehovah had wrought for them. Special kinds of food, special laws 
of purification, and other peculiar personal regulations were devised to 
strengthen the feeling of separation from other nations, and of exceptional 
elevation as the children of Jehovah. The Jewish religion had as its 
birthright the revelation, in a degree far above that which others had 
attained, " Holy shall j^e be, for holy am I." Not a human ideal, but a 
Divine example was the standard set before the nation. Thus the nation 
became a household united by one thought, one worship, and thus it at- 
tained a strength which long protected its feebleness. Rejecting an earthly 
sovereign, the ideal of Jehovah as Sovereign was raised above the nation ; 
and laws had so much the more the sanction of public opinion, as they 
were believed to come direct from God, and to be enforced by temporal 
punishments and calamities, apart from the decreed penalties by which 
alone pardon and restoration could be obtained by offenders. And, on the 
other hand, the laws were the more readily enforced, as it will be seen 
on close study that the majority of them had the soundest basis in natural 
laws, and others were at least in accordance with the best wisdom of the 
time, or represented substantial improvement on practices of the surround- 
ing nations. 

It may be astonishing at first sight to find that the Jewish law 



6i6 7HE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

regarded a large number of animals and natural conditions or objects as 
Clean and ^^^^^3'^ which we do not ; but in this it only- followed the 
unclean instinct of many peoples and religions, which find certain 
repulsions inherent, and which create others in virtue of some 
accidental conditions. Ruminant animals, finny and scaly fish, and 
locusts were allowed to be eaten ; but the camel, hare, coney, and swine, 
and all the smaller land animals were forbidden. The mode of death, too, 
was important ; any mode which did not allow the blood to be thoroughly 
drained from the fiesh was forbidden, for the eating of blood, in which 
animal life was supposed especially to reside, was strictly tabooed. All 
dead animal matter made him who touched it impure. The elaboration 
of the regulations about impurity and purification is too great for us to 
Means of deal with here ; but they had the object not only of making and 
purification, l^eeping the body of the servant of Jehovah clean and pure, but 
of guarding carefully the purity of the spirit, though, as we know, this 
object, to a very considerable extent, was not attained. We may note 
among the means of purification, specially purified water, cedar-wood, 
threads of scarlet cloth, the leaves and stalk of the hyssop, and a red 
heifer. One striking particular in which a difference from Egyptian 
practice was shown, was in the discontinuance of embalming the dead. 

Burial was performed at a distance from human dwellings, and, as 
far as possible, in caves, natural or artificial. The impurity attaching 
Burial. ^^ enemies' possessions, as usually polluted in some way by 
alien religions, was shown by the frequency with which they 
were entirely destroyed, instead of being utilised as legitimate booty. 
Conversely, the touching of sacred objects after they were consecrated 
was an ofience of the deepest dye, often punished by death. It is worthy 
of remark that many of the Israelitish regulations showed a knowledge, 
or at least instinct, about the laws of health, which would have done credit 
to many a nation presumedly much more advanced in civilisation. 

The relationships within which marriage was allowed were strictly 
limited ; and a man was forbidden to marry two sisters at the same 
Marriage time, although a sentiment about the hereditary descent of 
limits, property made it a duty for a man's brothers in succession 
to marry his widow if he died childless. All unnatural lusts were most 
strictly forbidden and heavily punished ; and even the mixture of different 
seeds in sowing, and the union of wool and linen in the same garment, 
were unlawful. 

Through all the Jewish ideas of their relation to Nature we find 

ruling a belief that it belongs to God. Young fruit trees were not to be 

Nature the cropped till three years had passed ; in the fourth year the fruit 

property of was offered to Jehovah, and only afterwards did it come into 

use by man. The ox treading out the corn was not to be 

muzzled ; eggs or young birds were not to be taken from the nest while the 

mother was there ; domestic animals were to share the rest of the Sabbath ; 

and all this that it might be well with the people who belonged to the 



THE JEWISH RELIGION: LEGISLATION, ETC. 617 

same God whose were the animal and the vegetable kingdoms. Thus 
we may understand the depth of the feeling which inspired in the 50th 
Psalm the lines (Perowne's translation) : — 

" Mine is every beast of the forest, 
The cattle upon the mountains by thousands. 
I know every bird of the mountains, 
And that which moveth in the field is with Me." 

The strength of that feeling in favour of the protection of human life 
which in so many nations and religions makes revenge of murder an 
absolute duty, was shown by the permission given to the heirs Biood- 
of a murdered man, and especially the next heir, the redeemer, revenge, 
to execute punishment upon him, though his guilt was first to be deter- • 
mined by a regular investigation, two witnesses at least being required. 
Blood-money was not allowed to be accepted. AVhen the murderer was 
imknown, a special mode of expiation was provided, so that the people 
of the neighbourhood might be cleared from Divine vengeance, cities of 
Unwitting manslaughter was only purged by fleeing to a refuge, 
sacred city of refuge, which he could not leave, or the avenger might slay 
him. So strongly was the right of blood-revenge maintained, that even 
King David could not prevent Joab from putting it in force without 
the sanction of any court. There is every reason to believe that the 
Jewish people were unstained by the practices of infanticide, which were 
so glaring an evil in many Oriental nations. 

Minor injuries were to be punished in kind — " eye for eye, tooth for 
tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning," etc. ; although 
later, when the offended person consented, they could be "An eye for 
expiated by money payments. Injuries received in a mutual ^^ ®y®-" 
quarrel were satisfied by payment for loss of time. But the Jewish law 
took cognisance of offences which were followed by no physical injury. 
Slander, hatred, false witness, unequal honour to the rich, are unsparingly 
condemned ; and many positive precepts show the rise of kindly feelings, 
of compassion, of tolerance and kindliness towards strangers, as well as of 
true justice in word and deed, in generous fulness, among the Israelites. 
The precept, " Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head, and honour the 
face of the old man," might have been written in China. 

The references to the year of jubilee will already have explained one 
feature of the law of property, which aimed at keeping the land in the 
hands of the same families permanently. The tendency of the 
Israelites to lend money for interest is strongly marked by the 
stringent prohibitions of usury which are found in the Law, and the Deuter- 
onomic acknowledgment that interest might be taken from strangers, though 
not from fellow-Israelites. Already in Exodus the practice of taking pledges 
for loans was in existence, and it became necessary to forbid keeping a 
man's outer garment (used as a bed-covering) beyond sunset. A widow's 
garment might not be taken, nor a hand mill, and the creditor might not 



6i8 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

enter the debtor's house to seize his goods. The service of the debtor who 
was unable to pay might be demanded, or that of his wife or child ; but 
such Hebrew bondslaves were to be released in the seventh year. Yet the 
slave could voluntarily'" renounce his freedom, at the cost of having his ear 
bored through with an awl against the door or door-post of the 
sanctuary. Slaves, while placed in a position much better than 
in other surrounding nations, in fact being treated much as hired servants, 
were yet somewhat strictly kept in servitude, and their emancipation only 
appears to have been customary in the year of jubilee. Female slaves 
also were treated as chattels with regard to marriage or concubinage. After 
the Babylonish captivity slavery went out of use among the Jews. 

The elevation of the Jewish religion above most others is shown in 
"another particular — the treatment of strangers, other than fellow-country- 
Treatment of nien. Strictly fair treatment of them is enjoined ; nay, in Levi- 
strangers. ticus we are told, " The stranger that sojourneth with you shall 
be unto you as the homeborn among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself ; 
for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt." The widow and orphan, the 
poor and friendless, were to be kindly received and succoured, to whatever 
race they belonged, and they were to be made partakers in the joys of 
sacrifice to Jehovah. 

The relation of children to parents was originally one of as great sub- 
ordination as that of slave to master ; the duty of submission on the part of 
Parents and the child was regarded as so paramount that it received separate 
chUdren. mention in the Decalogue ; but this did not exclude, nay, it 
implied a tender regard for children which is exemplified in many Old 
Testament narratives. On the other hand, the disobedience of a child might 
be punished with any severity. Death was the punishment of a child that 
struck or cursed a parent, although in Deuteronomy this punishment might 
only be inflicted on a rebelhous son after a hearing of the case before the 
elders of a city. Again, a child might be sold or given in pledge for a debt ; 
and in several instances a whole family was destroyed for the sin of the 
head. In Deuteronomy, however, we read that the children are not to be 
put to death for the sin of the fathers ; and this is interpreted by those who 
regard Deuteronomy as a late compilation, as indicating a gradual relaxa- 
tion of the severity of the early law. 

The marriage laws of the Israelites are on the whole so well known 
that no extended notice is needed ; but with marriage the husband gained 
Wives and a powerful command over the wife, and she was often practically 
concubines, "bought, and might be divorced with comparative ease. A 
husband who doubted his wife's fidelity might take her to the sanctuary 
and demand that the priest should subject her to an awe-inspiring trial by 
ordeal, giving her a peculiarly compounded drink, " the water of jealousy," 
which was expected to bring destruction upon a guilty woman. That 
women by no means occupied the degraded position assigned to them in 
many Oriental countries is evidenced by numerous instances of women being 
prophetesses, and even military leaders, and being greatly honoured even by 



620 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

the most renowned prophets. Marriage was viewed as an honourable estate ; 
children were a heritage from Jehovah. Violations of purity cannot have 
been common ; and a great distinction was thus maintained between the 
Jews and surrounding nations. Concubinage and double marriages were 
allowed ; but these were very different from the licentiousness of maliy 
Oriental States. The kings were commanded not to multiply their wives — 
a command which they evidently disregarded. In later Jewish times 
, monogamy appears to have become customary, although divorce was much 
abused. Hebrew marriage was not connects i with any religious rite. 

That the moral condition of the Jews was high compared with most 

other nations is evident from comparing their histories. That they were 

General moral ^^^g^^Y exempt from the vices which found a home with extreme 

condition of wealth is undoubted. That they owed much to the examples 

Israel • . 

of their early leaders is equally true. But they owed more to 

the vivid conception and assimilation of the belief that they were Jehovah's 
chosen people, who must therefore be holy and pure, and must reject all 
the practices which His prophets denounced as displeasing to Him. No- 
where else have we found a nation inspired with the ideal of a Divine King, 
guiding every step and giving every victory. And although this ideal 
proved to be beyond their strength to realise fully, and they were not 
skilled enough in statecraft to frame a practicable republic, their ideal lived 
on even when they had set up an earthly kingdom, and bore especial fruit 
when an odious foreign domination controlled them. When most held in 
subjection, they turned their thoughts to a coming Deliverer, Divine yet 
human, who should release them from bondage and place them in triumph 
;^t the head of human affairs. 




SUPPOSED FORM OF THE SECOND TEMPLF. 



CHAPTER III. 



Cfte 3t\J0\6l) }3nfs;tI)ooti ani CrnipIesJ; tin psalms antr 
91)tIos;opt)ifaI Wiisiliom. 

The priesthood.— Aaron. — The high priest's dress.— Urim and Thummim. — Special functions of high 
priest. — The later high priests.— The hereditary priests. — The Levites.— The temple at Jerusalem, 
—Dimensions and structure. — The ark and cherubim. — The temple services.— Zerubbabel's temple. 
—Herod's temple.— Religious growth of Israel.— Samuel.— David.— The Psalms.— Testimony of 
Athanasius, Luther, and Edward Irving.— Interpretation of Psalms.— Messianic Psalms.— Cha- 
racteristics of the Psalms.— Future life.— Growth of the Psalter.— The five books of Psalms.— The 
Proverbs.— Praise of utility.— The eulogy of wisdom.— Ecclesiastes.— Variety of opinions.— The 
book of Job.— Diversity of views about it.— Its loftiness of thought.— Salient problems dealt with. 
—Job's patience.— Future life and judgment.— Job and Elihu. — The Theophany. 

THE original family priests of Israel, when the patriarch ceased to per- 
form all religious rites himself, were the eldest sons ; and it was a great 
change from this system when a special tribe engrossed priestly The priest- 
duties. This is recorded as having been the work of the new ^°^^' 
religious development which dated from Moses, which, including as it did 
loftier ideas, more complex observances, and numerous new laws, tended to 
become from the first associated with that family to which the new ideas and 
their propagation had been committed. Probably Aaron had, during Moses' 
absence in Midian, been already stirring up his people to revolt 
against the Egyptians ; but his character, much less original and 
steadfast than his brother's, so far yielded to opportunism as to become the 
instrument of the worship of Jehovah under the image of a golden calf, 
which led to a kind of festival very repugnant to Moses, and to one of the 
grandest manifestations of the great leader's self-suppression and willingness 
to give himself for his people. But Aaron's sin having sprung from a desire 
to yield to popular sentiment in order that he might turn it towards the true 
worship, he was not therefore incapacitated for becoming the first high 
priest of Israel ; but his ordination was through Moses. It was celebrated 



62 2 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

by a sin-offering, a burnt-offering, and a meat-offering, the putting on of 
special robes, anointing with oil, the offering of a ram of consecration, and 
the sprinkling of its blood upon Aaron and his sons as well as upon the 
: altar and its vessels. Aaron's special priesthood was distinctly guarded by 
'the punishment of his sons Nadab and Abihu for "offering strange fire '' 
^on the altar, and of Korah and the Levites for rebelling against his supremacy. 
Aaron's tendency to presumption and self-confidence is shown more than 
once in the Biblical narrative, and it is typical of the character subsequently 
maintained by the priesthood, which became conservative of established 
tradition and of sacerdotal rights rather than possessed of a reforming and 
elevating spirit. 

The high priest wore a special dress, including : (1) A tunic of linen, 
called an ephod, in two parts, back and front, clasped together at either 
The high shoulder by a large onyx, with the names of six of the tribes en- 
priest's dress. gj;.aye(^ on it ; round the waist it was bound by a girdle of gold, 
blue, purple, scarlet, and fine linen. (2) A breastplate, fastened to the onyx- 
stones and the girdle, and having four rows of three precious stones, each 
having the name of one of Israel's sons upon it. These stones may them- 
selves have constituted the " Urim and Thummim " (Light and Perfection), 
which were the medium through which Divine answers were obtained by 
the high priest. Some think that it was a plate of gold on which the name ot 
Jehovah was engraved, and that by fixing his attention on it, the priest was 
Urim and elevated into the prophetic spirit. A more plausible theory is, that 
Thummim. \y^(^ Urim was a symbol of Light, analogous to the scarabseus simi- 
larly worn by the Egyptian priests ; while the Thummim was a symbolic 
image of Truth, such as was worn by the priestly judges of Egypt. This 
Egyptian origin accords with their not being described in the Pentateuch, 
as being so well known to the people. Dean Plumptre (Dictionary of Bible, 
Art. " Urim and Thummim ") suggests that the high priest, fixing his 
gaze on these symbols, concentrated his thoughts on the Light and Perfec- 
tion they represented, and on the holy name of Jehovah. Thence he passed 
into an ecstatic state in which all lower human elements were forgotten, 
and he received a higher insight which was accepted as Divine. (3) A blue 
"robe of the ephod," worn beneath it, trimmed with pomegranates, in blue, 
red, and crimson, with a golden bell between each alternate pomegranate. 
(4) A mitre, or upper turban, having a gold plate fastened to it by a ribbon, 
and bearing the inscription "Holiness to Jehovah." Besides these, the 
high priest wore, in common with the subordinate priests, an embroidered 
coat or tunic, with girdle and drawers. A simple linen turban was worn by 
the priests instead of the high priest's mitre. 

The special functions of the high priest will already have been partly 
gathered from the account of ceremonies. To him alone was it permitted 
to enter the inner sanctuary, or Holy of Holies, once a year 
functions of on the great day of atonement. During the high priest's life- 
high priest. ^.^^ persons who had fled to a city of refuge might not quit 
it. The high priest was forbidden to rend his clothes for the dead, 



THE JEWISH PRIESTHOOD AND TEMPLES. 623 

or to follow a funeral. In other particulars his functions might vary 
greatly with circumstances ; but so long as his character commanded the 
people's reverence, he was the interpreter of the will of God to the people, 
and cast the sacred lots to determine important questions. Bat in later 
times, when the priesthood became more formal and conservative, these 
functions passed largely into the hands of the prophets, and at times there 
was antagonism between the priestly and prophetical classes. It is worthy 
of notice, that in the account of the dedication of Solomon's Temple, the 
high priest is not mentioned ; the new royal power had eclipsed him. In- 
deed, this was largely the case during the monarchy. After the Babylonian 
captivity the high priest again became prominent. Jaddua, high priest at 
the time of Alexander the Great, met him in procession, and ^^Yl^ later 
was treated reverentially by him. To Simon the Just is ascribed ^^^^ P"®^*^- 
the completion of the Old Testament canon. During his brother Eleazar's 
priesthood the Septuagint version of the Old Testament was made at Alex- 
andria for Ptolemy Philadelphus. The degeneracy of Eleazar's successors 
was followed by the brilliant revival of the priesthood in the family of the 
Maccabees, which lasted from b.c. 153 to 35, when Aristobulus was murdered 
by order of his brother-in-law, Herod the " Great." Henceforward the 
high priesthood was more degraded than it had ever been. Herod and his 
successors made and unmade high priests at will, often men of low birth ; and 
in the 107 years preceding the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, there had 
been twenty-eight high priests. 

The Jewish priests (kohen)^ as an order, appear to have been constituted 
especially out of the family and descendants of Aaron. We only read of the 
consecration of his sons, and afterwards the office was hereditary, 
until Jeroboam, in founding the kingdom of Israel, appointed hereditary 
a fresh priesthood. They wore linen garments and caps when- ^^^^^ ^' 
ever they ministered in the Tabernacle or Temple, where they always went 
barefooted. No descendant of Aaron with any physical defect might act as 
priest. They were forbidden to shave their heads, or to imitate other priest- 
hoods either in asceticism or licentiousness. In every way they were trained 
and designed to be able to clearly distinguish between what was clean and 
unclean, sacred and profane. After the Captivity, great stress was laid on 
genealogical proof of true descent and on examination for physical blemishes 
before the Sanhedrim admitted a youth to take part in the Temple services. 

Abundant work was assigned to the priests. Besides assisting the high 
priests, they had to keep the altar fire and the golden lamp perpetually burn- 
ing, to offer the regular morning and evening sacrifices, and to be in readi- 
ness to receive any worshipper and offer sacrifice, or otherwise do the priest's 
office for him. The judgment about leprosy, the ordeal of the waters of 
jealousy, and numerous other decisions were committed to them, and they 
were in general charged with the religious instruction of the people. In 
return they received a regular maintenance of one-tenth of the tithes 
assigned to the Levites, and large portions of the sacrificial offerings. In 
the time of David the priests were divided into twenty-four courses or sets, 



624 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

each of which took the services for a week at a time ; but this order did not 
prevent others, out of their turn, from taking a share in the services, particu- 
larly at the great festivals. On the return from the Captivity, only four of 
these courses remained ; but the twenty-four were constituted anew out of 
the remnant. In later Jewish times they largely increased in number, and 
many of them were poor, ignorant, and despised. It is very probable that 
the " high places " so often referred to in Jewish history were supplied with 
priests claiming descent from Aaron ; but they went further than this, and 
officiated as priests of Baal, of the sun and moon, and of the " host of heaven," 
as the prophets testify. 

The priesthood which belonged to the Levites as distinct from the sons 
of Aaron dated apparently from their rallying round Moses and Aaron after 
the Israelites had worshipped the golden calf, when they conse- 
" crated themselves to defend the Tabernacle and the pure worship 
of Jehovah. After that they were adopted in place of the first-born as 
priests, and obtained a maintenance from the other tribes, and numerous 
privileges. During the wilderness wanderings they carried all the taber- 
nacle treasures, all the appliances of sacrifice. They gained increased 
influence when the Israelites had settled in Palestine, became diffused in 
forty-eight cities and their suburbs throughout the land, and received shares 
of booty taken in war. In the times of David and Solomon they appear as 
hymn- writers and musicians, taking a prominent part in the services at 
Jerusalem ; but we have no definite information as to how they were re- 
placed from the provincial cities. Later, they appear as scribes, officers, 
judges, and teachers. In Deuteronomy the offices of preserving, copying, 
and interpreting the Law are assigned to them, and they were to read it 
aloud at the Feast of Tabernacles every seventh year, and to pronounce the 
curses from Mount Ebal. After the formation of the kingdom of Israel they 
left it to a large extent, and gathered closely into connection with Jeru- 
salem and the Temple, showing themselves in Hezekiah's time more zealous 
and upright in heart than the priests ; thus they acquired greater influence 
than ever in both Hezekiah's and Josiah's reigns. They were less numerous 
after the Captivity, and did not take any special part in the formation of 
synagogues, though they retained precedence in them, and were a majority 
in the Sanhedrim ; but the Levites in general were only the inferior officers 
of the Temple. After its destruction they sank into the general mass of 
subdued, captive, or dispersed Jews. 

THE TEMPLE AT JERUSALEM. 

The change from a wandering and a conquering life to a settled and 
powerful dominion was marked by the construction of a sacred building 
which, while not rivalling in architecture and magnificence the great 
temples of Egypt and Mesopotamia, was yet a splendid monument of royal 
devotion. The design and planning of the Temple are in large part as- 
cribed to David, who collected much of the treasure and engaged many of 
the workmen. Its site was Mount Moriah, north-east of Mount Zion, the 



THE JEWISH PRIESTHOOD AND TEMPLES. 625 

altar being placed where David offered sacrifice on the staying of the 
pestilence which followed his census. This site being uneven in its upper 
portion, and not squared into areas suitable for the temple-courts, its 
dimensions were corrected by Solomon, who built gigantic walls as a sub- 
structure to support the upper buildings. 

The idea of the new Temple was plainly borrowed from that of the 
Tabernacle, whose dimensions it doubled. The Holy of Holies measured 
twenty cubits every way ; the outer court was forty cubits long by Dimensions 
twenty broad, but it was raised to thirty cubits in height to sup- and 
port three outer stories of chambers for the priests and temple 
servers ; while the east end had a porch ten cubits in depth, and decorated 
with two immense bronze pillars with magnificent lily-shaped capitals. The 
roof was probably flat, and any openings for light could only be made in the 
part of the Temple wall that rose above the side stories. Probably the Holy 
of Holies was quite dark. Outside the Temple proper was a great court of 
similar shape. The internal ornamentation of this Temple was magnificent ; 
but we must leave details to be gathered from the narrative in 1 Kings. 

Within the Holy of Holies was placed the Ark, as it had been handed 
down for centuries ; but to accord with the greater magnificence of the 
Temple, two huge cherubim were set up in it, whose wings ^he Ark and 
were of such dimensions as jointly to stretch entirely across the ciierubim. 
building. They were placed at a height of ten cubits above the floor, and 
could not be seen through the door from the Holy Place. In this latter was 
a gilded altar and a table for shew-bread, and, according to 2 Chronicles, 
ten tables with a golden candlestick on each. There were, besides, a huge 
bronze altar in the fore-court, and a vast laver of bronze, with vessels termed 
bases, in which water could be conveyed thence wherever needed. The 
consecration of this Temple, after seven years and a half had been occu- 
pied in its erection, was the , most magnificent ceremony in Israelitish 
history. The sacrifices were of enormous extent, and an overpowering im- 
pression of the presence of Jehovah awed the worshippers. 

We have many evidences of the magnificence with which some of the 
kings kept up the Temple services, as well as of the riches which it con- 
tained. The successive spoliations which it underwent from the The Temple 
Egyptians, and for tribute to other foreign powers, still left services, 
sufficient treasure in it to furnish a great booty for Nebuchadnezzar ; and 
then it was, as far as fire could effect it, completely destroyed. 

The temple of Zerubbabel, erected about 520 B.C., after the return of 
the Jews from Babylon, is but little known in detail. Apparently the 
outer buildings were increased in width, and the total length zerubbabei's 
of the courts was considerably increased ; but necessarily the t®^Pi®- 
magnificence was much diminished, and, above all, it did not contain the 
Ark of the Covenant, which had been lost or destroyed, and no copy of it 
was made. Nor was the high priest any more equipped with the breast- 
plate, so essential in the consultation of the sacred oracle. But yet, so far 
as the machinery of routine worship and sacrifice were concerned, the 



626 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

priests were enabled once more to carry out the essentials of Jehovah's 
service, and to lay an increased stress on the public reading and the observ- 
ance of the Law. 

How far this temple survived the lapse of time and the injuries of such 
tyrants and devastators as Antiochus Epiphanes, cannot be ascertained; 
but there is some probability that the essential features of the structure 
Herod's survived and were incorporated in the magnificent structure 
temple. ^^-^^^^ i^y Herod the Great (b.c. 20-12). This monarch not only 
enclosed the central portion in an extensive inner enclosure, reserved for 
Jews only, about 180 cubits by 240, adorned with splendid porches and 
gateways, but surrounded the whole with a much larger enclosure, open 
also to Gentiles, 400 cubits sqilare, constructed with great engineering skill 
and splendour, vieing with that of the greatest temples of other countries.' 
This was furnished with a complete series of flat-roofed cloisters, supported 
by double rows of Corinthian columns : on the outer side was the closed 
temple wall, internally the space was open to the great outer court of the 
temple. On the southern side, however, there was added to this a great 
porch, or practically a nave and two aisles, the whole 100 feet wide, and 
the nave rising to a height of 100 feet. In total length, this ''porch" 
was longer than our largest English cathedrals, extending to 600 feet, and 
supported by 160 Corinthian columns. 

RELIGIOUS GROWTH OF ISRAEL. 

Going back now to trace some features in the religious development 
of Israel, we need only note how thoroughly the conquest of Canaan under 
Joshua and his successors was inspired by the belief in Jehovah's divine 
commission to the people, and in His presence and aid in battle, the con- 
nection of this belief with the necessity for much slaughter of the peoples 
whom they conquered, and the destruction of their idols. After Joshua's 
death the nation had no continuous head but the High Priest, who probably 
presided over the Assembly of the Elders of the tribes, and declared the will 
of Jehovah after consulting the oracle. Shiloh, north of Bethel, was for 
many years the most usual seat of the Tabernacle and residence of the High 
Priest. The cessation of united organisation for war gave place to dissolv- 
ing and weakening influences ; the Canaanites at various times regained 
power, and the worship of their gods was extended ; and we hear very little 
of the High Priests or of the Assembly of Elders for a long period. The 
priestly character degenerated till it became a byword in the sons of Eli, 
when there arose the first of the great series of Prophets to call back the 
people to the purer service of Jehovah, to denounce prevalent sins, and to 
Samuel ^^^'^^^^ ^^^ national ideal. Samuel appears not to have intro- 
duced any new principles, but he purified the national worship, 
established his jurisdiction as a pure judge, and when he found that loyalty 
to an invisible ruler failed to unite and preserve the people in stable order 
and content, he anointed the most notable young warrior of his time as 
king, and, as far as in him lay, established the kingdom in righteousness. 



THE HEBREW PSALMS. 627 

His distinction as a man possessed of insight into affairs human and divine 
was made evident by many circumstances. He is a religious leader outside 
the Aaronic priesthood, although his training under Eli practically adopted 
him into it ; but he exalted the prophetic teaching conveyed through him- 
self above the functions of the priests. '' To obey is better than sacrifice," 
he powerfully asserted, and his lesson has embedded' itself in the higher 
religious conscience of mankind. 

Samuel's appearance was but the first-fruit of an awakening which 
established '' schools of the prophets," or religious companies, which mani- 
fested and trained gifts of speech and song that soon became notable. 
Probably David, — recognised in his early youth by Samuel as Saul's 
successor, — in such schools matured those gifts which have made him even 
more famous as the sweet singer than as the powerful King of Israel. 

David's religious importance, in addition to the study of his character 
and history as impartially detailed to us in the Old Testament, consists 
in his development of public worship and his contributions to 
sacred literature. Although, contrary to the notion which has 
grown up among English people, the majority of the Psalms are not the 
composition of David, they derived their original stamp, their pattern, their 
highest flights from him, and are rightly associated most dis- 
tinctively with his name. No man has more vividly or truly 
expressed the depths of human experience, the heights of religious aspira- 
tion, the strength of conviction as to God's nature, prerogatives, and care 
for His people. Athanasius says of the Psalms that they are to Testimony of 
him who sings them as a mirror, wherein he may see himself and athanasius, 
the motions of his soul, and with like feelings utter them. Luther says in 
his preface to the Psalms : " Where will you find words more aptly chosen 
to express joy, than in the Psalms of praise and the Psalms of 
thanksgiving ? There thou mayest look into the heart of all the 
saints, as into fair delightful gardens, yea, even into heaven itself, and 
note with what wonderful variety there spring up therein, like so many 
exquisite, hearty, delightful flowers, sweet and gladsome thoughts of Grod 
and His benefits. On the other hand, where canst thou find deeper, sadder, 
more lamentable words of sorrow than are to be found in the Psalms of 
complaint ? There again thou mayest look into the heart of all the saints, 
as into death, yea, as into hell. How dark and gloomy it is there with the 
manifold hiding of God's countenance ! So likewise, when the Psalms 
speak of fear or hope, they speak in such manner of words that no painter 
could so paint the fear or the hope, and no Cicero or master of oratory could 
express them to the life more happily." 

Edward Irving wrote thus of the Psalms : " For pure pathos and 
tenderness of heart, for sublime imagination, for touching pictures of 
natural scenery, and genial sympathy with Nature's various and Edward 
moods ; for patriotism, whether in national weal or national woe ; living, 
for beautiful imagery, whether derived from the relationship of human life 
or the forms of the created universe ; and for the illustration, by their help. 



628 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

of spiritual conditions ; moreover, for those rapid transitions in which the 
lyrical muse delighteth, her lightsome graces at one time, her deep and full 
inspiration at another, her exuberance of joy and her lowest falls of grief, 
and for every other form of the natural soul which is wont to be shadowed 
forth by this kind of composition, we challenge anything to be produced 
from the literature of all ages and countries, worthy to be compared with 
what we find even in the English version of the Book of Psalms." 

After considering very many sublime passages of the Psalms, it may 
be safely said, that if the term " inspired," as signifying a gift of language 
and thought in a superhuman way, may not be applied to them, it can 
scarcely be applied to anything ; and the general adoption of their 
language by Christians in devotion proves their correspondence with the 
wants and feelings of the soul. There are, however, very wide divergences 

interpreta- ^^ opinion, even among orthodox divines, as to the interpretation 
tion of of many passages, showing that there is no theory of inspiration 
sufficiently agreed upon to settle all difficulties or to obviate the 
need of either ecclesiastical or private judgment. The most important 
question about the interpretation of the Psalms, is their reference to the 
Messiah expected by the Israelites, in the two characters of a victorious king 
and a suffering prophet. While there can be no doubt that in most cases 
there is a primary meaning of the Psalms, applicable to the writer or his 
subject, many divines point to the confessions of sin as excluding numerous 

Messianic so-called Messianic passages from having a Messianic reference, 
Psalms, g^^^ maintain that in others such references were not consciously 
in the mind of the writer, although they have a broad and grand fulfilment 
in the Person of Christ. All but a few critics agree that the Psalms in 
many places foreshadow or pre-typify Jesus. Dean Perowne observes : 
" Nowhere in the Psalms are the redemption of the world and Israel's final 
glory bound up with the coming of the Messiah. . . . The Advent to 
which Israel looks forward is the Advent of Jehovah. It is He who is 
Israel's true King. It is His coming which shall be her redemption and 
her glory." And Calvin, in commenting on the 72nd Psalm, says : " They 
who will have this to be simply a prediction of the Kingdom of Christ seem 
to twist the words very violently." ^ 

Apart from this, the Psalms are distinguished beyond all other sacred 
books by the directness of their appeal to Grod. No circumstance of life or 

Character- experience is regarded as hidden from the Supreme Being, or un- 
istics of suit-able to be the subject of direct communion with Him. Fre- 

the Psalms. ^^^^1-;^^ Y\iQ in the midst of trouble or on pinnacles of greatness 
is associated with dod in such a way that the human and the Divine belong 

^ We may he-re give the Messianic foreshadowings from the Psalms given in the 
New Testament : xxii. 18 (John xiii. 18) ; xxxiv. 20 (John xix. 36) ; xli. 9 (John xiii. 18) ; 
Ixix. 10 (Eom. XV. 3); Ixix. 21 (John xix. 28). In addition, "In Ps. xxxv. 11 we have 
a foreshadowing -of the false testimony against Jesus; in Ps. xxii. 7, 8, Ixix. 12, of the 
revilings ; in Ps. xxii. 16, of the piercing of the hands and feet ; in Ps. Ixix. 21, of the 
offering of the gall and vinegar " (Cheyne). 



THE HEBREW PSALMS. 



629 



to one cycle of being, inseparably related. The views of the Divine great- 
ness and majesty developed in the Psalms contain some of the sublimest of 
all poetic expressions, and add emphasis to the frequent repudiations and 
denunciations of idolatry. Worship, by songs and music, prayer and praise^ 
public and private worship, is abundantly inculcated ; but there is little 
stress laid on sacrifices, compared with the obedience of the heart to the 
Divine law, and the consecration of the life to righteousness. Sin is laid 
bare in its inner working in the soul, and as inherent in human nature by 
birth : but forgiveness of the true penitent's sin by Jehovah is asserted, and 
the assistance of God's " Holy Spirit " is besought in efforts after righteous- 
ness. Evil is recompensed to the evil-doer, and good will befall the righteous ; 




THE "MOLTEN SEA " UPON THE TWELVE OXEN IN SOLOMON's TEMPLE. 

and both will, in part, be handed on to their children. The instruction of 
others by the righteous is exemplified and encouraged, and in a few pas- 
sages, such as Psalm vii. 4, kindness to enemies is dimly suggested. But 
the imprecations upon wilfuh transgressors of Jehovah's laws and defiers 
of His greatness are as severe as denunciations can be, affording a counter- 
part to the Commination Service of the Church of England. On the other 
hand, little distinct mention of a future life is made. In some of 
the Psalms, indeed, the state of man after death is spoken of as 
non-existence. In death there is no remembrance of Grod, we are told, nor 
is there any access to Him for them that lie down in silence. Yet, at times, 
there are glimpses of a happy future for the righteous (Ps. xvii. 15 ; xlix. 
15 ; and if the reading '' to," rather than '' with," glory be accepted, in 



630 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

Ps. Ixxiii. 24), and of a future judgment, when the- good will be rewarded 
and the evil punished.^ 

So much might be said on questions connected with the Psalms, — that 
*' Bible within the Bible," as it has been called, — that it is difficult to choose 
or to abstain. But our main concern here is with the place of the Psalms 
in the religious history of Israel. Their matter is universally known ; able 
criticism upon them is accessible, though unfortunately at considerable cost, 
in works such as those of Perowne and Cheyne. Consequently, we shall 
not discuss whether all the Psalms attributed to David in the inscriptions 
are by him, or whether, as some say, only eleven entire Psalms and portions 
Gro-wth of of others are certainly his. It is acknowledged that the Psalms 
the Psalter, represent the growth of centuries, extending from the very early 
90th Psalm, ascribed to Moses, to the date of the Maccabees, according to 
some ; that they grew out of smaller collections, made at different times 
by zeal like that of the " men of Hezekiah," who collected Solomon's 
Proverbs, and that it is now impossible to ascertain when the inscriptions, 
which are not integral parts of the Psalms, were added, or upon what 
evidence. A considerable proportion of the Psalms, doubtless, beyond those 
of David, belong to his age, — to the singers and poets whom he gathered 
round him. Only two Psalms are ascribed to Solomon. The times of 
Jehoshaphat and Hezekiah witnessed the collection and arrangement of 
many Psalms. Others were written in connection with the Assyrian and 
Babylonish captivities ; but the greatest outpouring of sacred song, after 
David's era, was connected with and inspired by the return from Babylon. 
The Psalms known as Pilgrim Songs, or Songs of the Going-up, belong to 
this period, and one set (cxiii.-cxviii.) constituted the Hallel, sung at the 
Passover, Pentecost, etc. A strong national element marks this later 
psalmody, with less of the anguish or exultation of personal individual ex- 
perience. Some of the Psalms, which are most confidently referred to the 
much later time of the desecration of Jerusalem by Antiochus Epiphanes, 
are the 44th, 74th, and 79th. 

Altogether, the Psalms consist of five books ; but how early this division 

existed cannot be said : and each book consists of one or more groups, many 

Th Five ascribed to the same authors, or sets of authors, being grouped 

Books of together. " The first book," says Dean Perowne, " consists, with 

two or three exceptions, of Psalms of David ; the second, of a 

series of Psalms by the sons of Korah, and another series by David ; the 

third, of two minor collections, one supposed to be by Asaph, and the other 

by the sons of Korah. In the fifth we have one group of Pilgrim Songs 

and another group of ' Hallelujah Psalms,' each of them manifestly, in the 

first instance, distinct hymn-books or liturgies." The first book uses the 

name Jehovah about eighteen times, as often as Elohim ; in the next two 

books the latter name is chiefly used. From Psalm Ixxxv. to the end, and 

especially in Books IV. and V., the name Jehovah is almost exclusively em- 

1 For " The Doctrine of a Future Life as Contained in the Old Testament Scriptures," 
see Geden's Fernley Lecture, 1874. 



THE BOOK OF PROVERBS. 631 

ployed. There are indications that chronological order has been disturbed 
in the existing arrangement ; and in many psalms, additions, omissions, and 
other alterations were made after their composition. Specimens of such 
alterations are found in psalms which are partially repeated either as psalms 
or in some other Old Testament book. The inscriptions, too, " are some- 
times genuine, and really represent the most ancient tradition. At other 
times they are due to the caprice of later editors and collectors, the fruits of 
conjecture, or of dimmer and more uncertain traditions" (Perowne). 

Similarly to the Psalms, the Proverbs ascribed to Solomon are now 
acknowledged to form a composite work, which was probably only put 
together three centuries after the age of Solomon (Plumptre) ; The 
and it is a question whether any of the actual sayings of Solo- Proverbs, 
nion are preserved in it, for much of the matter scarcely agrees with his 
character, or the thought of his age. The central portion of the book 
(x.-xxii. 16) is probably the earliest. This is followed by several appendices, 
especially one extending from xxv. to xxix. The preliminary " Praise of 
Wisdom " shows many marks of distinct origin from the rest of the book, 
but even Canon Cheyne does not date it later than near the fall of the king- 
dom of Judah. 

Perhaps the most characteristic note of the main portion of the Proverbs 
. is its utilitarianism. The benefits arising from wise conduct, and the evils 
produced by the reverse, are pointedly expressed. Jehovah and praise of 
His service are extolled, the king is revered, and the glory of a utility, 
nation is said to be its righteousness. We have indications that monogamy 
prevails, and that women are highly regarded, and good family government 
is praised. As regards the hope of immortality, it is disputed whether dis- 
tinct reference is made to it. We are told that the king's heart is plastic in 
the hand of Jehovah, and that the glory of a nation consists in its righteous- 
ness. But on the whole, we cannot say that the central portion of the Book of 
Proverbs greatly enlarged or developed the Jewish religious ideals, although 
it put many of its ideas in a more popular form. The latest appendix 
develops an ideal of womanhood more full and detailed, more noble and 
attractive, than had till then been found in the Hebrew Scriptures — in 
attributing to the virtuous woman wisdom, and kindness,- sympathy, and 
help for the afflicted. 

The grandest and most inspiring portion of the book is undoubtedly 
the preliminary " Praise of Wisdom" (ch. i.-ix.), especially part of chapter 
viii. Many divines agree that the description of Wisdom here, TheEuio^ 
if not prophetic of Jesus Christ, is only applicable in its full ®^ wisdom, 
meaning to Him, especially when He is regarded as identical with the Crea- 
tive Word. This Divine Wisdom is represented as brought forth and set 
up " from everlasting," before any creation existed, and as actively present 
in all subsequent creation. Incidentally in this section, we have one of 
those pregnant sayings which have been the consolation of multitudes under 
suffering : " Whom Jehovah loves, He chastens, even as a father the son in 
whom he delights." 



632 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS, 

The Book of Ecclesiastes, tlie Preacher or Debater (Koheleth), as Dean 
Plumptre says, comes before us as the sphinx of Hebrew literature. " It 
has become almost a proverb, that every interpreter of this book 
* thinks that all previous interpreters have been wrong. Its very 
title has received some dozen discordant interpretations. The dates assigned 
to its authorship by competent experts range over very nearly a thousand 
years, from b.c. 990 to b.c. 10." While, on the one hand, many stick firmly 
to its apparent authorship by Solomon, others, led by Luther, regard it as 
a later book, the author of which dramatically puts himself into the sup- 
posed position of the wise and experienced Solomon. Luther, in his " Table 
Variety of Talk," says : " Solomon did not write the Book, ' The Preacher,' 
opinions, liimself , but it was composed by Sirach in the time of the Macca- 
bees." Others point to the many words in it which only occur in books 
written after the exile, and Dr. Ginsburg states that, " We could as easily 
believe that Chaucer is the author of ' E-asselas,' as that Solomon wrote 
' Koheleth.' " One of the most powerful evidences for its late date is, 
that we find no external mention of it before the Talmud, which speaks 
in a tone of doubt as to its authority. Several learned critics place it in 
the period of Persian rule over Judaea ; others, among whom Mr. Tyler is 
conspicuous, find in the book plain indications of the influence of the Stoic 
and the Epicurean philosophies, which are contrasted with one another, and 
alternately adopted or thrown aside-. There can be no doubt as to the 
parallelisms of sentiment between the Greek sj^stems and the philosophy of 
Koheleth, and Dean Plumptre speaks of the book as " saturated with Greek 
thought and language." Mr. Tyler and Dean Plumptre date the book about 
B.C. 200 to B.C. 180. But many experienced critics are still unconvinced, and 
regard the author of Ecclesiastes as a comparatively early Jewish thinker, 
whose ideas are rather the germ of systematic ethical philosophy, and whose 
expressions have a predominantly Hebrew aspect. 

Eeaders do not need reminding of the contents of Ecclesiastes. It 
does not reveal new matter in theology ; rather it tends to show that, apart 
from some Divine explanation, the system of the world is disheartening 
and incomprehensible, and that there is no certainty of a future rectifica- 
tion. Dean Plumptre has drawn out a highly interesting and suggestive 
ideal biography of the Preacher, which forms a setting for his thought, in- 
dispensable to students. Many think the last portion (xii. 8-14) was added 
by a subsequent writer as a summary, with a religious precept, " Pear God, 
and keep His commandments " ; but it is by no means foreign to Hebrew 
style, that the author should have also written the Epilogue. 

The Book of Job is unique in the Old Testament, in its poetic grandeur 
and in its philosophy; and this is saying a great deal. It might appear that 
The Book of i^ should be easy to date such a book ; but it is the most variously 
^^^' dated book, perhaps, in the Canon — for some consider it to be 
pre-Mosaic, others that it was written by Moses ; many date it in Solomon's 
time, while another school refer it to the period of the exile. Even its style 
and references, precise as they seem, are variously viewed by different 




SHAPHAN READING THE BOOK OF THE LAW BEFORE KIKG JOSIAH. 



634 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

writers, some regarding tlie lack of reference to Mosaic legislation and 
Jewish history as proving its very early date, others seeing in this only a 
detachment from ordinary events and concentration on the problem that 
Diversity of ^^ studied. Many have regarded the book as a faithful descrip- 
views tion of actual events throughout, even as to the Divine dialogue 
with Satan ; others see in it a traditional narrative based on a 
real case, and expanded by a later philosopher. The parallelisms discover- 
able between it, the Proverbs, Psalms, etc., have been said to be caused by 
the author of Job having read these books, while the converse is assumed 
by others. The fact is, that on many points connected with the Book of 
Job, no positive answer can be given, for no positive proofs are now attain- 
able. We are driven to the contents of the book itself, which are what is 
really most important. And one can scarcely help admitting that it marks 
Its loftiness a development in thought, in conception of the world and of its 
of thought, government, of grasp of evidence, of power of discussion, of 
depth of insight, as well as sublimity of expression, which, taken altogether, 
places it later, regarded as a product of the human mind, than the writings 
we have hitherto considered — excepting, of course, the later Psalms. This 
view does not, of course, exclude the possibility that a work, which is later 
in the order of thought, may have come into existence at an earlier date 
than we should expect. And, again, it is dangerous to infer that what the 
writer of a book does not say he did not know. 

The book may be regarded as a statement of the most painful problems in 
the government of the world — the physical and mental trials of the righteous. 
Salient ^^^ ^^^ justification of Grod's dealing with good men. Both Job 
problems and his friends are introduced as possessed by the idea that 
prosperity followed the righteous as adversity overwhelmed the sin- 
ful ; and the book shows — to quote the Rev. S. Cox — " in the most tragic and 
pathetic way, that good, no less than wicked, men lie open to the most cruel 
losses and sorrows ; that these losses and sorrows are not always signs of the 
Divine anger against sin ; that they are intended to correct and perfect the 
righteousness of the righteous. ... Its higher intention is, to show that 
God is capable of inspiring, by showing that man is capable of cherishing, 
that genuine and disinterested affection which is the very soul of goodness ; 
. . . and that man is capable of loving right, simply because it is right, 
and of hating wrong purely because it is wrong, even though he should not 
gain by it, but lose." In this sublime book, as Canon Cook remarks in the 
" Dictionary of the Bible," nearly every theory of the objects and uses 
of suffering is reviewed ; and there are magnificent descriptions of the 
mystery and majesty of God's works, and vindications of His ways to man. 
In many ways the Book of Job so far exhausts the subject, that what has 
really been added since to the argument is essentially slight, with the 
exception of the Christian hope in a future existence of reward and redress, 
which many believe to be explicitly foreshadowed in the Book of Job. 

Here it may be remarked that Job's patience, so proverbial, is not what 
it is popularly represented to be — a mere quiet endurance under suffering. 



THE BOOK OF JOB. 635 



True, lie endured great physical pain and discomfort with patience ; but 
what could be the reason for it tortured him almost beyond en- job's 
durance, so that he complained at times in very strong language. P^*i®^°®- 
The doubt as to God's providence, the feeling of being unjustly treated in 
comparison with the wicked, as well as the unjust criticisms to which he 
was subjected, worried him exceedingly, and it was only by huge efforts 
that he was able to control the un quietness within. His was a patience 
produced out of the utmost turbulence of spirit, and by no means out of 
quietism or stoicism. 

As to the extent of belief in a heaven and a future judgment implied in 
the Book of Job, there is considerable difference of opinion. In chapter x. 
Job certainly represents the spirit world as " a land of gloom, p^^^.^^ ^d^ 
black as the blackness of death, where there is no order, and the and 
light is darkness." Later, in chapter xiv., he has a glimpse of a ""^ ^"^^^ ' 
possible future existence ; if he had the least assurance of it he would gladlj^ 
endure pain till then ; and in the memorable verses 25-27 of chapter xix., 
he rises to a solemnity of conviction and expression about the future which 
is one of the prime sentences of inspiration and comfort to multitudes of 
the human race. In a marvellous burst of confidence, after expressing the 
wish that his words might be written down, engraved with iron, and filled 
in with lead or rock. Job says : "I know that my God or Redeemer (or vin- 
dicator) liveth, and He shall stand, at last, over this dust (or upon the earth), 
and after my body hath thus been destroyed, yet (free) from my flesh I shall 
see God ; whom I shall see on my side, and mine own eyes shall behold, not 
those of another." Notwithstanding all the doubts he had expressed, he 
was at bottom convinced of the justice and goodness of God, and there- 
fore, failing a present vindication, he had a vision of a future vindication by 
God Himself. So far there is widespread agreement as to the interpretation 
of this remarkable passage ; but beyond this there are diversities of opinion 
as to its reference to a bodily resurrection upon this earth, as to its specific 
prophetic reference to Jesus Christ, and the certainty of retribution in a 
future life, on which general agreement can by no means be attained. It 
is remarkable that after such a declaration Job should be represented as 
again falling into deep despondency ; but it is claimed that he never again 
despairs so greatly, and that his moods are due to the natural alterations 
caused by his physical state. 

Job is depicted as having had a personal character unsurpassed in the 
Old Testament; and in many ways his conduct is that of an eminent type 
or foreshadowing of Christ. Elihu contributes to the argument jq^ and 
the view that suffering may be corrective and for improvement, Eimu. 
as well as punitive; yet he charges Job with secret faults which his sufferings 
were to induce him to correct. He also supplies, in chapter xxxiii., a very 
clear view of the ways in which, in his time, God was believed to communi- 
cate with and instruct man. And he, equally with Job, believes that God 
cannot be unjust. The great question to be solved was, Should man impose 
his law upon God, or God His upon man ? Yet in any case he shows that 



6^6 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

it is best in many ways for men to be righteous ; but a man ought rather to 
suspect himself of sin than God of injustice. Numerous critics consider 
there are signs indicating that the speeches of EHhu are a later addition 
to the book, especially because of the peculiar words it contains, and because 
there is no reference to Elihu in later parts of the book, and especially in 
the Divine judgment. 

The speech put in the mouth of Jehovah — the Theophany as it is 
' generally called — is inexpressibly grand ; yet it is generally felt that it is 
The iiot convincing or fully explanatory of God's dealings with man. 
Theopbany. Many consider that this is because no full explanation is possible 
in man's present state, and because it is of the essence of man's training 
that a fathomless mystery shall be involved in and be behind his life, com- 
pelling his attention to the possibilities of a future one. Job, however, is 
satisfied with the Divine revelation, perhaps because he has now attained 
what he had so greatly longed for — actual communion with, and speech 
from, his Maker. Or, we may take it that the lesson taught was to study 
God in Nature — a lesson which is being so well learnt in these latter days — 
and not to dwell on his own personal woes, but rather to contemplate the 
broad field of existence. We cannot here discuss the questions raised by 
many as to the Theophany, the prologue and the epilogue, being the work 
of different writers from the body of the book. In conclusion, we must 
strongly urge those who wish to gain a true idea of the full meaning of 
the Book of Job, to read it in the Revised Version, and, if possible, in 
some commentary like those of Dean Bradley and the Eev. S. Cox. 




CHAPTER IV. 
Cl)e 58iopI)tt5 of Jsfrael. 

Kuenen's views— Greatness of the prophets— The early seers— Elijah— Elisha— Amos, Hosea, and Joel 
—Their conception of Jehovah's nature— Vision of the ingathering of nations— Isaiah : two 
authors— Main topics of first portion— " Immanuel " predictions— Isaiah and Jewish history— 
His grand predictions— The second Isaiah or great unknown— Later date— Prediction of return 
from exile— The " Servant of the Lord "—Cyrus— Description of the " Servant "—His humiliation 
and death— Vicarious suffering— The future glory of Zion — Other teachings of the prophet — 
Micah— Jeremiah— Ezekiel-Daniel-Predictions as to empires of the world— Prediction of 
Resurrection— Zechariah— Messianic prophecies —Haggai—Malachi. 

IN briefly discussing the prophets of Israel, we may quote from Dr. Muir's 
Summary of Kuenen's argument (Introduction to Kuenen's " Prophets 
and Prophecy in Israel "), as showing what those who grant least Kuenen's 
to them say of their work. " In estimating their action, we must views, 
take a higher standpoint than the national one, and regard their contribu- 
tion to the spiritual development of our race as its most important result. 
Ethical monotheism is their creation. They have themselves ascended to 
the belief in one only holy and righteous God, who realises His will or 
moral good in the world, and they have, by preaching and writing, made 
that belief the inalienable property of humanity. It was not an intellectual 
or philosophical system, but a religious belief, which they presented. The 
Grod of the prophets bore a very different character from that of the Deity 
of the philosophers of Grreece and Rome. Holiness, righteousness, and 
merc}^ constituted the very nature of the former." 

We have already spoken of Samuel and David ; now we come to Elijah 
as the next name of high importance. In the prophets of Israel we witness 
in culmination a form of Divine teaching which has been by no Qj-eatness of 
means scantily displayed in our previous narrative. In other the 
forms of religion we have seen reason to believe that no small P ® ^• 
amount of error, no small amount of imposture, was mixed in their religious 
teachers with genuine belief in their mission, and genuine services which 
they rendered to their fellow-tribesmen in their advance in civilisation. 
The prophets of Israel as a whole (though with many imperfect members) 
rendered services and gave teaching which place them in the highest rank 
among religious teachers. They were the seers who, if any persons did, 
received messages from the Divine ; they were pioneers of progress, radical 
reformers, yet in a conservative fashion, for they sought to conserve the 
nation by maintaining the national worship of Jehovah, and deepening and 
strengthening it. Of their organisation we know little. They formed 
schools or groups ; but how a man was admitted to be a prophet we do not 



638 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

know. Probably his inspiration was either self-evident, or was claimed by 
himself, and readily admitted. But there is evidence in a remarkable passage 
The early '^^ ^ Samuel ix. that the new order of prophets developed out of 
seers. \^^q older soothsayers or seers, honoured and consulted on account 
of their knowledge of hidden things. By the time of Elijah they had in- 
creased to a large number ; they were known as the opponents of the calf- 
worship and other forms of idolatry that had been introduced into Israel, 
and the establishment of centres of worship at Dan and Bethel, in rivalry 
to Jerusalem. At Bethel, a new sanctuary, a rival to the temple at Jeru- 
salem, had been erected, which, during the persistence of the kingdom of 
Israel, continued to be its great place of worship. We have remarkable 
accounts of the denunciations by prophets of the new order of things, and 
predictions of the future destruction and desecration of the new altars. It 
must be noted, however, that some critics consider these narratives were 
written after the fulfilments they describe. When Ahab, however, departed 
from even the calf-worship in which Jehovah had been symbolised, and in- 
troduced the gods of his wife Jezebel's native kingdom of Sidon, 
with many impure and licentious rites, the Grileadite Elijah sud- 
denly appeared before the king and denounced God's vengeance upon him, 
and predicted a prolonged drought. At some time undefined, Jezebel had 
ordered the complete destruction of the prophets of Jehovah ; and it was 
against such a persecution that Elijah had to make headway, and finally 
triumphed. The miracles related in regard to Elijah's preservation are em- 
phatic testimonies to his greatness and to the belief of a later age ; and the 
supreme scene on Carmel is one of the most marvellous and impressive in 
Biblical records. Like Moses, Elijah was privileged to obtain a nearer sight 
of the Divine glory and power than other mortals ; and to the account of this 
we are indebted for a phrase which has become proverbial for the inward 
voice of conscience. But it is unnecessary here to dilate on so well-known 
a story, especially as no new truths appear to have been revealed by Elijah. 
The impression he made upon his countrymen is shown by the fact that 
centuries afterwards it was expected that the calamities of the country 
were only to be remedied by his reappearance. He was a hero-combatant 
for the truth against kings and false priests — a witness of the first rank for 
the Invisible and for the purity of worship. That miracles were ascribed 
to him is a matter of course, whether on the one hand we believe that such 
events, in fact, took place as part of the Divine dispensation, or whether, 
on the other hand, we regard it as the inveterate habit of mankind to 
ascribe supernatural deeds to those whom they stamp as supremely great. 

Elisha, his successor, is an example, in some marked instances, of re- 
ligious tolerance, in his intercourse with foreign kings, and especially in the 
permission he gave to Naaman to continue his attendance in the 
temple of Rimmon. But he chiefiy appears as " a worker of 
prodigies, a predicter of future events, a revealer of secrets and things hap- 
pening out of sight, or at a distance." (" Dictionary of the Bible.") Thus 
we see in him, to some extent, a reversion to the type of diviner, soothsayer, 



THE PROPHETS 01^ ISRAEL. 639 

and seer. " It is difficult to help believing " (according to the same author- 
ity), '^ that the anecdotes of his life were thrown into their present shape at 
a later period." And this, too, accounts, no doubt, for some of the marvels 
related of him. 

In entire consistency with the work of Elijah in denouncing Baal- 
worship, but extending his denunciations to every form of departure or 
derogation from pure worship of Jehovah, we come to the cycle Amos, Hosea, 
of prophets afc the end of the ninth and in the eighth centuries ^^^ '^°®^- 
B.C., Amos, Hosea, and Joel. Their testimony is expressly important, that, 
together with noisy feasts, festivals, and sacrifices to Jehovah, there co- 
existed much image calf-worship in His name, as well as Baal and Ashera 
worship, with licentious rites, and witchcraft and soothsaying abounded. 
Against these evils they protested mightily, as their books show, meeting 
with great opposition because they predicted the downfall of Israel unless 
these things were amended. Their conception of the character Their con- 
of Jehovah is most loffcy. He is the one God, pure and holy, je^ovan^s 
desiring spiritual worship, and the practice of mercy and right- nature, 
eousness by His servants. Festivals and assemblies are denounced. "I 
desire mercy, and not sacrifices," is the keynote of their teaching. ^^ In- 
temperance and luxury, oppression of the poor, of widows and orphans, 
unjust appropriation of another's goods, dishonesty in trade, the sordid 
pursuit of gain, harshness towards debtors — these are some of the sins which 
the prophets combat zealously." But although judgments and calamities 
are announced, hope is given of a glorious future. The language of Hosea 
is quoted by St. Paul as describing the conversion of the Gentiles ; he speaks 
of a time when Israel shall be betrothed to God for ever. In one passage 
there is a promise of ransom from the power of the grave. 

Joel was a prophet of Judah as Hosea was of Israel. In view of a ter- 
rible series of calamities then occurring or impending, he exhorted the 
people to repent and return to Jehovah, when an era of prosperity would 
again dawn ; after which God would extend the blessings of His ^.g. 
religion to all lands. A glowing vision is depicted of a future ingathering 
time, when the '' Spirit of the Lord " should be poured out, at- *^^^^*^®^^' 
tended by great wonders and a gathering of all nations. Many expressions 
of this prophet are interpreted of the outpouring on the Day of Pentecost, 
and of numerous events in Christian history. Amos, after all his denuncia- 
tions, concludes with a prediction of the future restoration of Israel to power 
and greatness after calamity. 

It is now so generally agreed that the prophetic book entitled '^ Isaiah " 
is composed of two portions at least, written by different authors (i. to 
xxxix., xl. to Ixvi.), that we shall only briefly note the points isaiah: two 
which are regarded as deciding this. Isaiah wrote at Jerusalem, authors, 
and lived in the reigns of Uzziah, Ahaz, and Hezekiah ; while the second 
writer, plainly and throughout, belongs to the period of the exile. The 
Babylonian captivity is presupposed as having already lasted a long time. 
The work is written to comfort the exiles. In it Jerusalem is depicted in 



640 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS, 



ruins, Juclgea is ravaged and depopulated, and the nation is captive. Cyrus 
IS spoken of as the destined deliverer of the people, and as a contemporary. 
Although there are undoubted resemblances between the two writers, it is 




claimed that this only shows that the later writer had assimilated the spirit 
of the former ; while there are certain strong divergences of style. But yet 
there are serious difficulties in explaining why the later book was incor- 
porated with the earlier, and why there is no mention of its author's name. 



THE PROPHETS OF ISRAEL. 641 

The Book of Isaiah proper, containing discourses or narratives of diverse 
dates, is not arranged chronologically, and does not appear to have been 
arranged by the author. Many critics believe that several por- ^^^^ topics 
tions were written by a different hand. The main topic of Isaiah of first 
is denunciation of wickedness, both in Judah and in other nations, 
and the punishments which will follow. Many passages describe the idolatry 
and the image- worship of his time, and the excess of offerings and feasts 
to Jehovah, compared with the lack of justice and mercy. He pictures a 
high ideal of a righteous character, scorning bribes and abhorring bloodshed, 
speaking truth, and doing justly. He has a special dislike to the lofty and 
proud, all of whom, he says, shall be brought low. He definitely predicted 
the captivity in Babylon to Hezekiah. 

In Isaiah's view, "A marvel or miracle," says Professor Robertson 
Smith,^ "is a work of Jehovah directed to confound the religion of formal- 
ism, to teach men that Jehovah's rule is a real thing, and not a traditional 
convention to be acknowledged in formulas learned by rote ; and the mark 
of such a work is not that it breaks through laws of nature — a conception 
which had no existence for Isaiah — but that all man's wisdom and foresight 
stand abashed before it. The whole career of Assyria is part of the marvel 
that confounds the hypocrisy and formalism of Judah." (See Isa. xxix. 13, 14.) 

One of Isaiah's favourite phrases is " the Holy One of Israel," and his 
conception of God predominantly sets forth His majesty and holiness. Very 
grand is his view of the universal worship of Jehovah " at the end of the 
days," with its accompaniment of universal peace (ii. 2-4) ; but he rises still 
higher in the "Immanuel" predictions, in chapters vii. and ix.-.immanuei" 
Often held to be a clear prediction of the birth of Christ of a predictions, 
virgin, scholars point out that the word used in vii. 14 is not the ordinary 
Hebrew word for virgin, and is not exclusively applicable to one who was 
unmarried ; the Revised Version offers in the margin the alternative render- 
ing " maiden." Professor Driver remarks, in his valuable " Isaiah : his Life 
and Times," " The language of Isaiah forces upon us the conviction that the 
figure of Immanuel is an ideal one, projected by him upon the shifting 
future — upon the nearer future in chapter vii., upon the remoter future in 
chapter ix., but grasped by the prophet as a living and real personality, the 
Guardian of his country now, its Deliverer and Governor hereafter. . . . 
It is the Messianic King, whose portrait is here, for the first time in the Old 
Testament, sketched distinctly. Earlier prophets or psalmists had told of 
the promises bestowed upon David, and had spoken of the permanence thus 
assured to David's line, but by Isaiah these comparatively vague hopes are 
more closely defined, being centred upon a concrete personality, to whose 
character we shall find fresh traits added more than thirty years afterwards 
in chapter xi." 

We cannot detail the successive prophecies and warnings of Isaiah as 
relating to the history of Israel ; but all through his public life he exhibited , 
in perfection that admirable character of the true statesman given four 
^ Eobertson Smith, " Prophets of Israel," p. 315. 



642 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS, 

centuries later Ly Demostlienes, in Iiis oration " On the Crown," that of 

Isaiah and ''discerning events in their "beginnings, being beforehand in the 

Jewish selection of movements and tendencies, and forewarning his 

conntrymen accordingly ; fighting against the political vices of 

procrastination, snpineness, ignorance, and party jealonsy ; and impressing 

on all the paramount importance of nnity, and the dnty of providing 

promptly for their country ^s needs." His predictions were by no means 

ail ways realised ; and many of them, while not receiving the contemporary 

fulfilment he expected, have been but partially fulfilled in the Messianic 

Idngdom, or still wait their realisation. Speaking in a religious sense, it 

may be said that the ideals he described, the glowing and pure visions 

His grand which he projected upon the future, are more important than the 

predictions, literal fulfilments of them which have yet been seen, and which 

have differed very materially from what he appears to have expected. 

Isaiah^s descriptions of the majesty and holiness of the Divine Being, the 

certainty of His pure and just judgments, the imperishableness of the Divine 

kingdom of Zion, the exquisite consummation of the Messianic kingdom, 

remain among the very greatest treasures of the religious soul of mankind. 

The ingathering of the Gentiles to the Divine kingdom is predicted in 

very detailed language. The literary characteristics of Isaiah are so well 

known that it is unnecessary to dwell on them ; by common consent, Isaiah 

reaches the front rank in the Old Testament. 

Although not in chronological sequence, it is convenient to deal here 
with the great unknown who wrote the latter part of the Book of Isaiah, in 
The second the period of the Babylonish exile of the Jews, in the sixth cen- 
^^'^Great^ tury B.C., when, as the prophet writes. Jerusalem and the temple 
Unknown." were in ruins, the Babylonian empire was apparently secure, and 
the exiles were in despair or indifferent, thinking God had forgotten them. 
This period, like other critical seasons, produced its great genius, able to 
rouse his people to their mission, to raise among them a high 
ideal, and to present pictures of a future which would more than 
compensate for the miseries of the past. The period within which those 
prophecies may most reasonably be believed to have been written is 549-538 
B.C., during which Cyrus was growing in success and fame. Comfort is pro- 
Prediction claimed for the people of Jehovah, and God's glory and power in 
of return laying low human pride are set forth. Israel's oppressors are 
mortal ; Jehovah will return to Zion as a Conqueror, bringing 
back His people. A magnificent description of the power of Jehovah is 
forcibly contrasted with the impotence of the gods and idols of the heathen. 
Even Cyrus's career of conquest was ordered and controlled by Jehovah. 

In chapter xlii. a new figure is introduced, destined to be the most 

striking in the book, the '^ Servant of Jehovah," an ideal personage invested 

^g with the grandest characteristics of the Israelites, and with others 

" Servant of in addition, and destined to exert a world-wide influence. He is 

to teach the world true religion, and, to effectually restore Israel. 

Here we find a full prevision of the ingathering of the non-Israelite world 



THE PROPHETS OF ISRAEL. 643; 

into the true worship of Jehovah. Later we see that the " Servant " lives, 
by no means wholly in the future, for it is said, " Who is blind, but my ser- 
vant ? or deaf, as my messenger that I send ? '"^ evidently referring to the 
Israelites' supineness at the time. One of the most interesting passages tO' 
students of early customs is the first half of the forty-fourth chapter, de- 
scribing in a satirical spirit the laborious stages of the manufacture of idols. 
But Israel is pardoned, and Cyrus is commissioned to permit the 
restoration of the people and the rebuilding of the temple, in 
order that it may be known throughout the world that Jehovah is the true- 
and only Grod. ^' Unto Me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.'^ 
Throughout Cyrus is regarded favourably, and the coming humiliation of 
Babylon and her idols is predicted and rejoiced in. Incidentally we learn 
much about contemporary Babylonish customs. 

In the second division of the prophecy (chaps, xlix.-lvii.), Babylon, 
Cyrus, and contemporary history fall into the background, and the character 
of '^ the Servant of the Lord" is more fully developed. Far-off' jjgggj..^.Qjj 
nations are invited to listen, and a careful delineation is 2;iven of of tiie 

Ssrvant " 

the great Ideal Servant, " Israel, in whom I will be glorified.'^ 
The " Servant " describes himself at first in the first person, and later he 
is depicted in the third person. He is to be " a light to the Gentiles," as 
well as the restorer of Israel. He describes himself as the prophet, teaching 
what he is taught, capable of sustaining the weary with his words, receiv- 
ing daily fresh inspiration, and shrinking from no humiliation. " I gave 
my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair 
I hid not my face from shame and spitting." 

Zion is called upon to awake, and put on splendid apparel : the waste 
places of Jerusalem are to rejoice ; a happy and comfortable return journey 
shall be made. Then, in lii. 13 to liii. 12, we have the exquisitely jj.^ 
pathetic picture of the Ideal Servant's humiliation, his lack of iitimmation 

.... and. d68/t]i 

outward beauty and general recognition, his suffering for Israel's 
sins, his calm and humble demeanour before his accusers, his death as a 
malefactor. '' But out of death will spring a new life : after his soul has 
been made a guilt-offering, he will live again, enjoy long life, and be re- 
. warded with the satisfaction of seeing Cod's work, or ' pleasure,' prospering 
in his hand. Possessed of an intimate ' knowledge ' of the dealings and 
purposes of Jehovah, he will ' justify the many ' (viz., by a method or 
principle based upon this knowledge) ; whilst his final reward for having 
submitted to the death of a transgressor will be that he will be reckoned as 
a conqueror, and honoured amongst the great ones of the earth " (Driver). 
Nothing is more clear than that vicarious suffering, the suffering vicarious 
of the " Servant " for the people, is here set forth. " The central suffering, 
point," says Orelli, '' is the realising of ideas foreshadowed in the sacrificial 
ritual. There certainly substitution is a common idea ; there the guiltless 
lamb suffers for the sinner's good ; there a penitential or compensatory 
offering must be given to Cod for transgressions. To that which these 
customs and ordinances typically and unconsciously foreshadowed, this 



"644 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

prophecy gives a conscious reference to something future, at the same time 
severing'^ those great Divine ideas from the inadequate embodiment of the 
Levitical ritual, and holding forth the prospect of their adequate expression 
in a higher sphere." This " Servant " cannot exclusively represent either 
Israel as a whole or in part, or any prophet ; yet in some ways all of these 
may be found related to the conception. It was not an abstract conception 
but a concrete living figure, more perfect than any man ever had been, that 
stood before the' prophet's vision ; and the vast majority of students, as well 
as of the unlearned, who take plain and not fanciful or preconceived views, 
hold that the " Servant of Jehovah " can only be referred to and find fulfil- 
ment in one great subsequent figure, the Founder of Christianity. How- 
ever considerably such words as those of chapter Iv. may be referred directly 
to the return of the Jews from exile, it passes the bounds of reason or com- 
pulsion to induce Christians to reject th-e application of the everlasting 
covenant and the calling of the Gentiles to their religion, developed cut of 
Judaism. 

When we enter upon the third division ■ of t-h^ prophecy, we yet again 
find an enlargement of view. The vision of Zion grows more and more 
The future ^^^ailed, more beautiful, more glorious. In chapter Ix. an un- 
g-ioryof surpassed picture of the future glory is drawn, when Jehovah 
should reign in utter splendour, the people all righteous ; a day 
not yet come, but a picture which inspires the efforts and the hopes of mil- 
lions at this day, as connected with, and to be perfectly fulfilled by, the 
labours of the "Servant of the Lord," as expressed in chapter Ixi. "There 
will be new heavens and a new earth," they read; a transformed life, without 
vain strife, bitter disappointments, or carking care, shall then be lived. The 
continual competition of the struggle for existence will be over then, and 
however good its results may have been, few out of the earth's millions fail 
to catch some of the prophet's exultation in reading the prophecy of uni- 
versal peace and happiness. In the midst of his discourses, and repeatedly, 
other teach- ^^ prophet lays stress on Sabbath observance and obedience to the 
ings of laws about food ; and the book closes with a severe denunciation 
e prop e . ^^ \}^q^q ~s^\^q have refused to join in Jehovah's worship. " They 
(the worshippers) shall go forth to see the corpses of the people who fell 
away from me : for their worm shall not die, and their flame shall not be 
quenched ; and they shall be a horror to all flesh : " a picture which, read 
as that of a hell of torment, has had very great influence. So many are the 
points of original theology, as well as of history, that may be drawn from 
this great book, that we cannot do more than refer to such books as those 
of Driver, Orelli, and Cheyne, and others, for their fuller treatment. 

At the same time as Isaiah, in the reign of Hezekiah, Micah, a plain 

countryman, added to his warnings and prophecies of destruction the vivid 

pictures which remain in his book, revealing to us, as a man of 

the common people himself, the sufferings of the peasantry at the 

hands of their oppressors, men of their own nation, and predicting the 

destruction of the government and the nobles. A new Davidic king was to 



THE PROPHETS OF ISRAEL. 



645 



reign over a future purified Zion, in which all nations should worship, and 
universal peace should ensue. He would be born in Bethlehem Ephratah, 
the home of David, and put down all iniquity and idolatry. . 

Only brief mention must be made of Jeremiah, the prophet of the later 
days of the Jewish monarchy, because, while he denounced sin, predicted 




events, and endured bitter psrsecutions, he contributed little in comparison 

with Isaiah to the development of the intellectual features of 

the Jewish religion. He affirmed in a few places the Davidic 

kingly ideal, who is to bear the name Jehovah our Righteousness, and the 

introduction of a new spiritual covenant, when Jehovah's law should be 

written in the hearts of the people. "We cannot here discuss his possible 

relation to the Torah (or Book of Deuteronomy ?), which Hilkiah, possibly 



646 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

his father, discovered and brought out to Josiah. His influence on his time, 
and his importance in the history of his time, were very great, and his 
character was profoundly worthy of study. 

Ezekiel, the prophet of the early days of the captivity (early in the sixth 
century B.C.), was a yet more powerful influence, in rousing and keep- 
ing alive the national and religious feelings of the captives, in 
predicting events concerning Israel and surrounding nations with 
singular vividness and truth, and by reason of his visions: of a restored king- 
dom of Israel, and a Divine future. Ezekiel's marvellous opening vision, 
in which he received his proph-etic call, includes a grand description of a 
Divine majesty and court, which had great effect upon the imagery of the 
New Testament Apocalypse. In his later prophecies he again and again 
-speaks in language of gorgeous but mysterious imagery, in describing the 
Divine glory and wonderful works. The Davidic king of the restored people, 
and the happy state of the future Jews who serve God, are gloriously de- 
picted^ and a complete description of a new temple, differing in many details 
from the old, is given, with many features of a newly organised State 
and ritual. The ark and the high-priest are not mentioned ; prominence is 
specially given to the morning burnt-offering ; and the Passover and the 
Feast of Tabernacles are the only great feasts mentioned. No prophet 
more vigorously expressed the sense of sin and denunciation of sin than 
Ezekiel. 

On the Book of Daniel it is necessary to be brief, because of the wide 
diversities of opinion about the book, and the very unsettled state of the 
controversies to which it has given rise. Whether it was written 
at the date which it professes to describe, and was edited or added 
to later, or was written at the time -of Antiochus Epiphanes, or later, it is 
diffi-cult to decide with certainty. It shows a more or less accurate know- 
ledge of Babylonia, probably some influence of Persia and Zoroastrianism, 
and certainly an acquaintance with Grreek names of musical instruments. 
Predictions The took includes, beside-s its historical narratives, remarkable 
empires of predictions and visions as to the empires of the world, which to 
tiie world, a considerable extent were realised. Under the image of the 
" Ancient of Days," in Eastern poetry used of an old man, a Divine Judge 
and Huler is portrayed reigning in unequalled majesty for ever ; and there 
is a special prophecy of the coming of the Prince Messiah in seventy weeks 
(usually interpreted as 490, or 70 x 7 years), after which the Messiah should 
be cut off. Other circumstantial prophecies have received very various 
Prediction of interpretations. The book also contains a definite prediction of 
resurrection. ^ resurrection from the dead at a future tim-e, " And many of 
them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting- 
life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And they that be wise 
shall shine as the brightness of the firmament ^ and they that turn many 
to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever." 

Other very distinctive prophets are Haggai and Zechariah, who came 
forward in Jerusalem after the return of the Jews from Babylon to en- 



THE PROPHETS OF ISRAEL. 647 

courage them to rebuild the temple. The first eight chapters of Zechariah 
deal with this period, and the coming freedom of Israel and dis- 
comfiture of the heathen. In chapter iii. we find a description of 
the accuser, or " the Satan " or adversary, accusing Joshua, the high-priest 
before Jehovah. The high-priest, however, is purified, and receives a 
promise involving the future appearance of " the Servant of Grod the 
Branch," the Messiah. In accordance with the style of many of the pro- 
phets, there are visions of chari<ots and horses going through the earth to 
execute Jehovah's will The second part of the book is apparently later in 
date and by another author, and depicts Jehovah's will accomplished on 
Syria, Assyria, and Egypt. The Messianic prophecies are renewed Messianic 
and amplified. Zion is bidden to rejoice : '^ Behold thy King propiiecies. 
Cometh unto thee ; He is just, and saved ; aflicted, and riding upon an ass, 
even upon a colt the foal of an ass " ; and a great future is predicted for 
his people. Later is a prophecy of the domination of foreign kings over 
Israel through native princes. Jerusalem would be destroyed, and the 
people dispersed into ali lands. At another tim-e " they shall look upon Me 
(or Him) whom they have pierc-ed, and they shall mourn for Him, as one 
mourneth for his only son. ... In that day there shall be a fountain 
opened to the house of David, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin 
and for uncleanness." Living waters should go out of Jerusalem, and 
Jehovah should be King over all the earth. " In that day shall the Lord 
be One, and His name One." Finally there is a vision of a universal annual 
pilgrimage to Jerusalem, when everything should be sacred to Jehovah. 

There can be no question about the great importance and the definite- 
ness of the predictions in Zechariah about a future deliverer and king of 
the Jews. The second portion <^i the book appears to date from a time 
when the Grreeks had begun their conquests in Asia, for the sons of Javan, 
i.e., the Greeks, are named as the representatives of the heathen powers. 

_ Haggai, the contemporary of Zechariah, agrees with him in predict- 
ing a period when the sacred temple would have greater glory than the 
preceding one, by reason of the splendid offerings of the Gren- 
tiles, and says that the calamities of heathen nations would give 
pe^ce to Jerusalem. Christians usually identify " the desire of all nations " 
with the Messiah ; but it is significant that this passage is not quoted in the 
Gospels as a Messianic prediction ; and in the " Speaker's Commentary " it 
is not claimed as such, although every Christian will recognise the peculiar 
applicability and fulfilment of many of the phrases in the person of Christ. 

Passing over the other minor prophects, who, while contributing accord- 
ing to their mission to the Messianic tradition, the rousing and sustaining 
influences of patriotism, the denunciation of sin and of wicked heathen 
nations, did not add notably to the religious ideas of the nation, 
we come to Malachi, who prophesied apparently in the later time 
of Nehemiah. In a simpler and less elevated style than m^anj^ of his prede- 
cessors, he denounces the sins prevalent in his time, and predicts the advent 
of a messenger, to prepare the way for the arrival of the Lord whom they 



648 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



sought, evidently the Messiah. He would be like a refiner's fire, who would 
purify the sons of Levi. A Sun of B/ighteousness was' to arise for those that 
feared Jehovah, with healing in his wings. The prophet Elijah would be 
sent to them before the coming of the great and dreadful day of Jehovah ; 
and he would turn the heart of the fathers to the children and the heart of 
the children to their fathers, ''lest I come and smite the earth with a 
curse ; " and so ends the Old Testament, " the record of the period in which 
the religion of Israel continued to grow, and develop new principles, to gain 
new insight into the ways of God with man.*' 




•if.^'- 



TEASI OF TABEENaCLES. IN THE " BOOTH.' 







PALM PBOCESSION. FEAST OF TABEENACLES. 



CHAPTER Y. 
Sulrafem after tl)e propbft^^ 

Dispersion of the Jews— The Septuagint— The Apocrypha— Ecclesiasticus —The " Wisdom of Solomon " 
— The Messianic hope— Influence on New Testament phraseology — The Psalter of Solomon— Philo 
of Alexandria — His relation to Greek philosophy— His views onthe Old Testament— His philosophy 
of the Godhead — Divine Ideas— The Logos— Philo's allegorical interpretations— The Scribes — 
Hillel and Shammai — Discussions on the Sabbath— Purity and impurity — The Talmud— Mishna 
and Gemara— The Talmud and Christianity— Gems of the Talmud— Unsatisfactory contents— The 
Pharisees— Principal beliefs— The Sadducees — The Essenes— Later Dispersion of the Jews — 
Maimonides— His Creed— Later works— His beliefs— Jews in Spain and Portugal —Persecution 
and isolation— Moses Mendelssohn— Reforms— Napoleon and the French Jews— Jews in England— 
In various countries — The Beni Israel. 

THE decadence of Israel paved the way for the coming of Jesus. The 
fall of the temporal power fixed the people's minds upon the promise 
of the Messiah and a renewed pre-eminence for the chosen people. ^ ^. 
The same occurrences led to a growing dispersion of the Jews in Dispersion of 
Asia Minor, Syria, and Egypt, which prepared the way for the 
spread of Christianity. In Egypt especially, the Jews came under the 
influence of Greek culture and philosophy, and under the first Ptolemies 
(third century B.C.), possibly the entire Old Testament, and certainly the 
Pentateuch, was translated at Alexandria into Greek, constituting the 
Septuagint version, which is so precious as an early testimony and ^he 
check to the Hebrew text, and which was almost exclusively Septuagint. 
used and quoted by the New Testament writers. It may be regarded as 



650 THE WORLD'S RELTGTONS. 

the result of a need felt by the foreign Jews of a translation in the 
language they commonly used. Whether in fact there is anything in the 
tradition which says that the Septuagint was the work of seventy (or 
seventy-two) translators, cannot now be ascertained. The books included in 
the Septuagint, however, are more numerous than those of the Hebrew 
Bible ; and these additions are another proof of the literary activity and 
Grreek culture of the Jews, both in Alexandria and in Palestine, previous to 
the time of Christ. Only one or two of the books of the " Apocrypha," 
The or Septuagint additions to the Old Testament, were originally 

Apocr5rpiia. composed in Hebrew. It i^s not necessary here to discuss the 
contents of the Apocryphal books, excepting so far as they illustrate the 
religious state or development of the Jews. 

The most interesting and oldest book of the Apocrypha is that known 
as the Wisdom of Jesus the son of Sirach, or Ecdesiasticus. It was first 
Ecciesi- written in Hebrew in Palestine, probably in the second century 
asticus. B c., and is a continuation of the " wi-sdom- writings " of the Old 
Testament, in a less spiritual form. Of its author scarcely anything is 
known, except that h^e was a sage who had travelled miich and had gone 
through great personal dangers. The book is mainly devoted to the praise 
of Wisdom, which he had sought from his early days, and to the vindication 
of the ways of Grod to man. He sees the wisdom of God in creation, in 
Providence, in history, and in the Scriptures, The Law is to him the 
highest manifestation of Wisdom ; and its observance is the foremost duty. 
Wisdom is the earliest creation of Grod, and the understanding of Wisdom is 
identical with th-e fear of God. Hence Wisdom is true happiness. Grod is 
omniscient, almighty, and irresistible ; and His predestination determines 
everything. In the end, right-doing will inevitably be blessed. The 
sorrows and sufferings of the righteous are not without consolation, like 
those of the wicked. Mercy is specially shown to the poor and needy, the 
prayerful, penitent, and merciful. It is singular, however, how far the 
son of Sirach was from realising the doctrine of immortality. Mankind 
after death are imagined as lying in eternal sleep ; and in other respects 
the writer of Ecdesiasticus shows himself to be on a much lower level than 
the writers of the canonical books. Almsgiving and prayer are his main 
dependences, though he enjoins observance of the Temple services. On 
the whole, religion is upheld as the thing th-at is most profitable, and the 
reward for righteousness is in the main earthly. Strange to say, we find 
no trace of an expected personal Messiah ; though the author refers to 
coming judgments on the Grentiles, the ingathering of all Israel, and their 
triumph. Many critics believe that the book contains much that was not 
the writer's own, but was derived from previous sages. 

The other important religious book in the Apocrypha, the " Wisdom 
of Solomon " (written in Greek), is of much later date, for the writer quotes 
The "Wisdom tlie Septuagint; but he makes no reference to Christian writings 

of Solomon. "qj, history. The date of the book has been variously placed 
between 220 b.c. and a.d. 40, and Archdeacon Farrar inclines to accept the 



JUDAISM AFTER THE PROPHETS. ' 651 

latter date, believing that the book shows traces of the inflnence of Philo. 
Some have suggested that it was written, by Apollos. In assuming the 
personality of King Sol-omon, the author was adopting a common literary 
device of his age, and an appropriate one, as the name of Solomon had 
become identified with Jewish proverbial wisdom. The author was appa- 
rently an Alexandrian Jew, acquainted both with the Septuagint and w^th 
Greek literature and philosophy. His knowledge of various forms of 
nature- worship is well shown in chap, xiii., bu.t striking tolerance is 
manifested in verse 6, where we read, " for this they are the less to be 
blamed ; for they peradventure err, seeking God, and desimus to find Him ; 
for being conversant in His works, they search Him diligently, and believe 
their sight : because the things are beautiful that are seen." Yet he tells 
such persons that they ought, while reverencing things of beauty and signs 
of power, to understand how much better the Lord and Creator of them is. 
Worship of manufactured idols, or of stones is crushingly denounced, as 
well as ancestor and king-worship. Throughout, the writer is keen in 
exposing the folly of the inferior or degraded religions he saw around him, 
and so far reaches a high level. Neither could philosophy, he maintains, 
teach the true ideal of God. His object is to show, that, while sin leads to 
punishment and death, wisdom is the source of all blessings of life and 
immortality. Such expressions as '' God created man to be immortal, and 
made him to be an image of His own eternity ; " •" the righteous live for 
evermore, and the care of them is with the most High. Therefore shall 
they receive a glorious kingdom, and a beautiful crown from the Lord's 
hand," show the essence of his teaching about immortality. The evil are 
to undergo retribution after death, in a state which is not quite clearly 
unfolded. 

The Messianic hope, however, in the Book of Wisdom, is reduced to 
a hope in the temporal dominion of Israel and the universal worship of 
Jehovah ; and there is " no personal and no suffering Messiah." The 
In many ways the author reproduces conceptions made familiar hope, 
in the Old Testament, but in inferior language and with far less force. 
The historical allusions by which the influence of Wisdom in history are 
enforced are tinged by strong preconceived notions about Israel, and by a 
limited reading of the order of Providence. 

The sense given to the word " Wisdom"" by this writer suggests to the 
Christian that it is a personification of Christ : but Wisdom is not even 
thought of by the writer as an incarnate Divine Person, but as the Spirit 
of God, as the Providence of God, and as the sum of human trustworthy 
knowledge. It is evident from the varying uses of the word that dogmatic 
precision must not be sought in the Book of Wisdom ; and this no doubt 
weakens its force, the author not having a strong, clear, definite conception, 
but using one word in a wide latitude of meanings suited to the imper- 
fection of his mental standpoint. Yet it is evident that the author of 
"Wisdom" had a marked influence on the language of the New Testa- 
ment ; at any rate both u.se a number of similar special expressions. The 



'652 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

words we translate " faith," '' hope," " to love " in the Christian sense, and 

Influence on the expression that the just man is the '' son of Grod " are found 
ofNew Tefta- "^^ Wisdom. The conception of the " visible " as revealing the 
ment. " invisible," and many other words and phrases used in this 
book are found in various books of the New Testament, and especially in 
the Epistle to the Hebrews. Not the least of its claims to regard are, that 
it expresses the nature of God as predominantly loving ; as in xi. 24, 26, 
" Thou lovest all the things that are," and " Thou sparest all: for they are 
thine, Lord, thou lover of souls." 

Here we may mention a collection of Psalms not included in the 
Apocrypha, but regarded as canonical by numerous early Christian Churches, 
termed the Psalter of Solomon, apparently written after the capture of 
The Psalter of Jerusalem by Pompey in 63 b.c. It depicts the sad state of the 
Solomon. ^^^^ ^;^^ people in a tone of earnest piety based on Pharisaic 
observances ; and it expresses a strong Messianic hope, which is for us its 
most important feature. Thus it says : " Behold, Lord, and raise up their 
king, the son of David, at the time that Thou hast appointed, to reign over 
Israel Thy servant ; and gird him with strength to crush unjust rulers . . . 
to destroy the lawless nations. . . . He shall divide them by tribes in 
the land, and no stranger and foreigner shall dwell with them ; he shall 
judge the nations in wisdom and righteousness. The heathen nations shall 
serve under his yoke ; he shall glorify the Lord before all the earth, and 
cleanse Jerusalem in holiness as in the beginning. . . . He is pure from 
sin to rule a great people, to rebuke governors and destroy sinners by his 
mighty word. In all his days he is free from offence against his Grod, for 
he hath made him strong by the Holy Spirit." 

What Helleno-Judaism at its best could accomplish, without the light 

of Christianity, is seen in the writings of Philo of Alexandria, born perhaps 

pwioof in B.C. 20, and living on to the reign of the Emperor Claudius. 

Alexandria, Little is known of his life, except that in a.d. 40 he was sent to 
Rome by the Alexandrian Jews at the head of an embassy, to try and 
persuade the Emperor Caligula to refrain from claiming divine honour from 
the Jews. Of this embassy Philo has left a full account. Philo, while well- 

His relation ^-cquainted with the Septuagintj was even better versed in 
to Greek Greek philosophy of all schools ; and while accepting the literal 
divine origin of the Old Testament, he sought to explain it in an 
allegorical fashion, so as to deduce from it the most important results of 
Greek philosophy, and thus show to the Greeks that Judaism was worthy 
of their respect and acceptance. He is so thoroughly imbued with the ■ 
spirit of Plato, that it has been said that either Philo platonises or Plato 
philonises. In his writings he argues not only against scoffers amongst his 
own people, but against believers in astrology and divination, and against the 

His vie Egyptians and their beliefs. His belief in the Old Testament as 

the Old Testa-Divine is so strong that he calls it usually the. Sacred and Divine 

Word, or Divine Oracles ; and he treats the Old Testament as 

forming one inseparable whole, down to the smallest letter. Thus he was 



JUDAISM AFTER THE PROPHETS. 



653 



not a critic of the Old Testament in the modern sense. He was rather an 
expounder of its philosophical meaning as he conceived it by the light of 
Greek philosophy. He claimed that the Jews in the Mosaic revelation 
possessed the true knowledge of things religious ; and he strongly believed 
the doctrine of One God, and His absolute sovereignty and supremacy, and 
that He was to be worshipped without images. He went beyond the limited 
view that everything was to be done by and for the Jews, and regarded 




THE PBIESTLY BLESSING. {S ec pag 6 Q7 O .) 

the law of Moses as rightfully the law for the whole world ; and, according 
to him, prosperity is promised to all who turn from idols to the true God. 

Philo's philosophy of the Godhead is too abstruse to be fully expounded 
here. He regards God as eternal, absolute, unchangeable, without limita- 
tions. Consequently God cannot come into direct contact with jj.g j^^^_ 
finite beings, but He acts by a multitude of divine Ideas or sopny of th3 
Forces, produced before the visible world, and termed Logoi. ®°'"^®^^- 
These he identifies with the dcemons of the Greeks (see p. 408), and the 



654 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



angels of the Jews. In this view Philo does not get rid of ambiguity, for 

while the Logoi are immanent in Grod, they are at the same time 

Divme Ideas, regarded as distinct from God. Again, he regards all the indi- 

The Logos, vidual Ideas, or Logoi, as being included in one supreme Logos, 

or Reason, or Word of God, as the firstborn of God, as the highest 

mediator between God and the world, and the high-priest for the world 

before God. Consequently it is through the Logos that the world was 

created. Thus in one way Philo develops the idea of wisdom found in all 

the Jewish wisdom-books, while at the same time following Plato's doctrine 

of ideas and the soul of the world. The bearing which this has upon the 

consideration of the fourth gospel will be referred to later. There is no 

doubt that his philosophy exercised a powerful influence on scholars, both 

Jewish and Christian, for a long time after he wrote. 

As to man, Philo treats him as a compound of soul and physical body, 

the soul being attracted from the pure souls that fill space, the body being 

,, , ^ the source of sin and evil. Thus the body is a sort of prison for 
Man s nature. ■ j r ^ 

the soul, which longs to rise again to God. While Philo considers 
that man's salvation lies in the direction of the mortification of sensual 
impulses, he does not follow the Stoics in ^throwing man upon his personal 
powers ; but he directs him to the help which God will give to men who 
seek to rise to Him. At death this happy result happens to those who 
while in the body have kept themselves free from the bondage of the senses 
and sensuality ; while all others must after death enter another body. 

Philo carries allegorical interpretation very far, and, no doubt, displays 
remarkable ingenuity ; there is nothing in which he cannot discover a 
PMio's aUe- ^^^^^^ meaning. To take some examples from his interpretation 
goricai inter- of Genesis : Adam is found to represent pure human reason ; Eve, 
pre a ion . ^-j^^ senses ; the serpent, desire. Enoch symbolises man retiring in 
penitence from the world to God ; Noah is the truly righteous man. The 
Hebrews represent pilgrims from the world of sense to that of spirit ; the 
ark of the covenant is the intellectual world, the two cherubs over it are 
the two chief Logoi next to the Logos. Even the precepts of the law are 
allegorised throughout. In many of the problems which he stated, and of 
the solutions he proposes, Philo is the earliest of the commentators and 
critics, rather than expounders, of the Scriptures. 

But while Philo in many ways was an advanced religious thinker,— 
while he often uses the name Father for God, — he was so far from discerning 
the signs of his times that he makes but little reference to the Messianic 
hopes of the Jews ; and when he does so, it is in the way of identifying the 
-Logos with the promised Messiah, but transferring all hopes based upon 
His coming to heaven, thus in fact dissipating that which alone really con- 
stituted the Messianic hope of the Jews. He even shows a tendency to 
rely on quite another kind of mediation, for he recognises as elements in 
the Jews' h(,>pe, in addition to the kindness of God, and personal repentance, 
the holiness o>f the patriarchs, who intercede with God for their descendants. 

We have already (pp. 610, 623, 624) referred to the later organisation 



JUDAISM AFTER THE PROPHETS. 655 



of the priests and the existence of the synagogue. We must here briefly 
notice the elements which developed the extraordinary atmosphere of 
legalism and formalism which pervaded Jerusalem and Judaea in the time 
of Christ. This was due, not so much to the priests, who formed a powerful 
and wealthy aristocracy, as to the scribes, or persons learned in the 
law, who from the time of Ezra gradually gre^w in influence till they ® ^^ ®^' 
attained a commanding position. The law being a direct gift from God, in 
every detail, its complete observance being incumbent on every Israelite, it 
became an all-important matter to have a living exposition of all possible 
cases of question. The same consideration later became, as the canon was 
completed, extended to all books recognised as prophetic, or as containing 
the older history of Israel. At first only priests studied and interpreted the 
law ; at some later period it became customary for non-priestly Israelites 
to take up the study ; and as the priests grew more wealthy, and more 
or less influenced, consciously or nnconsciously, by non-Jewish ideas, the 
scribes became marked out as those persons who were specially learned in 
and zealous for the law, holding their opinions with fanatical strength and 
obstinacy, and swaying the people by reason of their fanaticism. They were 
habitually addressed as Rabbi (my master), and required from pupils, and 
also from the public, the most entire reverence and submission. Their 
decisions were gratuitously rendered, and they were always persons of pro- 
perty or practised some trade. But they always regarded as their main 
occupation the development of the law in theoretical and practical details 
and especially by oral discussions among themselves. 

The term sanhedrim (derived from the Greek synedrium, '' assembly,'') 
describes the governing and judicial assembly of the Jews, the 
native tribunal recognised by foreign powers in later Jewish times. ^^ ^ ^^' 
It included the high priest as president, chief priests (mainly Sadducees) 
scribes, and other notables. It had not the power of capital punishment. 

Naturally schools of interpretation gathered about leading scribes 
such as Shammai and Hillel. The latter, born at Babylon about 75 e.g. 
came to Jerusalem in 36, and was chosen president of the nmei and 
Sanhedrim from 30 B.C. to a.d. 10. He had thousands of pupils, Shammai. 
and spent his life in endeavouring to give greater precision to the law. 
Shammai was vice-president when Hillel was president, was often his 
antagonist in disputes, being less liberal in his views than Hillel, who 
taught, it is said, that the great aim of life is ''to be gentle, showing all 
meekness to all men," and " when reviled, not to revile again." The 
opinions of their two schools, strange to say, were afterwards quoted by 
the Jews as being of equal authority. It is scarcely possible without repro- 
ducing whole sections of the Mishna to give an effective idea of the detail 
the ceremoniousness, the minuteness of the points discussed by the scribes. 
A slight reference to discussions on the Sabbath will give sonie 
idea of all this. Thus we find that thirty-nine particular kinds on^the*^^ 
of work were specially forbidden on the Sabbath, including ^a^^**^- 
making or untying, a knot, writing two letters, sewing two stitches, etc. 



656 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

But each of these was made the subject of elaborate discussion and regula- 
tion. For instance, no burden might be carried from one tenement to 
another, and it was decided by the scribes that it was desecration of the 
Sabbath to carry as much food as was equal in weight to a dried fig, or as 
much honey as could be put upon a wound, ink enough to write two 
letters, etc. So rigidly was Sabbath observance kept up, that the Eom^ans 
found it necessary to exempt the Jews from military service. Even more 
minute regulations were devised about cleanness and uncleanness, and the 

Purity and removal of the latter. Notwithstanding the completeness of the 

impurity. Old Testament regulations, the Mishna contains no fewer than 
twelve treatises on the subject, discussing the manner in which impu.rity is 
contracted, how it may be transferred, what utensils or objects may become 
unclean, and how they may be purified. The air in an unclean vessel is 
declared unclean ; a minute classification distinguishes between vessels 
which may and those which cannot become unclean. The correct mode 
of pouring water on the hands, and the proper modes of cleansing of cups, 
pots, and dishes, were as zealously discussed as if the whole religious 
character would be vitiated by failure in one particular ; and this, in fact, 
was openly stated. 

The Mishna is the core of the Talmud, the last and more elaborate 

collection and amplification of the Traditions of the Jewish doctors. It 

is impossible to say how far the earliest traditional explanations 

of the Jewish law go back ; but the Mishna consists mainly of 

the meditations and decisions of learned rabbis from b.c. 50 to a.d. 150, 

the name of each rabbi being carefully given. To this is added, in the 

Mishna and Talmud, the Gemara or oldest commentary on the Mishna, the 
Gemara. discussions On the Mishna of Palestinian or Babylonian Jewish 
doctors. In both the Palestinian and the Babylonian Talmuds the cor- 
rectness and the meaning and interpretation of the Mishna are discussed, 
introducing incidentally references to all other knowledge then possessed. 
The discussions in the Palestinian Talmud are comparatively simple and 
brief, but there is mixed with them much valuable information on history, 
geography, and archaeology ; while the Babylonian Talmud is long-winded 
and subtle, and, while much longer than the other, contains far less of outside 
knowledge. The Jews have always given a higher value to the Mishna 
than to the Gemara, ranking it scarcely below the Old Testament ; for they 
believe that much of it comes by an unbroken chain of tradition from 
Moses, who is believed to have received it direct from God. The Talmud 
was put together in the fifth century a.d. 

A very vexed question is the extent ot the influence of the Talmud 

upon Christianity, and the converse. Some would even make out that 

Talmud Christianity owes many of its leading ideas to the Talmud. If 

and it were so, why was Christianity received with such hostility ? 

Christ am y. j^ ^^ spoke merely the language of the accepted teachers of the 
Jews, why was it not received with acclamation ? "We will quote the claim 
made by one of the most ardent Talmudists, Emanuel Deutsch : " Such terms 



JUDAISM AFTER THE PROPHETS. 



657 



as Eedemption, Baptism, Grace, Faith, Salvation, Eegeneration, Son of Man, 
Son of God, Kingdom of Heaven, were not, as we are apt to think, invented 
by Christianity, but were household words of Talmudical Judaism. No less 
loud and bitter in the Talmud are the protests against lip-serving, against 
making the law a burden to the people, against " laws that hang on hairs," 
against Priests and Pharisees. That grand dictum, '' Do unto others as 
thou wouldst be done by," is quoted by Hillel, at whose death Jesus was ten 
years of age, not as anything new, but as an old and well-known dictum, 
that comprised the whole Law." "While not denying or concealing the vast 
amount of idle legend and allegory contained in the Haggadah or legendary 
portion of the commentary, Mr. Deutsch claims that it is the source of 
much that is most remarkable in the greatest poets. He extracts a meta- 




rOREIGN JEWISH BETH HAMIDRASH (hOUSB OF LEAKNINg) IN THE EAST END OF LONDON. 

physical philosophy from parts of it, describing the gradual development of 
the Cosmos by successive catastrophes, out of an original created substance. 
Miracles were primevally ordained, and " created," and do not disturb the 
pre-established harmony of things. The soul is also held to be pre-existent. 
The Resurrection and Immortality are definitely taught. The righteous 
continue to develop their best faculties in the next world : " For the 
righteous there is no rest, neither in this world nor in the next, for they 
go, say the Scriptures, from host to host, from striving to striving ; and 
they will see God in Zion." As regards eternal punishment, the Talmud 
does not teach it, but says that idolaters, apostates, and traitors will be 
punished for ^'generations upon generations." There is " only two fingers' 
breadth between Hell and Heaven " ; the repentant sinner will be admitted 

u u 



658 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

to the latter as soon as he repents. " In the next world there will be no 
eating, no drinking, no love, and no labour, no envy, no hatred, no contest. 
The righteous will sit with crowns on their heads, glorying in the splendour 
of Grod's majesty." 

A few quotations from the choicest passages of the Talmud will still 
further illustrate its highest flights. " Be thou the cursed, not he who 
Gems of the curses. Be of them that are persecuted, not of them that perse- 
Taimud. cute." "He who sacrifices a whole offering, shall be rewarded 
for a whole offering ; he who offers a burnt offering, shall have the reward 
of a burnt offering ; he who offers humility unto God and man, shall be 
rewarded with a reward as if he had offered all the sacrifices in the world." 
" Even when the gates of heaven are shut to prayer, they are open to 
tears." " "When the righteous dies, it is the earth that loses. The lost jewel 
will always be a jewel ; but the possessor who has lost it, well may he weep." 
" Even the most righteous shall not attain to so high a place in heaven 
as the truly repentant." " The dying benediction of a sage to his disciples 
was : I pray for you that the fear of Heaven may be as strong upon you 
as the fear of man. You avoid sin before the face of the latter ; avoid it 
before the face of the All-seeing." " Love your wife like yourself, honour 
her more than yourself." " It is woman alone through whom God's 
blessings are vouchsafed to a house. She teaches the children, speeds the 
husband to the place of worship and instruction, welcomes him when he 
returns, keeps the house godly and pure, and God's blessing rests upon all 
these things. He who marries for money, his. children shall be a curse to 
him." " The house that does not open to the poor shall open to the 
•physician. Even the birds in the air despise the miser. He who gives 
charity in general is greater than Moses himself." " Let the honour of thy 
neighbour be to thee like thine own. Rather be thrown into a fiery.furnace 
than bring any one to public shame." " He who humiliates himself will be 
lifted up ; he who raises himself up will be humiliated. Whosoever runs 
after greatness, greatness runs away from him ; he who runs from great- 
ness, greatness follows him." " Whosoever does not persecute them that 
persecute him, whoever takes an offence in silence, he who does good 
because of love, he who is cheerful under his sufferings — they are the 
friends of God, and of them the Scripture says, " and they shall shine forth 
as does the sun at noonday." 

Granting that these extracts are correctly translated, we have no proof 

that any of them date back as early as the time of Christ, In any case the 

unsatis- ^^^^ ^^s ^^^ nothing like the effect of the New Testament ; and 

factory this is intelligible when we realise the mass of puerile arguments, 

silly and indecent stories, impossible notions and petty details that 

the Talmud contains. The selection of the editor or editors, equally with the 

minds of the scribes who are responsible for many of its passages, was greatly 

at fault. Archdeacon Farrar, in his " Life of Christ," says, " Anything more 

utterly unhistorical than the Talmud cannot be conceived. It is probable 

that no human writings ever confounded names, dates, and facts with a 



JUDAISM AFTER THE PROPHETS. 659 

more absolute indifference." In reading it we can understand the point of 
the saying of Jesus, that the scribes had made the law of no effect through 
their traditions. 

The Pharisees were the party who, without necessarily being scribes, 
devoted themselves with fanatic ardour to the observance of all the 
minutest particulars of the Mosaic law and of the traditions, which The 
gradually became more binding even than the law. The term ^^a-risees, 
means " one who is separated ; " and the Pharisees undoubtedly formed a 
distinctive order of people, devoted to the observance of the Levitical laws 
and the tradition. It would appear that every one wishing to be recognised 
as a Pharisee had to promise before three others that he would pay full tithes 
on everything, and eat nothing that had not been tithed, and that he would 
scrupulously observe all the laws of ceremonial purity. Thus, practically, 
Pharisaism was one great system of " taboo," by which the members made 
themselves a sacred caste. When it is realised that the full tithes meant, 
at least, a double tithe, and that the ceremonial laws of Leviticus and the 
Mishna involved the most burdensome restrictions and brought a man 
into continual danger of contracting ceremonial impurity ; that every one 
who did not obey these laws was reckoned as lost, we can see the force of 
the denunciations contained in Matthew xxiii. Pharisees might not become _ 
the guests of a non-Pharisee, nor receive him as a guest, nor buy or sell from 
or to him. Including, as they did, a very large proportion (six thousand) of 
the leading Jews at the time of Christ, it is evident that they were then the 
orthodox Jewish party by whose standard Jesus was mainly judged. They 
were also the popular party, for they held high the position and responsi- 
bilities of every member of the Jewish nation, and disdained any compro- 
mise with the foreign ruler. They taught that every man might become a 
true member of the priesthood, though not belonging to the priestly caste, 
by studying and conforming to the law. They considered themselves the 
guardians of the law and the customs of the Jews, and believed that they 
would be protected as a peculiar people through all dangers. But while they 
imposed strict rules, and severely condemned their infraction, they had 
devised many plans for evading those which they found inconvenient, and 
they made many of their observances occasions for public display of their 
righteousness or ostentatious claim to the highest regard of the common 
people. They were generally to be recognised by the sacred tassels upon 
their garments, and the wearing of little rolls (phylacteries) inscribed with 
words from the law on the arm or forehead and neck, and by their public 
demonstrations of praying in the streets. The wearing of these phylacteries 
being supposed to be enjoined in Exodus xiii. 9-16, they became in time 
regarded as most valuable, protecting the wearers from evil thoughts. 

A few principal beliefs of the Pharisees may be mentioned. According 
to Josephus, they held that every soul is imperishable ; but that the souls of 
good men only pass over into another body, while the souls of Principal 
bad men are chastised by eternal punishment. But that they beliefs, 
believed in anything like the Oriental transmigration of souls, cannot be 



66o THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

proved. Eather, from references in the New Testament, they appear to 
have believed in the resurrection of the body, and a future judgment. The 
Mishna which they upheld, states that " he who says that the resurrection 
of the dead is not to be inferred from the law, has no part in the world to 
come." They believed in angels and spirits, and in the powerful influence 
of fate and Divine providence ; yet '' some things depend on the will of man 
as to whether they are done or not." Their eagerness to secure proselytes 
to their views may be judged from the expression of Jesus, that they would 
" compass sea and land " to make one proselyte. Within their ranks was 
to be found much sensuality, greed, and selfishness. They contemned the 
common and degraded classes of people, and shunned any communication 
with them, and hence they were especially subject to the censure of Jesus. 

The great opponents of the Pharisees were the Sadducees, who chiefly 
consisted of the more influential and wealthy priestly families, especially 
The those from which the high priest had been chosen for many years 
Sadducees. "before the time of Christ. They clung to the ancient privileges 
of their order, and to the legal observances of the law, while they rejected 
the Mishna and the decisions of the scribes. Consistently with this, they re- 
jected the doctrines of the resurrection and of future retribution, which are 
not found distinctly in the Pentateuch ; they disbelieved in angels and spirits ; 
and they held that man's conduct is entirely in his own power, not coerced 
by fate or Providence, and that man' is the cause of his own prosperity and 
adversity. They, however, conformed largely to the views of the majority 
as formulated by the Pharisees, especially in the matter of sacrifices and 
ritual, while they did not conceal their indifference to many of the obser- 
vances which yet, as chief priests, they carried out. They were considerably 
imbued with G-reek culture, and, in the main, upheld the Roman power. 
Consequently, when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and the whole Jewish 
State, their influence fell, never to rise again, for it had within it no seeds of 
hope or of growth. 

The Essenes were a remarkable body of ascetics who became numerous 
in the century before Christ, and who endeavoured to fulfil the injunctions 
^ g of the law by withdrawal from the world, celibacy and austerity 
' of life. They resembled the monastic orders of Christians and 
Buddhists rather than a sectarian party. In their strict regard for the law, 
and their extreme care for ceremonial purity, they were like the Pharisees, 
only aiming at carrying out their views to an extreme degree by forming 
separate communities with meals in common, community of goods, and a 
long novitiate. They wore white garments like the priests, bathed before 
meals and at other times, repudiated marriage as a state of less purity than 
celibacy, and in all things sought to live a simple natural life. They held 
no slaves, swore no oaths, did not anoint themselves with oil, and only used 
the simplest food and drink. They carried on no trade, but worked on the 
land and at handicrafts for the common benefit. One of the most striking 
distinctions between them and the rest of the Jews was their giving up of 
animal sacrifices, though they still sent incense to the Temple at Jerusalem. 



JUDAISM AFTER THE PROPHETS. 



66i 



It is said that they even turned towards the sun when praying, as emble- 
matic of the Divine light, a very un-Jewish custom, and that other points 
showed religious regard for the sun. Various students and divines have 
traced several features of the Essenes to Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, and the 
Greek philosophy of Pythagoras. The two latter seem especially to pre- 
sent points of contact, and neither influence is historically impossible. 

The houses in which the Essenes lived were under the control of a 
president, whom the members were bound to obey. A candidate received 
at entrance a pickaxe, an apron, and a white garment, and underwent a 
year's probation, after which he was admitted to the baths ; then two more 
years' probation followed, and he was admitted to the common meals, first 
taking a tremendous oath binding him to entire openness towards the mem- 
bers, and secrecy towards non-members. 

Meanwhile there was al- 
ready a preparation for that dis- 
persion which, after Dispersion 
the fall of Jerusalem, ^^ *^® J®^^- 
became the principal fact about 
the Jews. The process, which 
had begun with the captivity, 
was greatly favoured under 
Alexander the Great's succes- 
sors, important privileges being 
granted to the Jews in such 
cities as Alexandria and Antioch. 
Even in the second century B.C. 
it was said that every land and 
sea was filled with the Jews. 
In the time of Pompey many 
settled at Rome, and were 
granted Roman citizenship. In 
Cahgula's reign they made a 
grand stand against the em- 
peror-worship, which it was attempted to force on them, undergoing 
frightful troubles in consequence. In the time of the Emperor Tiberius 
they began to be persecuted, while the reign of Claudius at its outset was 
marked by an edict of toleration in their favour. Yet later he prohibited 
their assemblies. They were often subsequently persecuted, but they in- 
creased notwithstanding — a history which has practically characterised 
them almost ever since. They united into distinct communities wherever 
they were, cherishing their ancient faith, and maintaining such of its 
observances as were still possible ; and they gradually acquired a recognised 
standing, and were allowed to be governed by their own laws throughout 
the Roman empire. Even the rights of Roman citizenship were conferred 
upon them in a considerable number of the towns of Asia Minor and Syria. 
They built synagogues in most of them, using Greek very largely in their 




MENASSEH BEN ISEAEL. 



662 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

services. Tribute was sent to the Temple at Jerusalem as long as it existed. 
Everywhere they may be considered to have paved the way for Christianity 
by their worship without images and by their strict observance of the Sab- 
bath, while their limitations as to food were a standing protest against the 
prevailing un discriminating indulgence. Many proselytes were made, and 
no doubt would long have continued to be added, if Christianity had not 
obtained the ascendant, and displayed greater attractions. 

When, in the fourth centurj^, Christianity became the official religion 
of the Roman empire, the humiliation of the Jews began. With an interval 
of favour in the reign of Julian the Apostate, they gradually became a 
downtrodden people. We cannot detail the successive steps of the history, 
which simply show, in relation to our subject, the persistence of religious 
faith among a persecuted people. We must assume a general knowledge of 
their circumstances in successive ages, and pass on to quote the confession 
of faith drawn up in the 11th century by Moses Maimonides, perhaps the 
greatest of the mediaeval Jews, often called the second Moses. 

This remarkable man was born at Cordova, in Spain, in 1135, his father 
being a Jewish judge and commentator. The youth, besides Hebrew and 
G-reek, studied all the Arabic learning of their palmy day under 
Averroes and Ibn-Thofeil. Under the Moslems of Spain the 
Jews enjoyed full liberty, and rivalled the Arabs in learning. During a 
reactionary period in the middle of the century, when Jews were severely 
persecuted, Maimonides and his family outwardly professed Mahometanism ; 
later he travelled widely, and at last settled at Fostat (Egypt) as a physician. 
But he found time to write a great commentary on the Mishna, made public 
in 1168 under the title, " The Book of Light," and designed to simplify 
and explain the traditional law. In one part of this work he included the 
confession of faith mentioned above, which, somewhat abbreviated, is as 
follows : — 

1. " I believe, with a perfect faith " (these words are repeated before 
all the sections), " that God is the Creator (whose name be blessed), Governor, 
The creed of and Maker of all creatures ; and that He hath wrought all things, 
Maimonides. ^orketh, and shall work for ever. 2. That the Creator is one ; 
and that such a unity as, is in Him can be found in none other ; and that 
He alone hath been our God, is, and for ever shall be. 3. That He is not 
corporeal, not to be comprehended with anj^ bodily properties ; and that 
there is no bodily essence that can be likened unto Him. 4. That the 
Creator is the first and last ; that nothing was before Him, and that He shall 
abide the last for ever. 5. That the Creator is to be worshipped, and none 
else. 6. That all the words of the prophets are true. 7. That the pro- 
phecies of Moses, our master (may he rest in peace !), were true ; that he 
was the father and chief of all wise men that lived before him, or ever shall 
live after him. 8. That all the law which at this day is found in our hands 
was delivered by G-od Himself to our master, Moses. 9. That the same law 
is never to be changed, nor any other to be given us of God. 10. That God 
understandeth all the works and thoughts of men, as it is written in the 



JUDAISM AFTER THE PROPHETS. 



663 



prophets ; He fasliioneth their hearts alike, He understandeth all their 
works. 11. That God will recompense good to them that keep His com- 
mandments, and will punish them who transgress them. 12. That the 
Messiah is yet to come ; and although He retard His coming, yet will I wait 
for Him till He come. 13. That the dead shall be restored to life when it 
shall seem fit unto God, the Creator, whose name be blessed and memory 
celebrated without end. Amen." 

In 1170-80 Maimonides wrote a still more extended work, entitled 
" Deuteronomy, Second Law," really a cyclopaedia of every sort of Old 




MOSES MENDELSSOHN. 



Testament and Jewish literature, sometimes described as a new Talmud. 
In it he brought the rabbinical codes within a moderate compass, 
and introduced philosophy and ethics of a type little understood 
by the Jews before his time. From this time he held, unofficially, a sort 
of spiritual headship among his people, while at the same time his fame as 
a doctor brought him a large and important practice. He, however, was 
able to complete a third great book, " The Guide of the Perplexed," designed 
to reclaim those who were sceptical about a future world, the destiny of 
man, and revelation. In it he made a bold endeavour to reconcile the con- 
flicts between religion and philosophy, and he may almost be counted the 
first of the rationalists. He showed that the sensuous descriptions of the 



664 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

Deity and His actions in the Old Testament must be taken in a spiritual 
and figurative sense. He further expounded a rational natural religion, 
proved the existence, unity, and spirituality of God, and the excellence of 
the Divine law, and discussed free-will, the opposition of good and evil, and 
the questions relating to the Divine providence and omniscience. As was 
to be expected, such a work provoked much opposition, and led to great con- 
troversy between religion and science, and between the literal Talmudists 
and his own followers. Finally, about the middle of the 13th century the 
Christians burned all Maimonides' books, which led to a reconciliation 
among the Jewish hostile parties. Maimonides died on December 13th, 
1204, and was greatly mourned. To him all Jewish religious writers since 
his date are greatly indebted. 

Maimonides was a strong believer in the Old Testament as a Divine 
revelation, but held that it must be explicable in a rational manner. He 
. _ believed that it was not enough to keep the law in practice, but 
that its study was a religious duty. He believed firmly in the 
creation of matter out of nothing, and in the providential guidance of the 
world. He held that man's will was free, but that providence ruled the 
destinies of men and of nations in a certain broad manner. Physical laws 
must be studied, and man must adapt his life and action to them. Only the 
soul is immortal, he taught ; and virtue is rewarded by happiness in the 
world to come. *' Do not," he says, ''allow thyself to be persuaded by fools 
that Grod first determines who shall be righteous and who wicked. He who 
sins has only himself to blame for it, and he can do nothing better than 
speedily to change his course. Grod's omnipotence has bestowed freedom on 
man, and His omniscience foreknows man's choice without guiding it. We 
should not choose the good, like children and ignorant people, from motives 
of reward or punishment, but we should do good for its own sake, and from 
love to God ; still retribution does await the immortal soul in the future 
world." 

For a long time the Jews in Spain and Portugal, under Moorish rule, 
enjoyed complete freedom and equality ; and their progress in culture and 
original work was great. "While in the middle ages the Christians 
Spain and were persecuting the Jews almost everywhere, and sometimes 
or uga "bu^rniiig them while they sang hymns as though going to a wed- 
ding, in Spain they were in a state of prosperity till the middle of the 
14th century. Then followed persecutions and many cruel outrages and 
martyrdoms. Finally, in 1492, Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain ordered the 
expulsion, within four months, of all who refused to become Christians, at 
the same time forbidding them to take either gold or silver out of the 
country. Many then professed Christianity ; but several hundred thousands 
left the country, enduring the greatest privations, and many dying in their 
journej^s. In 1495 King Emanuel of Portugal ordered the Jews to leave 
his kingdom, but commanded that their children under fourteen should be 
taken from their mothers and brought up as Christians. " Agony drove the 
JewisKmothers into madness ; they destroyed the children with their own 



JUDAISM AFTER THE PROPHETS. 



665 



hands, and threw them into wells and rivers, to prevent them from falling 
into the hands of their persecutors." 

The intensity and cruelty of the persecutions which they suffered was 
perhaps the salvation of the Jews as a separate nationality ; although it 
cannot be proved that their peculiar faith and rites would not have 
preserved them largely as a pure race. Everywhere cut off from ^^^and °^ 
the rest of the population, limited as to trades and places of resi- ^^o^^*^®^- 
dence, forbidden to employ Christian servants or to become members of 
trade guilds, the Jews grew more and more conservative and peculiar : and 
their talents, concentrated by isolation, furnished at last an ever- widening 




BEVIS MAEKS SYNAGOGUE, LONDON. 



stream of original genius to the nations in which they lived. Spinoza, the 
Humboldts, the Mendelssohns, Heine, Neander, Meyerbeer, the Disraelis, are 
a few of the remarkable geniuses who have sprung from modern Judaism. 
Yet the dawn of the modern period was preceded by an age of degradation 
and mental inferiority which needed the work of vigorous reformers to 
rouse it into life. 

The most important name in the history of modern Jewish elevation and 
reform is that of Moses Mendelssohn (1729-1786), grandfather of the great 
composer. The son of a copier of Biblical writings on parchment, Moses 
young Mendelssohn, born at Dessau in Germany, was early in- Mendelssohn, 
spired by the reading of Maimonides' " Guide of the Perplexed." After a 
wide general education, he set before himself the improvement of the moral 



666 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

and social condition of his people. While obeying in the letter the Oral 
Law, Mendelssohn brought into the study of religion all the knowledge and 
philosophy of his time ; and the effect of his writings was to destroy the 
authority of the Talmud and the rabbinical writers among those who 
listened to him. His essay, entitled " Phsedo, or the Immortality of the 
Soul," attempted to lay down a new basis for that doctrine. His attitude 
towards Christianity was so liberal that many of his co-religionists began to 
look upon him as secretly a Christian himself. In his "Morning Hours " he 
discussed the existence of God, refuting pantheism, and especially Spinoza's 
views. He also published German translations and commentaries on 
several parts of the Old Testament, notably the Pentateuch and the Psalms. 
In regard to what we may call Church government, his ideas were remark- 
ably liberal ; all religion, according to him, being an affair of the heart, it 
should not be under any control, either of State, Church, or synagogue. At 
the same time he insisted that " the law of Moses was not a law of faith, 
but merely of statutes and prohibitions." Religion, he taught, should be 
propagated purely by conviction, and should never attempt to uphold it- 
self by authority. He recommended his people to take an example of 
charity from Christians, and love and bear with each other, that they might 
be themselves loved and tolerated by others. It followed that his influence 
in promoting the idea of the religious equality of all persons in the eye of the 
State has been very great. His life and writings benefited both Jews and 
Christians, and started new schools of thought in philosophy and religious 
criticism among the Jews. His epitaph, written by Hamler, runs thus : 
" True to the religion of his forefathers, wise as Socrates, teaching immor- 
tality, and becoming immortal like Socrates." The modern Jews have a 
saying that " from Moses (the lawgiver) to Moses (Maimonides), and Moses 
(Mendelssohn), no one hath arisen like Moses." 

One of the reforms which followed Mendelssohn's labours was the revival 
of the obsolete office of synagogue preacher ; at the same time the long 
prayers and sacred poems of the liturgy were considerably 
retrenched. Some congregations remained conservative, while 
new or reformed synagogues were founded, in which modern innovations 
were practised. Numerous theological seminaries as well as schools were 
established, and gradually general culture as well as Hebrew learning be- 
came much extended among the Jews. 

In 1790-1 the whole of the French Jews were admitted to equal rights 

of citizenship with the French people. One of the unique things the 

Emperor Napoleon did, was to summon a meeting of the Sanhe- 

the Frencii drim, formally elected by the synagogues of France and Italy. 

^^^^' It sat in 1807, and formulated statutes which were regarded as 

binding by the congregations which sent delegates. Its principal decisions 

were : (1) That polygamy is forbidden ; (2) That divorce is permissible to 

Jews after legal divorce by the civil authority ; (3) That no Jew may 

perform the ceremony of marriage until legal forms have been fulfilled ; 

and intermarriages with Christians are recognised, though they cannot be 



JUDAISM AFTER THE PROPHETS. 



667 



performed with Jewish ceremonies ; (4) That acts of justice and charity are 
enjoined towards all mankind, of whatever religion, who recognise the 
Creator ; (5) That Jewish natives of France shall obey the laws of the 
land, and treat it as their native country; and they are dispensed from 




WEST LONDON SINAGOGUE, UPPJiR BEKKELliY SQUARE. 

ceremonial observances while serving in the army ; (6) That Jews shall 
train their children to useful employments, renounce objectionable callings, 
and in every way try to gain their neighbours' gOod-will ; (7) That interest 
shall not be taken where money is lent for the support of a family, but 
only in commercial undertakings and at legal rates ; (8) That the last 



668 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

article, and the texts of Scripture on the subject, apply equally between 
Jews and their fellow-citizens ; and usury is altogether forbidden. 

The emperor at the close of the session established a legal organisation 
for French Jews. Every two thousand Jews were formed into a synagogue, 
and its consistory was to consist of one chief rabbi, two rabbis, and three 
lay householders. The central consistory of Paris received power to depose 
the rabbis, and the duties of the rabbis were defined. They were to publish 
the decrees of the Sanhedrim, to inculcate obedience to the State laws, and 
to pray in the synagogues for the emperor and his family. Since 1831 the 
Jewish rabbis have been paid by the French State. 

After the Norman conquest Jews settled in England in considerable 
numbers, and gradually became most important aids in the financial 
The Jews In arrangements of kings and nobles. In 1290, however, they 
England, -v^rere expelled, and did not return in any number till about the 
close of the sixteenth century. They were not formally allowed to settle 
in this country again until 1657, when Manasseh ben Israel, a rabbi from 
Amsterdam, obtained a decision from Cromwell's Council of State in their 
favour. The modern history of the emancipation of the Jews from civil 
and religious disabilities is well-known. It is estimated that there are be- 
tween sixty and seventy thousand Jews in England, of whom over forty 
thousand are in London, chiefly belonging to the Ashkenazim, or G-erman- 
Polish section. The Sephardim, or Spanish-Portuguese families, do not 
increase in number. The Ashkenazim have fourteen synagogues and 
nineteen minor synagogues, with a chief rabbi ; the Sephardim have two 
synagogues, with an independent chief rabbi. These two differ somewhat 
in their pronunciation of Hebrew, and in several minor matters of ritual. 
They have no distinctions of seats in their synagogues, nor lines of demar- 
cation in their cemeteries. There is a still more interesting body, repre- 
sented by one synagogue only, that of the Reformed British Jews, Upper 
Berkeley Street, Portman Square, a body founded in 1841 in consequence 
of a conviction of the necessity for modifying the Jewish service to suit 
modern ideas. Services are held at later hours, such as 10.30 instead of at 
7 and 7.30 ; an improved and shortened ritual is used, the best portions of 
the Portuguese and German liturgies being blended. Singing is intro- 
duced ; but no service, except on the Day of Atonement, exceeds two hours 
and a half. Sermons in English are given every Sabbath and holy day at 
morning service. Numerous services on holy days not appointed by Scrip- 
ture, are given up, and only one day of each of the great festivals is observed. 
They do not acknowledge the authority of the oral law nor that of the chief 
rabbi. There are similar congregations at Manchester and Bradford. 

The Jews are most numerous in Austria (IJ million), where they are 

now comparatively free and well treated; and in Russia^ (2? millions), 

where they are more harshly treated than in any other country. 

various eoun- They number 200,000 in E-oumania, many being descendants of 

*"®^' Spanish Jews ; and among them are many farmers and handi- 
craftsmen. They are numerous in Constantinople and in Asiatic Turkey ; 



JUDAISM AFTER THE PROPHETS. 



669 



there are 25,000 Jews in Smyrna and 30,000 in Bagdad. There are 15,000 
in Jerusalem, mainly occupied in studying the Talmud, being supported by 
their brethren throughout the world. The Jerusalem Jews, who include all 
branches of the stock, by no means all dress alike. The Sephardim wear 
ordinary Eastern garb, the Russian and Polish Jews have long silk or cloth 
gowns and fur caps, while the Grermans retain their national garb of a cen- 
tury ago with a flat wideawake hat. There are several hundred thousand 
Jews in Morocco and Tripoli, who in some parts even lead a nomadic life. 
In the United States they are numerous and rich, and have many fine 
synagogues. Some of them observe the Sabbath on Sunday, others use 
English prayers and have disused Hebrew, and many are lax in their ritual. 




GREAT SYNAGOGUE, DUKE'S PLACE, ALDGATE. 

We must briefly notice the Beni Israel of Bombay, about five thousand 
in number, chiefly artisans, *who say that they descend from a ship's com- 
pany of passengers wrecked on that coast more than a thousand -phe 
years ago They are strict observers of the Sabbath, observe Beni Israel, 
the great Jewish festivals, and refrain from unclean fish or flesh ; and they 
have a markedly Jewish type of face. They have leaders who act as high 
priests as well as civil leaders. The Beni Israel speak Marathi ; few know 
Hebrew. They seldom intermarry with ordinary Jews. 

[Ewald: "History of Israel," vols. 5-8. Schurer : " Jewish people in the time of Christ" (T. & T. 
Clark). Hershon: "Genesis according to the Talmud." "The Palestinian Talmud," translated 
into French by M Schwab. " Literary Kemains of Emanuel Deutsch." M'Clintock and Strong : 
" Cyclopaedia of Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature."] 




JEWISH WEDDING. UNDER THE " CHUPAH.' 



CHAPTER VI. 



iWolifni 3miii) iKi'tual.— Cfte Sarai'tesi aiii ^amantantf. 

Synagogue government— Chief rabbi— Other oflBcials- The ruler— Arrangement of synagogue — 
Costume during service— Fringes— Phylacteries— Form of daily services— The Shema and bless- 
ings—Sabbath services— Reading the law— Sabbath observance- New moons— The New Year 
feast— Days of repentance— Day of atonement— Feast of tabernacles— Other feasts— The Pass- 
over—Feast of Pentecost— Fasts— Children— Marriage— The Mezuzah— Divorce— Sickness, death 
and burial— The Kabbalah— The Zohar— The Karaites— Their view of Jesus Christ— The Samari- 
tans—Early history— Samaritan Pentateuch— Liturgy— Principal beliefs -Fasts, Sabbaths, etc. 

WE will now review some of the principal events and ceremonies among 
the modern Jews/ with special relation to the British Jews. Each 
synagogue constitutes a distinct community, independent except in a few 
Synagogue particulars, in which all are related to a central authority, com- 
government. posed of the Chief E/abbi and three members eminent for learn- 
ing and piety, nominated by him and approved by the majority of the syna- 
gogues. These constitute the House of Judgment, and meet twice a week 
to settle all religious, social, and civil questions brought before them. His 
colleagues cannot act without the Chief Rabbi ; they act for life unless they 
betray their trust. The title of Chief Eabbi must be conferred by 
a meeting of at least three chief rabbis ; and thus in most cases 
it is decided by foreign Jews ; but the synagogues vote for the candidates in 
proportion to the money they have subscribed for the m aintenance of the Chief 
E-abbi. His duties are to perform all marriages of London Jews, to lecture 
Once a month at the great synagogue. Duke's Place, Aldgate ; to superintend 



1 John Mills : " The British Jews." 



Ginsburg: Articles in " Kitto's Cjclopasdia." 
670 



MODERN JEWISH RITUAL. 671 

all the shochet, or killers of animals for food, to visit the Jewish schools and 

colleges, etc., and to exercise a general jurisdiction over all the synagogues 

in his province. In England there is a rabbi at Manchester appointed by 

the Chief Rabbi, but no other person in England has this high title. One of 

the strangest things in the history of the Jews is the decayed condition of 

the yriesthood, who, since the destruction of the Temple at Jerusalem, have 

had no special and exclusive functions, the sacrifices being no longer offered. 

It does not even appear to be necessary that the Chief Rabbi should be of 

priestly descent. The Levites, too, are in many cases able to trace their 

descent from the tribe of Levi, but they no longer have any special 

duties. 

The Sophers, or " Writers," are skilled writers of Hebrew, who prepare 

scrolls of the law, and various documents connected with Jewish ceremonies 

and rites. The Shochet are killers of animals suitable for Jews ^^^ ^ , , 

. -TP --ii other oflacials. 

to eat, and are definitely appointed after examination by three 

rabbis. The of&ce is generally held by the Reader of the synagogue, unless 

the Jews are numerous in a town. He is also the circumciser, except where 

there are many Jews, when a special official is appointed. 

The Reader is the minister of the synagogue : there are generally a 

senior and a junior Reader for considerable congregations. He has to read the 

liturffv and to attend marriages and funerals of members. His _ „ , 

^•^ , ^ . . , Tlie Reader, 

duties, with that of the clerk, are minutely specified and rather 

onerous. Elections of Readers are made by. the congregation, after due 
nomination and selection of candidates by the committee. Candidates for 
the office may be of any nation or congregation, most of the readers in 
England being German or Polish Jews. The congregation have consider- 
able power over matters concerning them in general or members in particular, 
having the right to attend meetings, in which everything is decided by the 
vote of the majority. 

The synagogue (commonly called schul.^ from the German schule^ by the 
Ashkenazim) is more formally termed '' Beth Haknesseth " (house of the 
assembly) in documents. The interior of the building is divided Arrangement 
into two parts, the floor with open seats for males, the galler}^ (with®^ synagogue, 
lattice- work in front) for females, who are not considered as belonging to the 
congregation and may not join in the service. At the east end of the build- 
ing is the Ark, a large wooden chest contained in a specially decorated 
receptacle, richly veiled. In this the Law is kept, wrapped in a tentlike 
cover, and the ceremony of taking it out for each service is very important. 
It is written on vellum about two feet wide, and of sufficient length to con- 
tain the entire Pentateuch, written in columns. Each end is fastened to a 
roller, round one of which it is wound as it is read, while it is correspondingly 
unwound from the other. The writing is without vowel points, and is 
therefore difficult to read ; the Reader is expected to refresh his memory 
the evening before the service. The reading desk is a kind of raised seat on 
which the Reader stands, surrounded by all the officers of the congregation, 
seated. The seats nearer to the xA.rk are the more honourable, and are 



672 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

correspondingly expensive. At the west end of the synagogue a lamp is 
kept always burning, to represent the Shechinah of the old Temple. 

Jewish services are unlike those of Christians and most other religious 
bodies in requiring the wearing of hats throughout, and in kneeling forming 
Costume 1^0 part of the ritual, except on the first two days of their year 
during service, g^j^^j on the Day of Atonement. The males wear a special scarf 
with fringes, known as taliih^ which is a smaller outer representative of the 
^^ " arbang kanphoth " worn underneath the outer dress. It has 

four corners, with fringes attached to each, usually of eight 
threads nine inches long, arranged in a peculiar way. The under garment 
which it represents was formerly the outer one worn by Jews at all times, 
but transferred beneath in times of persecution. It is about three feet long 
and one foot wide, with a hole in the centre sufficient to let it pass over the 
head, so that part falls in front and part behind. The necessity for wearing 
such a garment is based on Numbers xv. 37-41. The fringes are so arranged . 
and knotted that they constitute a perfect symbol of the entire Law ; and 
the rabbis have even said that the law about fringes is as important as all 
the rest put together. More than one instance of anxiety to touch the 
fringes (rendered " hem " in the Authorised Version) of Jesus's garment is 
recorded in the Gospels ; and He rebuked the Pharisees for enlarging their 
fringes in the idea that they thereby served God better. 

The phylacteries, or tephillin, are another important part of a Jew's 
service-costume. They are small square boxes of parchment in which are 
. placed four slips of parchment an inch wide and eight inches 
* long, containing four extracts from Exodus (xiii. 2-10, 11-16) and 
Deuteronomy (vi. 4-9, 13-21) carefully written in Hebrew, the writing 
folded inside. In the lid of the box is fixed a leather thong, about two 
yards long, for binding the phylactery round the head and arm. One of 
these is bound round the forehead of every male Jew above thirteen years 
old, and another on the left arm, at morning prayer, whether in the syna- 
gogue or at home, except on sabbaths and on festivals. While putting them 
on, the pious Jew repeats several forms of benediction. It was these phylac- 
teries which the Pharisees, in the time of Christ, wore of unusual size that 
they might be conspicuous at a distance, indicating that they were at 
prayer or engaged in religious meditation. Maimonides says : " The sacred 
influence of the phylacteries is very great ; for as long as one wears them 
on his head and arm he is obliged to be meek, God-fearing, must not suffer 
himself to be carried away by laughter or idle talk, nor indulge in evil 
thoughts ; but must turn his attention to the words of truth and uprightness." 

Devout Jews are expected to observe a very onerous amount of ritual 
and prayer ; but the prescribed service consists entirely of reading and 
Form of daily ^^^S^^S prayers and portions of Scripture, without any comment, 
services. Such sermons and lectures as are given are outside the ordinary 
routine. The daily service ought properly to be gone through three times 
a day — morning, afternoon, and evening — at least privately. The morning 
service, as soon as may be after dawn (usually about 7 or 7.30), is the most 



MODERN JE WISH RITUAL. 



673 



important and lengthy. There are special ceremonies and recitals on enter- 
ing the synagogue, and putting on the fringed scarf and the phylacteries. 
The service proper begins with the Shema, including Deut. vi. 4-9, xi- 
13-21, and Num. xv. 37-41 ; beginning, " Hear, Israel : the .jj^g gijema 
Lord our God is one Lord : and thou shalt love the Lord thy God and messings. 
with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might." This 
may be called a clear monotheistic creed. It is followed by a series ot 
eighteen (really nineteen) benedictions, believed to have been composed by 
Ezra and the members 
of the Great Syna- 
gogue up to the time 
of the Roman ascend- 
ency in Palestine. It 
may be confidently be- 
lieved that Jesus and 
the apostles used these 
prayers and benedic- 
tions, or some of them, 
when they worshipped 
in the synagogues. 
They range through, a 
very striking series of 
praises of God, prayers 
for mercy and forgive- 
ness, for the re-estab- 
lishment of the Israel- 
itish kingdom, and for 
well-being and guid- 
ance. One of them, 
believed by many to 
have been added in 
Christian times, prays 
for the destruction of 
apostates. Other 
prayers and psalms 
may be interspersed 
in the service, which 
lasts an hour and a 
half. The afternoon 
service, before sunset, is held continuously with the evening service, be- 
ginning at sunset. The services are similar to that of the morning, but 
shorter. On Mondays and Thursdays, certain penitential prayers and 
portions of the Law are added, and on these days some Jews fast. 

The Sabbath services of the Jews are four : the first about sunset on 
Friday, the ordinary service having some special psalms and prayers added 
to it as a reception of the Sabbath. The principal morning service is at a 




EEMOVING SCKOLLS OP THE LAW FKOM THE ABK- 
WEST LONDON SYNAGOGUE. 



674 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

later hour than on other mornings, about 8.30, or even so late as 10.30 in 
Sabbath reformed congregations. The daily service is first gone through ; 
services, -^g^^ ^ considerable portion of the Tor ah or Pentateuch is read, 
the whole being so divided as to be gone through once a year. This is followed 
by a selection from the prophetical writings ; and the whole concludes with 
prayers and portions of the Law relating to the former Temple sacrifices. 

The Reading of the Law is a ceremony of great import in Jewish 
eyes. Several officials are designated to assist in it, and these offices are 
Reading the eagerly sought and paid for by devout Jews, considerable sums 
Law. being often given in order to gain the honour. A special person 
is deputed to go up with the Reader to the ark, and carry the scroll to the 
reading desk ; and seven persons are called up to stand one by one by the 
side of the reader, as each of the seven sections, into which the Law for the 
day is divided, is read. When the ark is opened, and when the scroll is 
taken out, special portions of the Law are recited by the congregation. 
There are also special introductions by the Reader and attendants at each 
stage, and responses by the congregation. The reading of the Prophets is 
accompanied by similar, though less elaborate forms. The Sabbath after- 
noon service is nearly like that of ordinary days, and is separate from the 
Sabbath evening service, when, in addition to prayers like the daily service, 
certain psalms are read. A slight amount of music is introduced into the 
services ; the Reader reads with a certain special musical intonation having 
sixteen different accents, constituting a sort of formal cantillation. Melodies, 
some ancient, some more modern, are also sung by the Reader and congre- 
gation, or by a special choir. 

The observance of the Sabbath, among strict Jews, is very much the 
same as it always has been. It is marked by cessation from ordinary work, 
Sabbath bathing and other special preparations preceding its commence- 
observance, ment. The women often do not attend the synagogue services, 
but repeat prayers at home. At the Friday evening meal the children ask 
the father's blessing, and all then join in a Sabbath hymn, referring to the 
ministering angels, who are believed to visit and remain in the dwelling 
throughout the Sabbath. After this a part of the thirty-first chapter of 
Proverbs is read as a lesson to the female portion of the family. The 
Sabbath is then consecrated by blessing the specially prepared bread and 
wine. Two oblong loaves of fine flour are baked by the mistress and placed 
upon the table, to commemorate the double portion of manna gathered in 
the wilderness on Fridays for the Sabbaths. One of the loaves is broken 
and distributed by the master, with a blessing. The Sabbath morning 
service should be attended before any meal is taken, and then not until the 
special " sanctification of the Sabbath " has been said, including the fourth 
commandment. There are numerous other formal ceremonies; but beyond 
their observance and refraining from prohibited actions, which is only kept 
up by the stricter Jews, it is the rule to spend the day in various forms of 
pleasure and recreation. Non-Jewish servants are usually engaged to do 
things which Jews must not do on the Sabbath. 



MODERN JE WISH RITUAL. 675 

The numerous feasts and fasts of the Jewish calendar are kept with a 
varying degree of strictness, the great days being most observed. The first 
day of every lunar month is marked by several additions to the 
ordinary services, praying for blessings for the month. Some 
Jews hold a special meeting for the salutation of the moon, sometimes be- 
tween the third and fifteenth of the month ; the face of the moon being 
looked upon as a Shechinah, or symbol of the Divine glory. The first month 
of the civil year, Tisri, answering nearly to our October, is believed to be 
that in which the world was created, and in which the destiny The New 
of all persons was settled by God. The first and second days are Year Fast, 
therefore kept much like a Sabbath, with additional prayers and passages of 
Scripture. After the first service, all salute each other with " May you be 
writ to a good year." At the first evening meal the master of the house 
cuts up a swxet apple and divides it between those present ; each then dips 
his piece in a cup of honey and eats it, saying, " To a good year and a sweet 
one." After the morning service there is the ceremony of blowing the rani's 
horn as a proclamation to all men to repent, and as a reminder of the 
giving of the Law, and of the great da.y of coming judgment. . Special pre- 
paration for blowing the horn is needed, and a special prayer is offered 
before it is blown. Various readings and prayers, with an address by the 
rabbi or reader, are interspersed with the blowing of the horn. The full 
service lasts about six hours. The second day is kept with equal strictness ; 
only slightly different extracts from the Law and the prophets are read. 

The first ten days of the month are days of repentance and confession 
of sins, which, it is said, can arrest the evil decrees which fate would other- 
wise register. Such repentance, to bring a happy year, must Days of 
take place before sunset on the Day of Atonement. On the ninth Repentance, 
day, after breakfast, fowls are killed by heads of families, as representing 
atoning sacrifices. After the synagogue service visits are paid to the burial 
grounds, to invoke the intercession of the dead on the next day. The 
congregation return to the synagogue in the afternoon and, after services, 
the more devout subject themselves to the '' whip of correction" from one 
another, " forty stripes save one " being given with a leather thong. They 
then return home for their last meal before the great Fast Day. Every 
member of the family is required to be reconciled if at variance, and 
children ask forgiveness of their parents, who bless and pray for them. 

The evening service which follows in the synagogue ushers in the great 
Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur). It begins with a form of absolution for 
all rash or unfulfilled vows, oaths, etc. A three hoLirs' service Day of 
follows. Next morning service recommences about six o'clock Atonement, 
and lasts till the evening, no meal being taken du.ring the twenty-four 
hours. Appropriate prayers are followed by the reading of portions of the 
Law. Next follow the portions of the Law relating to the sacrifices ; 
after which the priests, after ablution, pronounce the blessing from 
Numbers vi. 23-27 (see illustration, p. 653), standing in a row in front 
of the ark, covering their heads and faces with their scarves. Next 



676 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

follows the afternoon service, very full ; and finally conies the great con- 
cluding prayer {Nengildh^ a closing or bolting), indicating that the time of 
repentance is over and the destiny of each is fixed. The trumpet is then 
blown, and the service proper closes with the words, " Next year we shall 
be in Jerusalem." But another half-hour of prayer follows, and the fast is 
over at about six o'clock. This day's service is attended by very many 
Jews who do not keep the other festivals or even attend the Sabbath ser- 
vices. The Jewish Free School is used to accommodate the overflow audi- 
ences. Many wear only stockings or cloth boots on their feet during the 
service ; no leather nor any gold ornaments may be worn. 

On the fifteenth of the same month the Feast of Tabernacles (Succoth) 
begins ; booths, or representatives of them, having been previously prepared 
Feast of either within or outside the houses. The Feast is celebrated with 
Tabernacles, gp^^ial prayers and references to the occasion. There is a special 
ceremony with branches of palm, myrtle, and willow, held in the hand, and 
waved about by the Reader during the synagogue service while the Hallel 
is being sung. Near the end of the afternoon service, the officers take a 
scroll of the Law out of the ark and march in procession — the Law being 
carried in front — round the reading-desk, and holding the branches in their 
right hands. At every meal during the feast the account of dwelling in 
booths from Leviticus xxiii. has to be repeated. On the seventh day (the 
Grreat Hosanna) every one, male and' female, attends the synagogue with 
branches of willow ; and seven scrolls of the Law are carried round the desk 
in procession seven times, hymns and prayers being sung meanwhile. 
After prayers every one beats the leaves off his willow branches, it being a 
good omen if they fall off ea-sily. The eighth day is kept as a special feast, 
like the first two days. The ninth day is that on which the last and the 
first sections of the Law are read, and it is kept as a feast termed " the 
rejoicing of the Law." There are processions again, in which it is a great 
honour to join, and after service special festivities take place in honour of 
the law. 

In the third month, on the 25th and following days, the feast of dedi- 
cation is held, in memory of the renewed dedication of the Temple at Jeru- 
salem by Mattathias after its pollution by Antiochus Epiphanes. 
other eas s. ^ ^^^^ ^^ ^-j^^ fourth month commemorates the beginning of the 
siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar as the starting-point of the calamities 
of Israel. The feast of Purim is held on the 14th and 15th of the sixth 
month, Adar, to celebrate the deliverance of the Jews as recorded in the 
Book of Esther, the previous day (13th) being kept as " the fast of Esther." 
At the first service of the feast, on the evening of the 13th, the Book of 
Esther is read from a special scroll, and whenever the name of Haman is 
read the congregation stamp on the floor, and say, " Let his name be blotted 
out." The names of Haman and his sons are read very rapidly to signify 
their sudden destruction. These days are kept as special occasions of merry- 
making. 

The Passover falls in the seventh month (Nisan), the Sabbath pre- 



MODERN JEWISH RITUAL. 



677 



ceding it being called the Great Sabbath, when the Eabbi expounds the laws 
and duties pertaining to the festival. During the eight days i^C) ^^^^ p^^^^^^^ 
leavened bread or fermented wine is drunk. The bread used is 
in the form of large thin wheaten cakes of circular shape, and it is baked 
for all the United Kingdom under the special superintendence of the Chief 
Rabbi and a staff of watchers, who carefully prevent all chance of fermenta- 
tion. The wine used in the ceremonies is also carefully prepared under 
Jewish supervision. Some substitutes, a cheap raisin wine, rum, French 
brandy, etc., are also used. On the Passover eve the houses are searched for 
leaven, and everything is cleansed. The firstborn are expected to fast on 
this day. The Passover feast is celebrated in the family on the evening of 
the first day. Certain cakes called Israelite, Levite and Kohen, a shankbone 




POTTING ON PHYLACTERIES. 



PHYLACTERIES, AS WORN IN THE 
GARB OF PRAYER. 



of lamb, an ^^'g roasted in hot ashes, some lettuce and other herbs, some salt 
water and vinegar (in memory of the Red Sea), and some almonds, apples, 
etc. (mixed up like lime to commemorate the bricks and mortar of Egypt), 
are placed on the table. Every one at table (including every Jewish ser- 
vant) drinks four glasses or cups of wine, and special blessings are said with 
each. Each article of food is distributed with special reference to the events 
commemorated, as '"'• This is the bread of afEiction, which our ancestors ate 
in the land of Egypt." A cup of wine is set for the prophet Elijah (or 
Elias) who is always expected to appear as the forerunner of the Messiah. 
After filling the last cup of wine, the Hallel is repeated, together with an 
account of the mighty deeds done at midnight and on the days of Passover. 
After the fourth cup of wine, the Paschal hymn is sung with great joy, in- 



678 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

eluding frequent repetitions and variations of such phrases as " The 
Ilhistrious One builds his house soon," with many names of God — as the 
Hallowed, the Powerful, the Strong One, the Redeemer, the Just One. The 
next evening is spent in a very similar way. Special portions of Scripture 
are read at the public services, with Rabbinical and Kabbalistic poems. 

The Feast of Pentecost takes place on the ninth month, or the fiftieth 
day from the second Passover day. It commemorates the giving of the 
Feast of Law on Mount Sinai. The synagogues are decked with flowers, 
Pentecost. ^^^ ^^ houses with flowers and fragrant herbs, as a reminder of 
the open country in which the Law was given. There are special addresses 
and forms of sanctification extolling the blessings given to the Jews in the 
Law, and on the second daj^ the Book of Ruth is read through. 

A fast is kept in the month of January, on the day when Moses is 
supposed to have broken the tables of the Law, and when Jerusalem was 
Fasts destroyed the second time. In the eleventh month is a strict 
fast in memory of the destruction of the first and second Temples, 
and the Book of Lamentations and mournful prayers are read in the 
synagogue service. At the morning service even the fringes and phylac- 
teries are laid aside. 

A few particulars remain to be given about the domestic regulations of 
the Jews. Circumcision of male children on the eighth to the twelfth day 
after birth is regularly performed with a religious ceremony, a Hebrew 
name, for religious use, being then given. The firstborn child of a mother, 
if a male, is "redeemed" when thirty days old, by a ceremonial offering of 
him to a priest, and the payment of a few shillings to the priest. 

The first religious instruction given to a Jewish child, to be repeated 
immediately after waking in the morning, is the following: "I acknowledge 
before Thee, the living and everlasting King, that Thou hast 
returned my soul to me, in Thy great mercy and faithfulness." 
He is very early dressed in the four-cornered scarf with the fringes already 
alluded to, and instructed in its significance. Children are entirely under 
the control of their parents or guardians, till the thirteenth year has been 
completed. A boy then becomes " Bar Mitsvah," " a son of command- 
ment," and is expected to take up full personal religious duties. He is 
called to the desk to read a portion of the Law on the first Sabbath after his 
attaining his thirteenth year, and he now begins to wear the phylacteries. 

Marriage is often arranged by go-betweens or match-makers. Formal 
betrothal precedes marriage by six or twelve months or more ; and on the 
Friday evening before the wedding the Reader refers to it in a 
chanted address. Fasting on the wedding morning is most ap- 
proved, the service taking place in the afternoon at the synagogue. Ten 
adult persons must be present. A canopy (chupah) of silk or velvet, about 
two yards square, is erected in the middle of the synagogue, supported by 
four long poles ; under it the bride and bridegroom are led by their friends. 
(See p. 670.) The Rabbi takes a glass of wine, pronounces an appropriate 
wedding blessing, and gives the wine to the bride and bridegroom, who 



MODERN JEWISH RITUAL. 679 

taste it, and then the bridegroom, putting a ring on the bride's finger, says 
in Hebrew : " Behold thou art betrothed to me with this ring, according to 
the rites of Moses and Israel." The marriage contract (in Aramaic) is read 
aloud by the Rabbi, after which the Eeader, taking another glass of wine, 
pronounces a blessing, and hands the wine to the bride and bridegroom, who 
taste it. An empty glass is then laid on the iloor, the bridegroom stamps 
upon it and breaks it, all present cry out " Mezal Tov," (" Good Luck,") and 
the ceremony is concluded. 

One of the earliest duties of a Jew, after setting up a house for himself, 
is to prepare a '' Mezuzah," literally, " door-post," in order to fulfil the re- 
quirement in Deut. vi. 4-9, and xi. 13-21, to write the law on his 
door-post and on his gate. A tin case or glass tube, is provided, 
in which a piece of vellum is placed, with the above passages written in 
Hebrew. On the outer side is written the word " Shaddai," one of the 
names of God, and a hole is left in the case, opposite to this word, so that it 
can be seen by any one passing. This case is nailed in a slanting position 
on the right-hand side of the door-post by the master of the house. De- 
vout Jews kiss the Mezuzah before going to their daily work. 

» Divorce is performed by the husband giving the wife a formal " bill of 
divorcement," and can only be granted for serious causes. It is pronounced 
in the presence of ten witnesses besides the parties. A divorced 
woman may not marry again within ninety days. A bill of 
divorcement conditional on the husband's non-return from foreign parts 
within three or more years, is also sometimes given. 

When a Jew becomes very ill, there are many prayers and confessions 
which he is expected to repeat ; and he is urged to ask pardon of any one 
he may have injured. There is a special form of public thanks- gici^ess 
giving on recovering from illness. When death is imminent, the Death, and 
sick man blesses his children, placing his hands on the head of 
each, and repeating such passages as Gen. xlviii. 20 ; Num. vi. 24, 26 ; Isa. 
xi. 2 ; and he exhorts them to persevere in their fathers' faith, and to observe 
the usual mourning ceremonies. The Burial Society of the synagogue being 
notified, send four members to watch in the sick room day and night, and 
remain until the body is placed in the coffin. Various prayers are chanted 
by them ; and finally, when the sick man is at the point of death, several 
passages are repeated solemnly several times, such as " Blessed be the name 
of His glorious kingdom for ever and ever," " The Lord is the only God," 
and " Hear, Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord." The last words "one 
Lord " are to be said at the moment of death. After a few minutes, all 
make a small rent in one of their garments, saying, " Blessed art Thou, 
Lord our God, King of the universe, the righteous Judge." Another de- 
claration is made in an hour after death, including the phrase, " Dust thou 
art, and unto dust thou shalt return." There are many interesting points 
in regard to purification of the body and preparation for the funeral, which 
we cannot detail. Very simple deal cofi&ns are used for both rich and poor 
alike. The corpse is dressed in a complete set of linen garments, including 



68o THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

tlie fringed scarf. The funeral is conducted with, simple but extremely 
appropriate ceremonies. Seven days' mourning is enjoined after a funeral, 
during which the mourners must do no work at all, nor take any amuse- 
ment. They are comforted by the visits of friends, who bring them " meals 
of condolence," consisting of hard-boiled eggs and bread. .For thirty days 
afterwards no enjoyments or recreations must be taken ; and pleasures are 
greatly restricted for twelve months. There is a special prayer for the dead 
(Kaddish), or rather a form of praise to God, which should be said morning 
and evening by a devout son for eleven months after the death of a parent. 

The Kabbalah is a celebrated system of theosophy, which, arising 
among the Jews in the twelfth or thirteenth centuries, has since exercised 
The an important influence among both Jews and Christians. It is a 
KabbaiaiL doctrine received by oral tradition, which is said to have been 
handed down from the times of the first man. It regards God as a Being 
above everything, even above being and thinking. He is called En Soph, 
"without end," " boundless," and is absolute and incomprehensible. The 
world is created through the medium of ten intelligences or Sephiroth, one, 
which was eternally existent in the En Soph, becoming distinct as an 
emanation of the Deity. From this emanated the second, from the second 
the third, and so on ; and these ten form a complete unity with the En 
Soph, and are infinite and perfect when He imparts His fulness to them, 
and finite and imperfect when it is withdrawn. Their finite side is essen- 
tial, being that by which they can come into relation with the human, 
and they may even assume a bodily form. The ten Sephiroth are divided 
into three groups of three Sephiroth each, operating respectively upon the 
world of intellect, of souls, and of matter. Sephira 1 is called the inscrut- 
able height, 2 the creative wisdom, 3 the conceiving intellect. From' 1 
the divine power proceeds, from 2 the angels and the Old Testament, from 
3 the prophetic inspiration. Sephira 10, called kingdom^ denotes Provi- 
dence, protecting the Jews in all their wanderings. These Sephiroth 
created the lower world, everything in which has its prototype in the upper 
world ; they uphold it, and convey to it the Divine mercies through twelve 
channels. The transmission of the Divine mercies can be hastened by 
prayer, sacrifices, and religious observances ; and it has been given to the 
Jewish people to obtain these blessings for the whole world. All human 
souls pre-exist in the world of the Sephiroth, and must become incarnated in 
human bodies and undergo probation. If they remain pure, they reascend to 
the world of the Sephiroth ; but if not, they must inhabit bodies again and 
again till they are purified. The redemption of Israel cannot take place till 
all the pre-existent souls have been born on earth and have been purified. 
The soul of the Messiah is to be the last born, " at the end of the days." 
The great interest of this system is, that by it all Biblical anthropo- 
morphisms are explained as describing the Sephiroth, and that all the 
Jewish ritual and law is raised in spiritual significance. There is much 
resemblance between it and Neo-Platonism. We have given but a mere 
sketch of this complex system, which is said to be discoverable in veiled 



MODERN JEWISH RITUAL. 



68i 



language in the Old Testament, but only by most fanciful and arbitrary 
methods. The arrangement of triads was made, even in the ZoJiar^ to ex- 
plain the Trinity, the Messiah and His atonement ; and this has persuaded 
many Kabbalists to become Christians. Treatises have been written to 
prove the truth of Christianity from the Kabbalistic doctrines. Pico de 
Mirandola, late in the fifteenth century, maintained in Rome that '• no 
science yields greater proof of the divinity of Christ than magic and the 
Kabbala ; " and he convinced Pope Sixtus lY. of its importance as a help 



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PASSOVER EVE. 



in the diffusion of Christianity, so that he set students to translate the 
Kabbalistic writings into Latin. Not only Pope Leo X., but many early 
reformers were fascinated by the Kabbalistic doctrine as set forth by John 
Reuchlin. 

The Zohar (" Light ") is as a Bible to the Kabbalists. It is a com- 
mentary on the Pentateuch, written in Aramaic, assumins; to 

70 Tlie Zoliar 

be written by Rabbi Simon ben Yochi, about 70-110 a.d., but 

really a thirteenth century composition. (>See Ginsburg, " The Kabbalah : 



682 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

its Doctrines, Development, and Literature," 1805 ; also in EncyclopcBdia 
Britannica) . It contains, as well as a commentary, a number of separate 
treatises, with such titles as " The Mansions and Abodes," " The Secret of 
Secrets," dealing with physiognomy and psychology, " The Faithful Shep- 
herd," etc. It will be evident that the Kabbala has something in common 
with the Hindu and Buddhist philosophies ; and its very fancifulness gives 
it much fascination. It is another example of the irresistible fascination 
of speculations about the unseen. 

We must here give a brief separate notice of the Karaites,^ one of the 
most distinctive sects of the Jews, marked by their rejection of the oral law, 
or tradition, and their guidance only by the text of the Old Tes- 
* tament. They appear to have originated after the publication of 
the Talmud, and they represent a spirit of reform and reversion to a simpler 
faith and observances. Their first notable man, Ahnan ben David, arose 
in the middle of the eighth century, and, having been rejected from the 
post of chief patriarch of the exiled Jews in Bagdad on account of his 
views, he formed a congregation of his own at Jerusalem. He gained a 
large number of adherents, and spread his faith, by messengers and letters, 
through a large part of Asia and the countries bordering the Mediterranean. 
His main tenets were the supreme authority of the Law, and the worthless- 
ness of everything in the Talmud or other writings that was contrary to 
the Law of Moses. He died in 766, leaving behind him very many ad- 
herents ; and his sect grew till the fourteenth centur}^, after which they 
were largely eclipsed. The present number of Karaites is very uncertain. 
There are many in the Crimea and in Asia, and some would reckon among 
them the Reformed Jewish congregations in Western Europe. They appear 
to have been influenced to some considerable extent by Mohammedanism, 
laying much stress on prayers, fasting, and pilgrimages to Hebron (as a 
tribute to Abraham). They make the heads of their phylacteries round 
instead of square, and, among other things, extend the prohibition of 
marriage to the remotest degree of affinity. They believe in the unity of 
God the Creator, in Moses His prophet, in the perfection of his Law, in the 
resurrection and day of judgment, in retribution according to human doings, 
in the chastisement by God of the Jews, and in hoping for salvation by the 
Messiah, the Son of David. They accept the teachings of the Talmud, 
where they are purely explanatory, without adding to or altering the sense, 
but they give no credit to its fanciful explanations and allegories. They 
believe that the Messiah will issue from themselves. 

The attitude of Ahnan towards Jesus is worthy of note. He said that 
Jesus of JSTazareth was " a very wise, just, holy, and God-fearing Man, who 
Their view of ^^^ not at all wish to be recognised as a prophet, but simply de- 
Jesus Christ, gired to uphold the Law of Moses and do away with the com- 
mandments of men." He therefore condemned the Jews for having dealt 
with Jesus as an impostor, and for having put Him to death. 

The Samaritans are another community claiming to be Jews, and now 
* From Hebrew Karaim, readers— e.e., observers — of the written Law. 



MODERN JE WISH RITUAL. 



683 



reduced to fewer than two hundred persons, living at Nablous, the ancient 
Shechem, in the centre of Palestine. Historically they are im- The 
portant for the circumstances of their origin, several features in Samaritans, 
their history and worship, and their preservation of very ancient manu- 
scripts of the Pentateuch and other sacred books, and of several interesting 
traditions. They originated after the depopulation of central Palestine by 
the Assyrians in the eighth century B.C., and their replacement Early 
by various colonists from Babylonia. It appears probable that ^^^tory. 
some Israelites, perhaps only of the poorest class, were left behind, and 
mingled with the settlers. The latter set up their own idolatrous worship ; 
but being attacked by lions, 
they regarded their ravages 
as a warning that they ought 
to worship the God of the 
land. They informed the 
king of Assyria of this, and 
he sent back to them one of 
the captive priests of Je- 
hovah, who settled at Bethel, 
and taught them to worship 
the Grod of Israel (2 Kings 
xvii.). By the time of Ezra 
it would appear that the 
worship of Jehovah was in 
the ascendant among the 
Samaritans, and they desired 
to join the returned Jews 
in rebuilding the Temple at 
Jerusalem. This privilege 
being refused, the Samaritans 
became actively hostile to 
the Jews ; and they appear 
thenceforward to have re- 
presented themselves as the 
true followers of Moses, and 
Grerizim (near Shechem) as the sanctuary appointed by Grod. The site was 
sacred by many associations of Israelitish history. A temple was built there 
by the Samaritans about the time of Alexander the Great, and was the 
centre of a considerable worship till it was destroyed by John Hyrcanus in 
B.C. 129. After this still more bitter enmity reigned between the Samaritans 
and the Jews. The Samaritans killed Galilean pilgrims to Jerusalem, and 
once even polluted the Temple on the eve of the Passover. Thus we can 
better realise the point of the parable of the Good Samaritan, a good deed 
done to a Jew 'by his direst hereditary enemy, when his own people passed 
him by. For a long time the Samaritans continued their cruelties to the 
Jews, and later transferred their hatred to the Christians. Their latest 



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JEWISH BtJRIAL. 



684 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS, 

rising against them, in the Emperor Justinian's reign (a.d. 529), led to a 
destructive campaign which almost obliterated them. Many shared in the 
dispersion of the Jews ; and we read of synagogues of the Samaritans in 
various places. Little more was heard of them until towards the close of 
the sixteenth century, when the renowned scholar, Joseph Scaliger, ad- 
dressed the Samaritan congregations of Nablous and Cairo ; and after his 
time the Samaritan Pentateuch and other literature gradually became known 
in the West, and copies of many of the manuscripts reached Europe. 

It is mentioned by early Christian Fathers that the Samaritans claimed 
to possess a very early form of the Pentateuch, written in a peculiarly 
Samaritan modified Hebrew writing, with special marks or signs. The 
Pentateuch, oldest manuscript, which may date from the fourth century a.d., 
but is probably based on original copies dating from the time of Ezra, is 
the present sacred roll of the Samaritans, written on twenty-one skins of 
unequal size, but now in a bad state of preservation and only partially 
legible. A note upon it states that it was made by Abishua, son of Phinehas, 
grandson of Aaron, on Mount Gerizim, in the thirteenth year after the 
Israelites had taken possession of the land. It shows marks of an earlier 
dialect of Hebrew than our present Hebrew Old Testament, with certain 
variations which are reproduced in the Septuagint. Consequently many 
scholars believe that the Septuagint and the Samaritan Pentateuch were 
derived from Jewish manuscripts which greatly resembled each other,^ but 
differed slightly from our present Hebrew Pentateuch. There are certain 
factors in the Samaritan copies which appear to be due to purposive 
alteration by the Samaritans, to add dignity to the patriarchs or to add 
to the glory of the Creator, to introduce Mount Gerizim, to support mono- 
theism, or to remove anthropomorphism. Thus, wherever Grod Himself is 
represented as speaking directly to men, " the angel of God," is substituted. 
There is also a Samaritan version of the Pentateuch, probably made in the 
first century of the Christian era, in a sort of Aramaic which approaches 
Arabic ; the names Elohim and Jehovah are usually changed to angel. 
Various anthropomorphisms are altered. This Samaritan translation is 
remarkable for the number of glosses which it contains, making it practi- 
cally a Targum. 

The Samaritans have also a considerable liturgy, consisting chiefly of 
hymns and prayers for Sabbaths and feast-days, and prayers for special 
occasions. One of the litanies ends thus : 

" Lord, for the sake of the three perfect ones ; for the sake 
of Joseph, the interpreter of dreams ; for the sake of Moses, chief of the 
prophets ; for the sake of the priests, the masters of the priests ; for the sake 
of the Torah, most sacred of books ; for the sake of Mount Gerizim, the 
everlasting hill ; for the sake of the hosts of angels ; destroy the enemies 
and foes ; receive our prayers, Everlasting. Deliver us from these 
troubles; open to us the treasures of heaven." 

^ See J. "W. Nutt, " Fragments of a Samaritan Targum, with a Sketch of Samaritan 
History. Dogma, and Literature." 



MODERN JEWISH RITUAL. 



685 



Among the principal beliefs of the Samaritans may be mentioned the 
belief in one God, in Moses as His one messenger and prophet, Principal 
in the perfection and completeness of the Law, that Gerizim is beliefs, 
the abode of God on earth, the home of eternal life, that over it is Paradise ; 




ANCIENT MANUSCRIPT OF SAMARITAN PENTATEUCH. 



and that there will come a day of retribution, when the righteous will rise 
again, and false prophets and their followers will be cast into fire. They 
believe also in angels and astrology. They believe in a coming Messiah or 



686 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



" Restorer," to whom all people will submit, and the beginning of whose 
name will be M. He will establish the Tabernacle on Mount Gerizim, and 
will live 110 years on earth. 

At the present day the Samaritans observe seven feasts a year, the 
Passover being that kept with most solemnity.^ The Sabbath is strictly 
Feasts, kept, and also the years of jubilee and release. The senior priest 
Sabbaths, etc^^^g^y nominate any male member of his family to the priesthood, 
if at least twenty-iivfe years of age, and having uncut hair. Tithes and 
presents every half-year support the two priests. They never take off their 
turban ; and when they remove the roll of the Law from the ark, the}^ place 
a cloth {talith) round their head. When a man's wife proves barren, he is 
permitted to take a second. On the whole, Jewish customs are strictly 
followed. At the Passover time they literally encamp on Mount Grerizim 
for a week, and slay, roast, and eat the lambs with their loins girt, and with 
staves in their hands, observing the minutest details of the ritual of the 
Pentateuch. They keep the Fast of the Atonement in the most rigid 
manner, remaining in their synagogue all the twenty-four hours without 
eating, drinking, or smoking, the priests and people reciting the whole 
Pentateuch, intermingled with prayers and confessions of faith. If they 
have not a very strong Israeli tish element in them, their Judaic religion 
and the rigid conservatism with which they have maintained it, are among 
the most remarkable religious phenomena in the world. 

^ See Stanley, " Jewish Church," and Mills, " Three Months' Eesidence in Nablous." 




VlUiW or MODERN JERUSALEM. 




TEMPLE OF JEBUSALEM (rESTOEED). 

BOOK VI. 

THE CHRISTIAN EBLIGION. 



CHAPTER I. 
Cbe JTounlrer of Cl)ri5tianit|). 

Divergent views— Facts well-known— Contrast between Jesus and other teachers— Originality in 
His teaching— In His character and mode of life— A new ideal of love— Power of the unseen— 
The Divine Father— Influence of future life -Faith required— Forgiveness of sins— The demand 
for truth— Law of kindness— His relation to God the Father— His relation to mankind— The 
special affection He inspired— His treatment of women and of children— His limitations — Miracles 
— Salvation from sin— Liberation from lower nature— Purpose of His life and death— The society- 
He founded— The sacraments— His mode of teaching— The gnomic form— The concrete and prac- 
tical—His parables— His predictions- His Passion— The resurrection— St. Paul's testimony. 

IN attempting to portray in some fashion the foundation and history of 
Christianity, the writer reaches the most critical and difficult portion 
of his task ; first, because of the numberless important facts and questions 
which cannot be dealt with in a limited space ; secondly, on Divergent 
account of the vital relation the facts described have to the beliefs views, 
and conduct of multitudes of persons ; and thirdly, because of the contro- 
versies which encircle so many incidents or general questions relating 
especially to the early history of Christianity. The author must repeat 
that no dogmatic conclusions are here enforced. Those facts and views 
which appear most salient, must of course be selected ; but when facts are 
in dispute, most stress will be laid on those which are agreed upon by 
numerous opposing schools of thought, the object being to present as im- 



688 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

partial a narrative as possible ; only the writer claims that dogmatic opinions 
shall not be imputed to him which he does not express. The divergences 
of views among those who hold what may be termed orthodox opinions 
about the " inspiration " of the books of the New Testament, might be 
quoted to show that one man's orthodoxy is another man's heterodoxy; and 
that unless we take refuge in a so-called " infallible " Church, there is no 
better course than to allow each inquirer to hold the opinions he judges 
most reasonable without stigma, and to seek to know and to hold fast 
matters of fundamental import as regards conduct, without quarrelling and 
quibbling about matters of opinion, which, however, should be temperately 
discussed in their proper place. 

It is fortunately unnecessary to recount the main facts in the life of 
Christ, since it can scarcely be expected that the book will have any readers 
Facts -weu who do not know them ; and, moreover, to deal with them even 
known. \-^ ^ meagre fashion would require far more space than we have 
at command. Inasmuch as the Gospels and Epistles of the New Testament 
supply nearly all the facts known, and since the substantial truth of their 
testimony is unimpeached by any adequate counter-evidence, while it has 
stood the test of time and destructive criticism, on the whole with singular 
success, we shall assume a general assent to the New Testament narrative. 
It may be added, that those portions which are most objected to by critics, 
are those which concern unseen or supernatural powers and effects, and as 
to which there can be no actual objective proof nowadays. All the narra- 
tives, where they deal with supernatural things, can be argued about at 
length, may be made and have been made the subject of endless irritating 
controversy, without in the slightest degree settling the questions involved. 
The human mind either places itself in subjection to an infallible Church, 
to the authority of those learned in such subjects, or it receives what com- 
mends itself to its inner consciousness as probable or possible; or even, to 
adopt a famous phrase, it believes because it is impossible ; for " the things 
impossible with man are possible with God." We shall confine ourselves 
here for the most part to facts and aspects of teaching, and the results they 
have had. 

We can perhaps more readily place ourselves in the position of those 
who saw Jesus at the commencement of His mission, after having contem- 
Contrast be- plated the other great founders of religion. A large proportion 
*and°other^ of these have belonged rather to the upper or dominant classes ; 
teachers. Jesus was born in no superior station, came from no important 
centre, had not studied under any notable teacher, — and this was all-import- 
ant in his day, — and followed one of the occupations demanding least skill, 
in a small town. His coming forward to teach in itself constituted a most 
striking innovation, and could only have been justified and tolerated by 
reason of the great novelty of His teaching, and, as many believe, by reason 
of the clear evidence supplied by the miracles He wrought. Those who do 
not accept such miracles as that at the wedding at Cana in their obvious 
sense, are compelled to attach yet greater importance to the force, novelty, 



THE FOUNDER OF CHRISTIANITY. 689 

and convincing power of the teaching with which Jesus commenced His 
ministry. To the writer, the mental and spiritual miracles wrought by 
Christ are more astonishing than any physical miracles could be ; but unless 
we deny the essential truth of the Grospels, we must believe that " signs and 
wonders," no less than moral teaching, had a part in the impression pro- 
duced by Him. It appears very doubtful if anything but the combina- 
tion of these two elements could have overcome, to the extent they did, 
the presumption that is so strong against all innovators ; but there are not 
a few who put down the success of Christ's teaching to its inherent merits, 
apart from miraculous aid. 

Much has been said about the originality or the reverse of Christ^s 
teaching. Attempts have been made, in some cases with success, to find 
parallels to portions of His teaching in the maxims of other q • • j.^ 
peoples, in the teaching of other religious founders or philosophers Christ's teach- 
before His time. If it be true, or if it were true, that much of ^^^' 
His teaching had come into the world piecemeal before, it would only be 
in accord with the principle of evolution that is now found to have been work- 
ing in so many spheres. That which was before spoken *' by divers portions 
and in divers manners," was gathered up and consummated in the Founder 
of Christianity. But we are by no means to take this as in any way de- 
tracting from His originality : it simply proves Him to be in accord with 
the system of the course of events of the world, and to come at the right 
moment in the world's history, in a truly natural relation to what pre- 
ceded. To have spoken words utterly new, ideas for which" the ground 
had in no way been prepared, would have involved His instant death or 
banishment from among men. All who have realised the intense aversion 
of primitive or even civilised mankind to what is wholly new and uncom- 
prehended, will see that this must be the case. Every true evolution, every 
evolution which is to last, proceeds upon prepared material, and passes 
through natural stages. Those whose bias is against seeing what is called 
supernatural in human affairs, may gain confidence in Christianity by con- 
sidering and realising the naturalness of the stages of its evolution, while 
those who prefer to look at everything as the direct act of a Creator or 
Heavenly Spirit, need not quarrel with the naturalists who seek to discern 
the steps of the working, while acknowledging their inability to penetrate 
behind the veil which hides the mystery of the First Cause. 

But Christ was original, first and most completely, in His character and 
in the tenor of His life. He not merely taught, but He exemplified a new 
spirit of action which, though we speak of it by the name of originality in 
*' love," requires the adjective '' Christian," and many explanatory character an i 
words, such as sympathy, brotherhood, charity, to represent it ^°^®°^i^®- 
at all adequately. In one aspect it depends upon the raising of mankind to a 
position of brotherhood as being all the children of one Father God ; but 
the very conception of brotherhood was raised and widened and intensified, 
in showing this fully. Not merely the mutual attachment sometimes seen 
between brothers in ancient society, not the loving affection of a David and 



690 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

Jonatlian, of a Damon and Pythias, capable of dying for one another, 
A new ideal of ^^^ loving each other as tenderly as man can love woman, but 
love. something beyond all this, was the brotherhood which Jesus 
exemplified and taught. Mutual affection could be inspired by mutual 
appreciation of good qualities, clannish regard by community of kindred, 
associations, habits, interests, etc. ; but Jesus showed an unheard-of affec- 
tion to those most unlike Him, most distant from Him in habits and associ- 
ations, even to those of evil life and conduct. It is in these features that 
He established a new ideal, and has had a vast number of imitators and 
followers, inspired by His teaching and example. A new type and kind of 
affection was added to the repertory of human character. '^ A new com- 
mandment give I unto you," He said, " that ye love one another, evien as I 
have loved you " — a love which could survive ingratitude, evil conduct, and 
repudiation of Him, and could work to an extreme for the reclamation of the 
erring. This was a love shown, not merely to those who had once received 
His teaching, or shown Him regard, but spontaneously tendered to those who 
had done nothing to deserve it, to all those who had in them any germ of 
good. '^ And who has not ? " said Jesus ; for He asserted that the Father 
of all did not will that any one should perish ; but that whosoever would 
have everlasting life, on such conditions as alone could make it a boon, might 
have it, and might receive a spirit which would elevate their character and 
enable them to do the will of their Heavenly Father. 

It has been seen how great was and is the power of the Invisible in 
other religions. In some ways that influence has been injurious, when it 
Power of the ■'^^^ peopled the unseen with demons and malignant spirits, and 
Unseen, converted decease! relatives into beings to be carefully pro- 
pitiated, buried, and sacrificed to, lest they should do harm to their sur- 
vivors. The doctrine that no calamity happens except as consequence of 
offences against deities who must be propitiated by ceremonies, charms, and 
sacrifices, has worked great ill; and what has been termed devil-worship 
may be afterwards seen to have invaded even Christian Churches. 

In some religions, however, there has been considerable elevating 
influence in the conceptions of the Unseen and of the Supreme Being ; but 
nowhere had these attained the grandeur, the purity, and the ennobling 
power seen in Judaism. But all this was raised to an immeasurable degree 
The Divine ^J Jesus in His picture of Grod as the Father — unseen, yet ever 
Father, watching the actions of His children, considering, not the out- 
ward act only, but the inward motive, the strength of effort, the difficulties 
overcome by each one. Other religions have attained, in their loftiest 
examples, to a high regard of control over the thoughts ; some of the 
Psalms, as the 103rd, represent God as a Father, pitying His children, 
remembering their frailty and imperfections, and tenderly regarding those 
that fear Him; but none had gone so far to bring the Father and His 
children generally into intimate relationship, or to make men realise a 
constantly present Father, who was persistently kind in giving many bless- 
ings even to the evil and the unthankful. 



THE FOUNDER OF CHRISTIANITY. 



But in another direction Jesus exalted greatly the ideal of the 
supreme Being by His teaching about immortality and the dispensation 
of future happiness and punishment. We have seen that the influence of 
conception of future existence after death, and, to a less extent, ^^t^^re Life. 
of a distribution of rewards and punishments according to conduct or to the 
way in which gods and deceased relatives had been propitiated, was com- 
mon among many peoples. We have seen, too, that the Jews, apparently 
slow in arriving at a full conception of it, had certainly attained 2» very 
definite belief in later times. So that Jesus, in bringing a future life into 
prominence, was not so much revealing a new idea as tending to confirm 
it as a human tenet by lending to it the enormous sanction of His charac- 
ter, persuasiveness, and credentials. He largely dwarfed the predominant 
influence of events in this life, whether favourable or painful, by bringing 
into prominence the future judgment and redress of temporal inequalities. 
The descriptions of the G-reat Assize and the Last Judgment have im- 
pressed themselves, one would say, indelibly upon the imagination of 
mankind, although as to the extent to which a perfect picture can have 
been conveyed, or intended to be conveyed, in a narration addressed to 
a local audience in an Oriental country, there may be great diversity 
of opinion. In any case, the belief that a future judgment is to take place, 
at which the condition of men will be determined according to con- 
duct in this life,- has undoubtedly exercised an enormous influence, both 
in producing converts to Christianity and in elevating their moral tone ; 
on the other hand, abuses and detriment to morals have arisen where men 
have come to believe that repentance could readily be made, or absolution 
granted by priests for sins wilfully committed. But this is outside the 
teaching of Christ, which raised a mighty ideal and invisible bar or 
judgment-seat in each man's conscience, saying, '' You may be honourable 
and honoured before the world, you may appear fair and pure to men, 
but unless the inward motive and conduct be right, you have to fear a 
just Judge hereafter, whose judgment will have the utmost influence on a 
state of existence from which you cannot escape." 

It may be said that faith was not a teaching of Jesus by which He was 
distinguished from many other religious teachers ; for they have required 
their pupils to believe in their teaching and doctrines, and to paith 
practise them. But in one respect His teaching about faith had required, 
a peculiarity. Salvation, forgiveness, or the special boon needed, couli b? 
obtained by faith without special works in most cases. The cure was 
mental or spiritual alone, and did not require payment to the teacher, going 
through a ceremony, joining an order, a daily rite of purification, etc., 
though, of course, the loss of faith implied loss of the state produced by 
faith. And there was one of these states of the utmost importance to the 
peace of the convert, in producing which by an act of faith, Christ effected 
a more astonishing revolution than Buddha by receiving converts Forgiveness 
into his Order by his simple formula; for Christ left His con- of sins. 
verts in the world for the most part, telling them they would have tribula- 



692 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

tion there, but the consciousness of the forgiveness of their sins, through 
their faith in this assurance, was to support them ; they were to be at ease, 
for He had overcome the world, and was superior to it. That consciousness 
of sin which had gradually become so intense in the ancient world, con- 
currently with increased licentiousness and decay in nearly all religions, 
had from Him the only remedy which could relieve the soul from the load 
of guilt — its abolition, or the abolition of its paralysing weight, when faith 
in His- teaching about Himself and about Grod had purified and elevated 
the character so as to start it effectually on a higher course of life. 

In another direction, where originality was not so apparent in the 
teaching, it yet did inestimable service. It may be said that all Nature 
The demand tends to establish truth ; for the thing that only pretends to be 

foi: truth. ^^^ which it is not, cannot last ; and men in conflict with reality 
and actual force, cannot but succumb. Christ not only sanctioned the 
Mosaic command not to bear false witness, but He carried the domain of 
truth into the most inward thought, everywhere where the world cannot 
follow us. Perhaps this does not go beyond the Psalmist's " Thou desirest 
truth in the inward parts " ; but in practice the spiritual nature of Christ's 
action went beyond that of His most exacting predecessor. He, it may be 
said, established the demand, the ideal of inward truth and purity, in a 
position beyond which it cannot be carried : for what can be truer than 
absolute truth ? It is, indeed, the fundamental element towards progress; 
and though man's nature is destined to ascend through illusions to the 
truth, the progress, if any, must be towards absolute truth in all directions. 
A perfect ideal has been set up, the race is started on the road ; if it do 
not pursue it unceasingly, it will die out. And thus scientific investigation 
— even the severest critical study of the New Testament and Christianity 
in modern times, which alone have, possessed certain methods and powers 
and resources of inquiry — may take its stand firmly, as fulfilling Christ's 
own requirement, emphasised by St. Paul in the words, "Prove all things : " 
'' "We can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth." No criticism by 
reasonable methods, with a pure desire to attain truth, is to be discoun- 
tenanced b}^ a true follower of Christ ; and bias and unconscious desire 
and tendency to support preconceived notions or the interests of party, are 
not restricted either to the apologists or to the opponents of Christianity. 

By many precepts of varying colour, Christ discountenanced revenge 

and substituted a supreme law of kindness. Our fellow-men are to be 

T-awof treated as a loving Father would treat his loved and erring 

kindness, children ; our neighbour is whoever is in need of our help, and 
whom we can really help ; we are to put ourselves in our neighbours' or 
enemies' place, and do to them what we would be glad to have done to us 
in like case. These precepts, as recorded, were given broadly by Jesus, 
without a full analysis of circumstances and instances, that being left to 
individual men to work out for themselves ; and herein, as He showed the 
same love Himself, He created it in others, and taught men to '' love their 
enemies, to db good to them that hate them." Who will say that the 



THE FOUNDER OF CHRISTIANITY. 



693 



world is not the richer, that human character is not more noble, for the 
instances in which this ideal has been literally followed ? 

One of the most potent influences of the life of Jesus is expressed in 
His saying, "He who hath seen Me hath seen the Father." This is to 
be understood, not as contradicting the assertion, " No man can jj.^ relation 
see My face and live," but as indicating what Christians believe to God the 
to be true, that in His person Jesus revealed and exemplified 
the nature of the Divine Father of all mankind in a way which no other 




**ECCE H03I0 " (after GUIDo). 

man and no other revelation have done._ And this may be taken in a sense 
not always thought of. If there be a Creator, He must be greater than all. 
Every true and noble ideal must be but a partial showing forth of that 
which is in Him. 

A study of the various descriptions which Jesus gave of Himself shows 
that He had a clear consciousness, amounting to absolute certainty. His relation 
of unity of will and spirit with the supreme Father, At the *® mankind, 
same time He represented Himself as specially related to all mankind as 



694 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

being " tlie Son of man/' the representative of mankind, born to enfranchise 
them, to teach them how to attain unity with God, and to redeem them 
from evil and the power of evil. Some statements attributed to Him are 
by some critics questioned as not being genuine, others are supposed to be 
coloured by the narrator's mind ; but that He believed and represented Him- 
self to be in a special and unique sense both Son of God and Son of man 
there is no reasonable ground for doubting. Moreover we cannot doubt 
that the evidence of His life and character, His words and works, was suffi- 
cient to convert many apathetic or hostile persons into ardent believers and 
followers. Those who regard these beliefs as delusions have a heavy task 
in explaining their relation to a sincere character like that of Jesus, or in 
explaining how a false belief could generate so mighty a force as Christi- 
anity. Much more in accord with scientific truth is it to say, that Christi- 
anity succeeded by virtue of the truth that was in it, however much error 
became mingled with it ; and he who can separate the beliefs of and about 
Jesus as to His divine nature from His moral teaching, and show how the 
latter alone could have produced such results, will have accomplished more 
than has yet been done. Has any lofty moral teaching alone regenerated 
and elevated a large portion of mankind ? Could anything not accredited 
as a revelation persuade people that God was not merely a distant powerful 
Governor, but also a loving Father? Could any revelation convincingly 
persuade men of the latter teaching, unless it was exemplified in the perfect 
life of One who as man believed and realised the Fatherhood of God, and 
who could generate a conviction that He was so intimately in union with 
God that He could reveal the mind and nature of that Father. 

As a human being, Jesus inspired the most powerful affection in a large 

number of people that had ever been known, an affection which in many 

Tiie special ^isciples became stronger than all the ties of kindred, and that 

affection He too in persons whose affection for kindred was unusually strong. 

What could have inspired such affection except the realisation 

that in Jesus a greater love than any man had previously shown claimed 

their admiration and won their hearts ? And this affection was manifested 

m all kinds of human conditions and relations, excepting that of marriage, 

wherein men and women have simply to rise, in their true spiritual unions, to 

the degree of love and helpfulness which Jesus manifested for all mankind. 

In physical weakness, in joys and sorrows, Jesus showed Himself not merely 

sympathetic with others, but intensely desirous of sympathy, craving such 

brotherly sympathy from His beloved friends as He gave them lavishly 

His treatment Himself Towards women He was so tender, so considerate, so 

of women, charitable that He raised an ideal of helpfulness and tenderness 

towards the most degraded of the sex such as no Christian people has ever 

yet fully exemplified, but which must be practically realised before any 

people can be said to be Christlike. And when He spoke of the marriage 

union, it was in words which made no distinction of subjection between 

the parties. 

Towards children Jesus was exceptionally and specially tender. Few 



THE FOUNDER OF CHRISTIANITY. 695 

records of other religions show any particular bias towards children ; but 
Jesus on all occasions spoke of and to them with special apprecia- ^^^ ^j 
tion, and, indeed, raised out of them and their innocent simplicity cnudren. 
an ideal of the Christ-like spirit which has had an enormous influence in 
moulding the characters of Christians. " To become as a little child," in 
simplicity, in reverence, in acceptance of and compliance with the paternal 
will, in reliance upon the fatherly blessing and good- will, has been engraved 
upon the hearts of multitudes as the ideal, the test, the goal beyond which, 
in its fullest realisation. Christian life could not pass, but towards which it 
must ever unrestingly press. This is one of Christ's phrases which con- 
tains within it the elements of transcendent discipline, just like those other 
phrases : " as I have loved you," " the baptism I am baptised with," " it is 
My meat and My drink to do the will of My Father." 

A matter of the utmost importance may here be referred to. At one 
time the belief in the Divinity of Christ had so intensely impressed itself on 
a large part of Christendom that it obscured His true manhood. His voluntary 
At the present day Christ's humanity is very generally and fully limitations, 
realised, and attention is widely given to the question what limitation that 
manhood involved. There is emphatic testimony in the New Testament to 
the fact of the existence of many ordinary human limitations ; and in the 
view of Pauline theology this took place by a voluntary renunciation or 
" emptying " (kenosis) on the part of the Son of God. But what this in- 
volved and how far it extended, while no human being seems competent to 
pronounce, many have taken in hand to discuss. All such theorising must 
be doubtful, and it is often carried to just that point which the theorist 
needs to explain his own particular theory of inspiration or of the fallibility 
or infallibility of Jesus as a human being. We will merely suggest that a 
humanity which, in regard to mere human knowledge, gave Jesus a nature 
out of touch with the intellectual grade reached by the men by whom He 
was surrounded, would have caused Him to be regarded as a madman. The 
insight His pure nature displayed into spiritual things, into the invisible 
things of God, was sufficient to cause His teaching to be received in most 
cases as an idle tale ; and if to that spiritual insight the knowledge which 
has only been attained in late years had been superadded, it would surely 
have been impossible for Him to gain any hearing at all. It seems most 
reasonable that in things of merely human learning the Messiah should 
only have the ordinary equipment of humanity,^ while as a pure soul (leav- 
ing out of consideration the question of His divine nature) He should see 
indefinitely farther into the meaning of nature and its underlying realities 
than any human being had previously penetrated. 

That Jesus worked miracles, or at least professed or appeared to do so, 
is evident on the face of the New Testament narratives. Those 
who have imagined a Divine and yet non-miraculous Jesus have 
to perform extraordinary operations upon the narratives or invent equally 

V This gives a keynote by wliicli many explain the accord of Jesus's exx)ressions 
about Satan, demonology, demoniac possession, etc., with currentt ojpinions. 



696 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS, 

strange hypotheses to make out a case. Even those who regard Christ as 
simply a human teacher, may readily admit the working of many signs and 
wonders as due to His extraordinary will power, and the physical and moral 
effect of His unique personality. What many scientific men refuse to admit 
is, that any miracle can have been worked by Him which contravened, sus- 
pended, or neutralised physical laws, or which broke through the established 
order of nature. To the faith of most Christians even such an apparent 
breach of continuity presents no stumbling-block, for that Power which 
established the order could surely provide also for the exceptional occasions 
when " miracle " was needed in order to establish some fact or produce 
some belief. A view which would reconcile the scientific with the Christian 
attitude is, that a character so intensely in accord with the Divine power in 
moral and spiritual questions as that of Jesus, may also be supposed to have 
a deep insight into the springs of physical nature and the infiuence of mind 
on matter ; and that it involves no greater stretch of probability that He 
should work physical miracles by or in virtue of the deeper laws of the uni- 
verse, than that He should work moral miracles by virtue of a similar in- 
sight into mental and moral laws. It was His mission to endeavour to heal 
all the evils He saw, to restore mankind to mental, moral, and physical 
sanity and reasonableness, to elevate their entire nature, so that they might 
realise a right relationship to God. What wonder that He should have 
benefited their bodies as well as their souls ? Often He used what we call 
appropriate " means " ; at other times we have no record of anything but 
will-power, or prayer to God, preceding cure or miracle. Behind these 
records we cannot penetrate. Those who can find their full aspirations after 
goodness and the Divine satisfied without the necessity of believing in 
miracle, have a difficult task to eliminate the miraculous from the New 
Testament without destroying the historical credibility of the other portions. 
The majority of Christians will not cease to believe in the miracles of Jesus 
because they are told that they could not have been ; they believe that the 
fallibility of man has not yet generated infallibility in the scientific man ; 
and they find it easier to believe in a miraculous Christ than in the mar- 
vellous growth and general beneficence of Christianity upon a fabric of 
delusion. 

To give relief from bodily disease was, however, but a minor aim of 
the Son of man. His deep impulse and desire to deliver men from the evils 

Salvation which degraded their conduct and thought, was ever prominent. 

from sin. j^y ^ multitude of methods He sought to make men realise their 
state of alienation from God, their need of reconciliation, of purification, of 
forgiveness. The realisation of the truth about themselves was the first, 
the greatest step to rectification, to amendment. Often it was accomplished 
by a very short interview, almost by a look on the pure face which by con- 
trast revealed the impurity elsewhere. At other times arguments were 
needed. Sometimes the light of truth was successfully resisted ; but every 
seeker after truth gained ready access to Him and abundant and suitable 
teaching. Every man and woman found an intelligible condition at the 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



gate of the new life, the " kingdom of heaven," as Jesus called it. Some 
test was imposed, varying greatly with circumstances — such as a belief in 
the forgiveness of sins, a belief that a cure would be accomplished, an act 
of practical beneficence, an act of renunciation, etc. — rarely anything like 
a belief in a lengthy or a complete creed ; but compliance with the test 
secured Jesus's assurance of pardon or blessing. As far as can be judged 
from the narratives, the new state of deliverance from evil passions or from 
sin was to be evidenced by " works meet for repentance," a continual ad- 
vance in well-doing, a continual practice of those good deeds which He 
taught. 

It was this passionate desire to free mankind from the chains of the 
lower nature, from the pains due to antagonism to or ignorance of God, 
Liberation ^^^^ gave Jesus His most binding influence on men. A man who 
from lower had no selfish aim, no personal object to gain, but who cared 
supremely to know and to relieve the troubles of those whom He 
met — this was the man whom the common people heard gladly, and whom 
they would have forcibly made a king. When He made demands upon 
them which seemed irksome about the pure and holy life they were to lead, 
or taught them doctrines which were difftcult for them to comprehend or 
believe, many shrank back ; but the germ of faith remained in many, which 
later events quickened into vigorous life,- and which soon made the founda- 
tions of Christianity broad and strong. At first inclined to accept Him as 
the long-looked-for Messiah who was to restore the temporal kingdom to 
Judaea, the people afterwards turned against Him because He refused to lead 
a national movement ; but when His death and the subsequent events were 
felt and reflected upon, they realised and never doubted that He was the 
true Messiah of the Jews, a belief which the antagonism of the mass of the 
Jews themselves has no weight in weakening. 

His intimate disciples — a body of men admirably chosen as witnesses 
of His actions and as propagators of His teaching — had no lack of teaching 
The purpose "^^^^t^ indicated to them the part which His life and death were 
of His ufe to play in raising mankind to a condition of freedom from sin 
and conscious accord with God. We have various forms of this 
teaching handed down to us, such as that He came to seek and save the 
lost, that belief on Him was to secure salvation and heaven, that He 
gave His blood for the life of the world, that His going away secured the 
Holy Spirit as a continual comforter for His disciples ; but there is nothing 
which definitely gives any one of the theoretic statements drawn up later 
by theologians. The precise mechanism of salvation by Himself Christ 
nowhere expounds — it is so simple, as He states it, as hardly to need any 
definition ; and it is questionable whether all the discussion which has taken 
place about the " atonement," " justification," " vicarious suffering," " sub- 
stitutional punishment," and " forgiveness," has advanced knowledge at all 
beyond the simple statements of Christ as given in the gospels. 

It is obvious that Christ designed to found a society which should 
last after His death, and that He chose His disciples as fitting agents for 



THE FOUNDER OF CHRISTIANITY. 699 



establishing and continuing that society. As to the mode in which that 
society should be governed, no definite regulations were given. The society 
The object of His servants was to be hoKness, beneficence, and ^® folded. 
unity of spirit. Most of the details bearing on the conduct of His servants 
were given specially to the twelve disciples, but they have been adopted by 
the general instinct and consent of the majority of Christians ; such are the 
Lord's Prayer, the special efficacy of united prayer, and the two special 
observances termed Sacraments, modes of consecration. It has The 
been previously seen that most religions had " mysteries " and Sacraments, 
festivals. The highest examples of these are the Christian initiation cere- 
mony of " Baptism," and the Eucharist, or " Supper of the Lord," in which 
His death is perpetually remembered as a pledge of pardon, a bond of 
union, and a means of renewal of strength. Of the Lord's Supper it may 
be remarked that nothing like transubstantiation can have been denoted 
by it ; for the bread was broken and given in the presence of the complete 
body of Jesus, and the cup of wine was declared to be the new covenant, 
or the blood of the covenant, when as yet Christ's blood had not been shed. 
The ideas of magical conversion of substance, or of magical efficacy of the 
material of the supper, find no support in the earliest accounts ; in fact, they 
seem to be negatived by the words, " This do in rememhrance of Me." His 
blood was shed, said Christ, for many, unto remission of sins ; and the re- 
membrance of that supreme act of sacrifice is ever kept fresh in the heart of 
His followers b}^ the rite which He instituted on the eve of His death. 

It is scarcely necessary here to enlarge upon the character of Christ's 
addresses and teaching. Their superiority to those of any other teacher is 
well established. It may be granted that the most striking things His mode of 
He said have been preserved, and these show an abundant use teachmg. 
of proverbs, parables, similitudes, parallelism, paradox, and even hyperbole. 
" The gnomic form, in which each thought is rounded off concisely, The gnomic 
leaving no cause for further amplification, and thus making it ^*^^"^- 
easy for the memory to retain it . . . readily takes the form of Hebrew 
parallelism (Matt. vii. 2), at one time antithetical (Luke xiv. 11), at another 
carrying forward the idea on a parallel line (Matt. x. 40), and yet again so 
presenting one part as an illustration of the other (Mark ii. 17) that in order 
to its apprehension it is essential to perceive which side contains the real 
pith of the idea. A gnome is enlivened by a play upon words, sometimes 
by the same words being repeated in different meanings in the various sec- 
tions (Matt. X. 39), at others by different phases of the idea being placed in 
relation to each other through the choice of a consonant expression (Matt. 
X. 32). A special peculiarity in the gnomic form, however, is its giving 
one phase of an idea with great acuteness and force without adding the 
necessary precautions for its proper application (Matt. vii. 1) ; it does not 
consider the inevitable exceptions (Matt. x. 24), nor the precise circum- 
stances in which the saying holds good, and which we can only guess at 
(Matt. XX. 16, XXV. 29). This is why it so often presents an appearance of 
one-sidedness (Matt. vii. 7), of paradox (John ix. 39), of exaggeration (Matt, 



700 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS, 

xii. 30 ; Mark ix. 46), and even of contradiction (comp. John v. 31 with viii. 

14, iii. 17 with ix. 39). Out of these apophthegms are formed collections 

of sayings which revolve round one principal idea or have reference to one 

definite object." ^ 

In true adaptation to His hearers' capacities and modes of thinking, 

Jesus was everywhere definite, concrete, practical in His teaching. These 

, details, of which the most unlearned take hold, were alwavs used 
The concrete ' . . ' . '^ 

and by Him as a means oi instruction. His imagery m most cases 

prac ica . j^g^jg with what is well known ; His metaphors transfer the 
sensuous to the spiritual sphere ; He connects His instruction with nature 
with a sure touch which itself testifies to a deep underlying oneness with 
nature and its cause. From nature He teaches God's all-embracing Provi- 
dence, and the symbolic meaning underlying the commonest events. Every 
circumstance in the spiritual life is shown to have its analogue in the life of 
sense, in the phenomena of nature. 

In His parables Jesus gave His most original and unique form of instruc-' 
tion. Almost every circumstance of life is abundantly illustrated by them. 
" No standing or relation of life is wanting. They are all there, 
' the builder and merchant, the general, doctor, baker and tailor, 
the wine-drinker and cooper, the rich man and the beggar before his door, 
the creditor and his debtor, the watchman and the thief, the blind man 
and his guide, the master of the house exhibiting his treasures, the mother 
in her sorest need, the maidservant carrying the lamp, the little ones who 
cast the crumbs from their tables to the dogs, the children at play and 
the sons at work, the free son and the purchased slave, the servant and 
the labourer, the bridegroom and his friends, the bride and her maidens, the 
honoured guests who occupy the best places at the feast, and the man in 
rags who is thrust forth " (Weiss). And by a free use of the principle of 
striking contrast, the most powerful rhetorical or emotional effects are 
produced. 

That Jesus predicted future events can only be denied by those who 
reject the narratives in the gospels, or who believe that they represent mis- 

His predic- understandings of what He said. But it would be most natural 
tions. Iqj, g^-Q^y Qj^Q ^]^Q believed himself to be a prophet to refer to 
future events ; and that He predicted His own sufferings, painful death, and 
resurrection on the third day seems to us most certain. It was not merely 
a vague foreboding of coming ill, but a definite consciousness of what must 
inevitably come, that inspired His numerous references to these events ; and 
although the narratives of the gospels appear to obscure several points, the 
destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple was definitely predicted, together 
with certain phenomena attending the end of the world and the final judg- 
ment of mankind. Many claim that the fulfilment of near events proves 
that we may relj^ on what He foreshadowed of the last days. Others qualify 
this by saying, that of such transcendent events only a merely approximate 
notion can be given by any verbal description. But the tremendous picture 
* Weiss, " Life of Christ," ii. 108. (Clark's Foreign Theological Library.) 



THE FOUNDER OF CHRISTIANITY. 



70T 



of the great assize remains as a most potent force, ever working on the 
religious conscience of mankind. 

When we come to speak of the Passion in Grethsemane, we feel how 
inadequate all discussion of it must be. Who but the Son of Man could 
feel the burden He was bearing ? With entire determination to 
do the will of God, the human frame of weakness had to bear the 
consciousness of the pain involved, the mental sorrow for the Jews who 
were rejecting Him, for the sin of the world. With as much certainty as 




CHURCH OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE, JERUSALEM (eXTERIOr). 

His death is recorded, there is narrated His prayer for relief from the death 
that was coming. Yet, " Not what I will, but what Thou wilt." The 
cruel details which follow are intensified by fuller knowledge and reflection 
respecting them. Bitter taunts of enemies, desertion by His disciples in 
the hour of need, prolonged physical torment of an overwrought and sensi- 
tive nature, a lingering painful death — what wonder that exhausted 
humanity, left as man to bear the extremest trial, implored God as having 
forsaken Him? Yet even at this crisis He prayed for His murderers, and 
commended His soul to God; and His demeanour convinced the Eoman 



702 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

centurion who stood by, that He was certainly a righteous Man. Few 
indeed have ever impugned that testimony. 

The Resurrection of Christ, in addition to the actual history of the 
triumphs of Christianity, constitutes an element essential to Christianity as 
The Resur- hitherto Understood. A Christianity without a resurrection would 
rection. 133 something different ; it would lack that which constitutes the 
supreme stimulus for mosb people to noble action or patient resignation, the 
belief that a reappearance after death has taken place, such as to guarantee 
the possibility or the certainty of life after death. If no resurrection has 
taken place, Christians may well adopt the words of St. Paul : then is their 
faith void, and without its chief support, though it may be contended that the 
rightness of Christian conduct and the perfection of the Christian ideal are 
independent of a future life and are capable of being realised in the present. 
Without discussing so complex a matter as the evidence for the resurrection, 
it may be said that if the evidence we have for its real occurrence cannot 
be believed, we can believe no remarkable event of ancient times that is 
not proved in some way not depending on human testimony. Perhaps the 
most cogent of all is the testimony of St. Paul, who wrote nearest to the events 
of which he spoke, as to the numerous occasions on which Jesus w^as 
St. Paul's s®®^ after His death. He was imbued with the mosb exclusive 
testimony, doctrines of the Pharisees, so antagonistic to the claims of Jesus ; 
he was a most bitter persecutor of the new sect ; he was educated to sift 
evidence in the best way then possible, and in many ways he showed 
capacity in that art ; yet, when we cannot but believe that he made the 
most careful inquiries possible to avoid being deceived, he records a num- 
ber and a variety of appearances which we n.ust take as being the most 
matured belief, founded on the best evidence examined by one of the acutest 
minds of the age, a very short time after the dates at which they occurred ; 
and this belief, with other more internal influences, sufficed to make him 
the most devoted, the most persevering, the most successful of the found- 
ers of Christianity. We cannot doubt that without this belief St. Paul 
would have regarded his faith as void, his hope vain, and hence we 
come to a dilemma, only second to that in which we are placed by the 
nature of Jesus — either this man was deluded or he was dishonest. If 
he was either, could he have so moved the minds of his contemporaries ? 
Of those who answer that he was deluded, we may ask, Why was no attempt 
ever made to produce the dead body of Jesus after His burial? Is it con- 
ceivable that the poor, scattered, insignificant adherents of Jesus could have 
stolen and hidden that body in the face of Eoman guards and a Pharisaic 
majority, so that all trace of it or its conveyance should have vanished ? 
Yet, in pursuance of our plan of non- dogmatism, we must leave the question 
to be determined by each reader for himself. We may note, however, 
how entirely the recorded appearances of Jesus accord with, the spiritual 
nature of Christianity, in strong contrast to the gross and coarse character 
of most of the so-called incarnations of Vishnu and other Hindu gods. To 
quote Dr. Geikie, '' Even when most closely touching the material and 



THE FOUNDER OF CHRISTIANITY. 



703 



earthly, He is always seen speaking and acting only as a spirit — coming 
suddenly, revealing Himself in an imperceptibly increasing completeness, 
which culminates at last in some unmistakable sign, and presently vanishing 
as suddenly as He appeared." It is worthy of remark, that numerous and 
varied interpretations are possible, and have been put forward, as to what it 
was that underlay the phenomena seen by Christ's disciples after His death, 
and that in going beyond the assertion that essentially the same Jesus — 
glorified in some indefinable way — appeared, whom they had known before, 
and proved Himself so by unmistakable signs, no means exist of deciding 




CHUKCH OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE, JERUSALEM (INTERIOR). 

between rival hypotheses. The Ascension is the natural culmination of the 
resurrection appearances ; but here again, if we travel beyond the simple 
record, we enter a region of speculation which cannot admit of proof. 

Here w^e must leave the greatest subject in the world's history, having 
but glanced at a few of its aspects very briefly. Men are almost all agreed 
that the life of Jesus was one of pure beneficence and sinlessness. They 
are less agreed as the deeper meaning and effect of His life, and still less 
agreed to follow His example. That His life has not yet won all its triumphs 
may be seen by the daily increasing influence of Christian philanthropy as 
a principle guiding the efforts of those who do not recognise Jesus as Divine. 
The ideals of citizenship, of care for the poor, weak, and sick, owe to Him 



704 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



far more than can easily be gauged. We cannot imagine what the world 
would have been without Him. 

We cannot here discuss the views held of the birth and the person of 
Christ. Each theological school has its own standards on these questions, 
and every man's belief, founded upon careful investigation, is to be respected. 
We would suggest that the importance of doctrines about Christ is less than 
the influence of His words and life, and that where these fail to amend and 
elevate life and character, definitions, dogmas, and doctrines will seldom 
avail. 




THE CROWN OF THOKNS. 



CHAPTER II. 
€i)t ^eVd Cestament. 

Origin of the gospels— Probably written years after events — Tbe Pauline epistles— Repetition of the 
sayings and doings of Jesus— Early partial narratives— S3moptic gospels— Theories of their 
origin— Papias— Clement of Rome— Epistles of Ignatius, Polycarp, and Barnabas— Justin Martyr 
—Internal evidences— Date of the synoptic gospels— The Fourth Gospel— Distinctions of style— 
Doctrine of the Logos— Early testimonies — Internal evidence— Acts of the Apostles —Apocryphal 
gospels and Acts— Epistle to Hebrews— Epistles of Peter, James and Jude— The Revelation- 
Manuscripts of New Testament — Sinaitic and other Manuscripts— Versions. 

"TN tlie opinion of tlie great majority of Biblical students the documents 
-'- recording the life of Jesus /proceeded either from His immediate dis- 
ciples, or from those who learnt the facts directly from them, origin of the 
For those who believe in the entire accuracy of every word of gospels. 
the gospels there are still left the problems, which of the many diversities in 
the existing manuscripts are correct, and also how the apparently or really 
contradictory features in the various narratives are to be explained. "We 
can here only take a brief view of a few of the questions surrounding the 
growth of the gospels and other New Testament books. 

Two circumstances prevented the writing of lives of Christ in the very 
earliest period after His death ; viz., the facts (1) that the verbal testimony 

of those who had seen and known Him was attainable; and (2) 
- . . ' ^ ; Probably 

^that owing to certain oi His expressions, there was a generalwritten years 

expectation of His early second coming to judge the world, and ^ *®^ events. 

to assume the rule over mankind. When the death of many had thinned 

the ranks of those who could bear personal testimony, and when the lapse 

of time made it appear that Christ's second coming might be deferred to a 

later period, the need for records began to be felt. But before this period 

had arrived, a series of letters, the Epistles of St. Paul, were al- ^he Pauline 

ready in existence, having been written on the spur of particular epistles. 

occasions, which are for the most part specified. Thus 1 Thessalonians was 

written in a.d. 52 or 53, on the return of Timothy, whom Paul sent from 

Athens to the Thessalonian Christians. 2 Thessalonians followed some years 

later. The Epistles to the Romans, Corinthians, and Gralatians are obviously 

written soon after the circumstances related in them, and must be ascribed 

to dates about a.d. 57 and 58. Several other epistles were written during the 

apostle's imprisonment at Rome. The so-called Pastoral Epistles (Timothy, 

Titus) are those on whose authenticity most doubt has been thrown ; for 

•although their recognition by orthodox Fathers was widespread and early, 

some heretical teachers, such as Marcion, rejected them, or did not mention 

them. They have some peculiarities of phrases and words which do not 

occur in the other Pauline epistles ; and it is not easy to harmonise them 

with the narrative in the Acts. It is suggested that they were written 

after St. Paul's release from imprisonment atEome — a release of which there 

705 r, rr 



7o6 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

is an independent tradition. In that case the Acts of the Apostles would be 
already written before their date, for it appears probable that the record of 
the apostolic labours was written during St. Paul's- imprisonment, and this 
affords the most satisfactory reason for the sudden ending of the Acts — 
because nothing more of importance had then happened. Already before 
any one of the gospels, as we have them, had been written, the Pauline 
epistles were in existence, and many confidently assert that all the essentials 
of the character and teaching of Chri-st can be put together from these 
alone.^ Thus we certainly have some documents which substantially, in 
their present form, have come down to us from the apostolic age, when the 
facts and persons mentioned were known, and when critics, who were quite 
as hostile and as eager to destroy at that time as now, would sharply 
examine and unsparingly denounce any statements known to be untrue. 

When the gospels as we have them began to be written, the narrations 
given by the apostles and evangelists had already long been current ; and 
as the most striking sayings of Jesus would be often repeated, 
the^sayfngs they must have become widely and generally known. Therefore 
^"*^jesuf^°^^^^^ inconceivable that accounts which were largely at variance 
with the g^postles' teaching should have become accepted. It 
could only be those which were in accord with them that gained general 
acceptation ; and when we find early Fathers as well as some heretics 
quoting phrases from and referring to the gospels in the second century, 
we cannot doubt that the gospels which survived them were genuine pro- 
ducts of the apostles or their immediate hearers. 

Nothing seems more likely than that various early hearers of the 
apostles should have written down what they had heard ; and this is indeed 
Early partial definitely stated in the preface to St. Luke's gospel, which reveals 
narratives. \j^ -Qg i^g q^^j^ genesis. Out of fragmentary or partial records, 
more or less accurate, as well as by personal inquiry, he " traced the course 
of all things accurately from the first," and wrote them ^'in order." And 
this may be taken as the process of construction of the other gospels, with 
variations dependent upon the writer, his circumstances and his opportuni- 
ties. 

It is evident that many passages are narrated substantially in the same 

words, though often in a different order, by the three first gospels, which 

Synoptic ^^® consequently termed synoptic. Their accounts of the life of 

gospels. Jesus are very similar, even to their recording the majority of 

the same events and discourses.^ In many instances they use precisely the- 

^ See Eev, Prof. Beet, " Epistles lo Eomans, Coriiitliians and Epliesians " (HocTcIer 
and Stougliton.) 

2 " Of a total of 1,071 verses, Matthew lias 387 in common with Mark and Luke, 130 
in common with Mark, 184 in common with Lnke, and 370 peculiar to himself. Of 
Mark's 662 verses, 406 are common to all three synoptists, 145 common to Mark and 
Matthew, 60 common to Mark and Luke, and 51 (on a liberal estimate) peculiar to him- 
self. Luke out of 1,151 verses shares 390 with Matthew and Mark, 176 with Matthew, 
41 with Mark, and has 544 peculiar to himself. They often agree in a remarkable manner- 
in the order in which they give the events they relate . . ." — Chambers'' s Encyclo- 
pceclia^ vol. v., 1890; art. '"'Gospels," 



THE NEW TESTAMENT. 707 

same words, even to the use of rare words or expressions, sometimes quoting 
from the Old Testament in a form different from either the Hebrew or the 
Septuagint. 

The principal hypotheses on which it is sought to explain the facts are 
three. The first is that the second evangelist (in order of time) borrowed 
from the first, and the third from the other two. Thus Mark has Theories of 
been supposed to have condensed his narrative from Matthew, and *^®^^ origin. 
Luke to have had both before him \v^hen he wrote. The second hypothesis 
is that of a primitive written gospel, not now in existence, but more or less 
traceable in the words and passages common to all three synoptists. The 
third is that there was a common oral gospel, generally difiusedin practically 
identical terms, of which each evangelist made independent use. It can be 
shown that no one of these views satisfactorily explains every discrepancy ^ 
or difference. Some regard a combination of all the hypotheses as furnish- 
ing the best explanation. In fact, there is a tendency to consider that there 
were two primary documents : that from which St. Mark may have bor- 
rowed, and another described as the ''Logia," — sayings or discourses of Jesus. 

Here we may quote from Papias, bishop of Hierapolis in Phrygia, in 
the first half of the second century. All we have from him is contained in 
half-a-dozen sentences quoted byEusebius; but their meaning Testimony of 
has been unduly strained, and also very insecure inferences have Papias. 
been drawn from what he does not say in these sentences, and from what it is 
thought Eusebius would certainly have quoted if Papias had said it. Papias 
wrote an exposition of the oracles (or discourses) of the Lord, and in the frag- 
ments quoted by Eusebius and Irenseus we find the earliest extant mention 
of Matthew and Mark as evangelists. He says : " If I met anywhere with 
any one who had been a follower of the elders, I used to inquire what were 
the declarations of the elders ; what was said by Andrew, by Peter, by 
Philip, what by Thomas or James, what by John or Matthew, or any other 
of the disciples of our Lord ; and the things which Aristion and the elder 
(or presbyter) John, the disciples of the Lord, say ; for I did not expect to 
derive so much benefit from the contents of books as from the utterances of 
a hving and abiding voice." On the authority of John the elder (whether 
this is the Apostle John or not cannot be decided), Papias writes : " And 
this also the elder said : Mark, having become the interpreter of Peter, wrote 
accurately all that he remembered of the things that were either said or done 
by Christ ; but, however, not in order. For he neither heard the Lord, nor 
followed Him, but subsequently, as I said, Peter, who used to frame his teach- 
ing to^ suit immediate wants, but not as making a connected narrative of our 
Lord's discourses. So Mark committed no error in thus writing down particu- 
lars just as he remembered them ; for he took heed to one thing, to omit none 
of the things that he had heard, and to state nothing falsely in his narration 
of them . , . Matthew wrote the oracles (or discourses) in Hebrew, and 
each one interpreted them as he could." These sentences give the chief 
basis for the belief that Matthew wrote in Hebrew, and that Mark's gospel 
represented the teaching of Peter. But in recent times some incline to 



7o8 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

think that a primitive Mark and a primitive book of discourses are here 
referred to ; but without any evidence but supposition. 

A still earlier document which quotes, though not with absolute pre- 
cision, from our gospels or from tradition, is the Epistle of Clement of 
Clement of E>ome, addressed to the Church of Corinth, probably as early as 
Rome. ^ J) 9g^ The principal passages are these : " Remember the 
words of our Lord Jesus, for He said, ' Woe to that man ; it were better 
for him that he had not been born than that he should offend one of My 
elect. It were better for him that a millstone should be tied about his 
neck, and that he should be drowned in the sea, than that he should offend 
one of My little ones'" (Clem. Rom. 46). '^ Especially remembering the 
words of our Lord Jesus, which He spake, teaching gentleness and long- 
suffering. For thus He said, ' Be ye merciful, that ye may obtain mercy ; 
forgive, that it may be forgiven to you. As ye do, so shall it be done unto 
you ; as ye give, so shall it be given unto you ; as ye judge, so shall ye be 
judged ; as ye show kindness, so shall kindness be shown unto you ; with 
what measure ye mete, with the same shall it be measured unto you.' " 
Whether or not Clement had our gospels when he wrote this, he had docu- 
ments or traditions which substantially agree with them, and he assumed 
(by saying ' Remember ') that the Church he was addressing had similar 
sources of knowledge. 

Another kind of testimony to the early existence of the synoptic 
gospels is found in the Epistles of Ignatius, second bishop of Antioch (a.d. 
Epistles of ^^ ^0 1^'^ about), written probably in the first years of the second 
Ignatius, century. He employs the words of Matthew x. 16, almost verbatim, 
and has several short but striking phrases peculiar to St. Matthew ; but all 
these passages are mingled with the writer's own words, and not marked as 
quotations. The authenticity of the various versions of Ignatius is doubted 
by some, though their early date renders them of great value in any case. 
They do not refer to any common or authoritative collection of books of 
the New Testament, but quotations from the Old Testament are prefaced by 
"It is written." There are frequent references ^ to Christ's life, including 
His baptism, crucifixion, resurrection, and His miraculous incarnation. 
There is no reference, however, to any written records of the nature of a 
gospel. There is, however, one saying of Christ quoted, not included in 
our gospels, and which indicates the existence of oral tradition. Thus 
Ignatius says in the Epistle to the Smyrnaeans : " For I know and believe 
that He was in the fiesh even after the resurrection ; and when He came to 
Peter and his company. He said to them, ' Lay hold and handle Me, and 
see that I am not a demon (daimonion) without body,' (or ' an incorporeal 
spirit ')," The writer also knows several of the Pauline epistles, for he 
writes to the Ephesians that the Apostle mentions them in every letter, 
but he does not quote exactly from any one. 

The Epistle of ^ Barnabas (variously dated from 70 a.d. to 120 a.d.), 
without giving a precise reference, appears to quote from a written book of 
^ See Lightfoot's great work on " The Apostolic Fathers." 



THE NEW TESTAMENT. 709 

the New Testament thu^: "Let us beware, lest we be found, as it is written, 
many called, but few chosen." There is an allusion to the Ian- The Epistle 
guage of Matthew ix. 13, " I came not to call the righteous^ -^^^ of Barnabas, 
sinners " ; and there is a saying of Christ not found in our gospels : " Even 
so," saith He, " they that would see Me, and touch My kingdom, must take 
Me through persecution and suffering." These quotations are of value as 
showing (1) that the writer was acquainted with passages found in St. 
Matthew, and (2) that he knew of records or traditions of Christ which have 
not come down to us. Many believe the epistle not to be genuine because 
it contains numerous mistakes as to the rites and ceremonies of the Jews. 

The Epistle of Polycarp to the Philippians (bishop of Smyrna, born 
about A.D. 70, martyred a.d. 155 or 156, the disciple of St. John) uses New 
Testament language to a considerable extent, without formal Epistle of 
quotations, though the fact of St. Paul having written to the Polycarp. 
Philippians is mentioned ; and his quotations include passages (twenty-two 
in all) from Ephesians, and both Epistles to Timothy, as well as other 
Epistles. The form in which Polycarp quotes differs considerably from 
that used by Clement, and probably shows that in his time there was not 
yet an accepted canon of the gospels. 

The writings of Justin Martyr ("Apologies, Dialogues with Trypho"), 
(a.d. 145-7), contain abundant mention of written accounts of the Life of 
Christ, though without any author's name being assigned. He justin 
speaks of the " Grospel " or " Grospels," the memoirs or recollections Martyr, 
of the apostles, and in reference to St. Mark's Gospel, the recollections of 
Peter. He quotes largely the language of our extant gospels and epistles 
without much variation, so that the gospel narrative might be fairly well 
reconstructed from them ; and he says that in his day the memoirs of the 
apostles were read in the Church service as well as the prophetical books. 
And from this time onward there is full testimony to the existence of the 
first three gospels, while a fourth was so well known and approved by 
Irenseus, writing at the end of the second century, that he was convinced 
that it was essential that there should be four and only four gospels. 

"With the majority of readers the force with which a document speaks 
to them personally will outweigh proofs from external sources, and there 
can be no doubt that the force of the words of Jesus as recorded internal 
by the synoptic gospels is such that with most persons it compels Evidences, 
belief in their genuineness. Even Eenan speaks of the " naturalness, the 
ineffable truth, the matchless charm of the synoptic discourses ; their pro- 
foundly Hebrew turn ; the analogies they present to the sayings of Jewish 
doctors of the same time ; their perfect harmony with the scenery of 
Galilee." " In all Christian literature," says Salmon (" Introduction to the 
New Testament "), " there is nothing like^them. If, instead of simply report- 
ing these discourses, the first disciples had invented them, they could have 
invented something else of the same kind. Actually, it is a little surprising 
that the men who were so deeply impressed by our Lord's teaching, and 
who so fully imbibed the spirit of it, should never have attempted to imitate 



710 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

its form. In point of style, we travel into a new country when we pass 
from tlie synoptic gospels to the apostolic epistles." 

As to the date of the synoptic gospels, probably that of Mark was 

written before the fall of Jerusalem (a.d. 70), and possibly considerably 

Dat of the ^'^'^^^'^'^' He omits genealogies, the birth and infancy of Jesus, and 

synoptic His appearances after the resurrection. The last twelve verses 

gospe s. ^_^^ ^^^ found in the two oldest Greek manuscripts and in some 

others, and are rejected by many. This appendix was quoted by Irenseus as 

early as a.d. 170, showing that it had already acquired authority ; but in the 

fourth century Eusebius says that most of the copies in his time omitted 

these verses. There are many arguments in favour of Mark's indebtedness 

to St. Peter ; and we may well say with Renan that '' Mark is full of 

minute observations, which, without any doubt, came from an eye-witness. 

Nothing forbids us to think this eye-witness, who evidently had followed 

Jesus, who had loved Him, and looked on Him very close at hand, and who 

had preserved a very lively image of Him, was the Apostle Peter himself." 

Many small details indicate the originality of the narrative. 

There are strong reasons — especially the abundant testimony of the 
Fathers — for believing that St. Matthew's Grospel was originally written in 
Hebrew. Yet the Greek work, as we have it, appears like an original, not a 
translation ; there are many explanations of Jewish terms, customs, etc., as 
to a non- Jewish people. As to the date at which he wrote, we find in the 
last two chapters the expression " even to this day " twice over, signifying 
that a considerable space of time had elapsed since the events recorded. It 
is implied that the Jews still had a national existence, and from other 
indications it can scarcely have been written much before a.T). 70. 

In St. Luke there are numerous signs of a later date, possibly at least 
A.D. 80. The tradition of eye-witnesses is spoken of in the past tense ; 
the attempts of '' many " to furnish gospel narratives are mentioned ; there 
is a manifest attempt to raise the style of such records ; Jesus is frequently 
referred to as 'Hhe Lord," etc. But if we accept an early date for the Acts, 
it seems to involve also an early date for the Third Gospel. 

"We come now to the most important and most difficult of all New Testa- 
ment questions — the authorship of the Fourth Gospel, together with that of 
The Fourth ^^ Epistles of St. John. It is clear from numerous coincidences 
Gospel. Qf phrase and of spirit that the author of the Fourth Gospel also 
wrote the First Epistle of St. John. The earliest writer who mentions St. 
John in connection with a quotation from the Fourth Gospel is Theophilus, 
bishop of Antioch, who wrote about a.d. 170-180. He quotes from John i. 1-3, 
mentioning the Evangelist as one of the men inspired by the Spirit by whom 
the Holy Scriptures were written. The Muratorian fragment (a.d. 170) 
names the Fourth Gospel as by John, one of the disciples. It states that 
being requested by his fellow-disciples and bishops to write, he said to them 
" Fast with me three days, and let us narrate what shall have been revealed 
to each one of us. The same night it was revealed to Andrew, one of the 
apostles, that John should describe everything in his own name, all (the 



THE NEW TESTAMENT. 711 

rest) calling tlie past to mind (or revising)." And this agrees with, the 
confirmation given in John xxi. 24, which implies something approaching 
to joint authorship or some kind of revision. This view is confirmed by 
the opening of St. John, where " we " is used, followed by the resumption 
of the first person. Consequently it has been suggested that the gospel 
was dictated by John, in extreme old age, to an amanuensis, who put it into 
form afterwards ; or even that it represents the work of the disciples of St. 
John, reproducing the effect of his teaching. The argument drawn from 
differences between the style of the gospel and of the Apocalypse, that they 
cannot both have been written by the same author, is not very strong, in 
the view of those who believe the Apocalypse to have been written not later 
than A.D. 68, before the fall of Jerusalem, and the Gospel not before 98, an 
interval of thirty years, sufficient to produce a most marked change of 
style. It is easy to realise St. John's Gospel as the work of a ripe old age, 
when every thought of a long life had been perfected and purified, and 
when affection could give forth its richest geniality. 

There can be no doubt, however, that the sayings of Christ recorded in 
the Fourth Gospel differ noticeably in style and words from those found in 
the synoptics, and also that the}'- greatly resemble the author's Distinctions 
own style and words, so that it is sometimes difficult to determine of style, 
where one ends and the other begins. Moreover the whole gospel has a 
marked unity of object and mode of presenting thought, and has a con- 
struction apparently designed to set forth certain aspects of truth not pre- 
sented in the previous gospels. It may be inferred that it was written with 
full knowledge of the other gospels, from the absence to a large extent of 
repetition of narratives, and from the things added. While the writer writes 
as an eye-witness, he writes as if many years had elapsed since the events 
took place. It is notable how the universal aspect of Christ's mission is 
dwelt upon, and how the writer repeats the words in which Christ described 
the nature of His person and mission. Christ is set forth as the Truth, 
the perfect revelation of God the Father, the perfect pattern of life, the 
uniter of the finite and the infinite. Great prominence is given to the 
idea of various forms of witness to the truth, such as that of God the 
Father, of Christ Himself, of works, of Scripture, of John the Baptist, 
of the disciples, of the Holy Spirit of Truth sent from God after Christ's 
death. 

Another aspect of the Fourth Gospel is the prominence it gives to the 
doctrine of the Logos, or Word. Here we come to the two most opposite 
schools of thought on the gospel. Some see in the Fourth Gospel Doctrine of 
a development of Philo's doctrine of the Logos, such that none *^® Logos, 
but a Hellenic Jew versed in Alexandrian learning could have written it, 
while some even attribute the gospel to Philo as author. Others, seeing 
that Philo's Logos is impersonal, regard the use of the idea of the " Word " 
of God in the Old Testament as representing the personal action of God, 
as sufficient to suggest the forms of teaching in the Fourth Gospel. Many 
now consider that Philo's influence on the Fourth Gospel is evident, but that 



712 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

in seizing and presenting tlie idea of tlie " Logos made flesh " the latter is 
strikingly new and original. 

Irenseus, Clement of Alexandria and Tertnllian (end of second and 
beginning of third century) quote from the Fourth Grospel freely, and 
Early Eusebius (third and fourth centuries), who had access to many 
testimonies, ^orks and much knowledge now lost, spoke of it without reserve 
as unquestionably written by St. John. In the latter part of the second 
century it was accepted even by heretics and opponents of Christianity. 
Athenagoras (about 176) plainly uses the language of the gospel as one 
thoroLighly familiar with it. Tatian (about 160 a.d.) quotes words from the 
gospel as being well known. The Ignatian epistles contain several of the 
same phrases, such as " bread of heaven," " bread of life, which is the flesh 
of Jesus Christ," " the spirit knoweth whence it cometh and whither it 
goeth." Polycarp, the disciple of St. John, in the epistle which has been 
preserved, uses a striking verse from 1 John, which must be by the same 
author as the gospel. Papias, according to Eusebius, used testimonies from 
" the former epistle of John " ; and both these facts, by confirming 1 John, 
confirm the authorship of the Fourth Gospel. Justin Martyr shows in his 
writings the influence of its teaching about the Word. 

But for Christians the internal evidences that St. John wrote the Fourth 
Gospel (whether it was afterwards edited or not) are full and strong. The 
Internal author was evidently a Jew, with full knowledge of everything 
evidence. Jewish, — Opinions, observances. Old Testament, language, style 
of thought. He was a resident in Palestine, familiar with minute details 
of time and place. He was an eye-witness of what he described, an apostle ; 
and if an apostle, he could only have been John, for John is the only apostle 
not named, except by special phrases upon which the subject of them 
would love to dwell. He alone completely satisfies all the indications. 

We cannot here analyse and compare the contents of the gospels ; but 
it may be remarked that the simplest way of accounting for divergences and 
diversity is by looking at the recorders as human beings capable of mistake 
or misinterpretation, and the editors or copyists of their works as not exempt 
from the same frailties. Just becau.se precisely the same picture is not 
given by each narrator, each biography gains in value, and by careful study 
and combination it is possible to obtain, a much more vivid notion of the 
character and life of- Christ than if none of the narratives varied in style or 
matter. 

That the " Acts of the Apostles " was written by St. Luke is so wel 
attested and so generally received that we need here only note the fact. 
Acts of the I'ts early propagation and acceptance is well established, even 
Apostles, though it is doubtful whether writers so early as Clement of Eome, 
Ignatius and Papias make distinct references to it ;pr its contents. Dr. 
Davidson says of the sections in which the narrator uses the first person 
plural, that they are " characterised by a circumstantiality of detail, a 
vividness of description, an exact knowledge of localities, an acquaintance 
with the phrases and habits of seamen, which betray one who was per- 



THE NEW TESTAMENT. 713 

sonally present " — who must therefore have been an intimate companion of 
St. Paul. Renan admits that the similarity in style throughout the 
book is such that the same author must have written the whole. The book 
breaks off abruptly, and it is surprising that nothing has been added 
describing the later life and death of St. Paul ; but this is explicable, if the 
book Avas written within the two years after the apostle's arrival at Rome 
(61-63). It may be granted that the matter of the "Acts " does not altogether 
justify the title, as it gives a partial account only of the deeds of some of the 
apostles ; but it is not certain that this was the original title, though it 
is undoubtedly very ancient. It is more properly described as a history 
of the most important facts in the growth of the early Christian Church. 

The New Testament books are not the only narratives we have which 
purport to describe the life of Christ and the early days of Christianity. 
There are both apocryphal gospels and apocryphal Acts. The ocrvDhai 
" Gospel of James," which is known to have existed 'early in the Gospels and 
fourth century and probably earlier, not only supplements our 
gospels in many particulars, but expands them in many places, especially in 
regard to events preceding Christ's birth. The most obviously legendary 
matter is largely included. There is also an early " Grospel of St. Thomas," 
giving accounts of extraordinary and foolish miracles performed by Christ 
in His boyhood. The " Gospel of Nicodemus " (a modern title) contains a 
full account of the trial of Jesus, and of His descent into' Hades. Various 
gospels were in use by the Gnostic sects, one known as the Gospel of the 
Eg3^ptians, others forbidding marriage. The most important heretical 
gospel is that known as the Gospel of Marcion, who taught in the first half 
of the middle of the second century. He formed a gospel out of the Gospel 
of St. Luke, omitting every part which was inconsistent with his peculiar 
doctrines and views. This gospel has not come down to us, but there are 
sufficient early testimonies by the Fathers as to what it contained. Some 
have even conjectured that Marcion's gospel was the original out of which 
Luke's was subsequently constructed, but this has been decisively disproved^ 
and it is evident that his gospel testifies to the early existence and ac- 
ceptance of St. Luke's. Marcion also rejected the Acts and the Pastoral 
Epistles of St. Paul, including only ten Pauline Epistles in his " Apostolicon.'^ 
There were numerous apocryphal Acts of the Apostles, such as " the preach- 
ing of Addai" (Thaddseus) "to Abgarus, king of Edessa," "the Acts of 
Paul and Thecla," exalting virginity and condemning marriage, the Acts of 
St. Thomas, of St. Philip, of St. Peter, of St. John, and the Assumption of 
the Blessed Virgin. All these are so plainly fabulous in their contents that 
it is not worth while to give details. 

The Epistle to the Hebrews, ascribed in our Authorised Version to St. 
Paul, in the oldest manuscripts bears the simple title " To the Hebrews.'^ 
The anonymous author has been singularly successful in suppress- Epistle to 
ing his identity, for to this day there is the greatest diversity of Hebrews, 
opinion on the subject. Its early date and authenticity are not however 
questioned, and it is believed to have been written before the Fall of 



714 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

Jerusalem. It is quoted abundantly in tlie Epistle of Clement of Rome : 
and it was believed to be by St. Paul througbout the Eastern Church. But 
the differences in style between it and the Pauline Epistles have strongly 
impressed many since the second century ; and in the Western Church it was 
long regarded as doubtful whether it was St. Paul's. Apollos and Barnabas 
are the two possible authors whose claims are viewed with the greatest 
favour. TertuUian names Barnabas as the author with great confidence. 
Careful analysis shows that there are very many words and expressions 
common to this Epistle and St. Paul's writings and used nowhere else in 
the New Testament. 

The Eirst Epistle ol Peter was thoroughly accepted and attested as 
genuine early in the second century ; but it gives internal evidence of its 

Epistles of ^^^ comparatively late date in its language about persecutions, 
Peter. and can scarcely be dated earlier than a.d. 64, being possibly 
written at Rome. It shows St. Peter as a strong supporter of the Pauline 
theology, but with many personal characteristics. As to the Second Epistle 
ascribed to Peter, there was much doubt as early as the time of Eusebius 
and Jerome : later, the Church agreed to accept it ; since Erasmus and Calvin 
many have rejected it. This epistle is of special interest as being the only 
New Testament writing which predicts the entire future destruction of the 
heavens and the earth by fire. 

The Epistle of James has also been much doubted, both Eusebius and 
Jerome reckoning it doubtful, though Eusebius quotes it as the work, of an 

Epistle of apostle. Its contents indicate plainly that it was written early 
James, ij^ the history of Christianity by a Jew for Christian Jews. 
There are numerous 'indications in it of the direct influence of Christ's 
discourses, as given by a personal follower. The dispute as to whether the 
second half of the second chapter is an attack upon St. Paul's doctrine of 
justification by faith, is answered by saying that '' he has denied nothing 
that Paul has asserted, and asserted nothing that a disciple of Paul would 
care to deny." St. James's doctrine of works is really found fully expressed 
by St. Paul. The epistle is characterised by abundance of moral maxims 
rather than by teaching about Christ. 

The Epistle of Judewas accepted as genuine earlier than the preceding. 
It is remarkable that neither of them claims distinctly to be written by an 

Epistle of apostle, and it is inferred that James and Judas, the *' brothers " 
• Jude. Qf Jesus, were not apostles. Jude quotes twice from apocryphal 
books, viz., the contest for the body of Moses, from " The Assumption of 
Moses," and the words of Enoch (verse 14) from the book of Enoch. In 
several points the contents of the Epistle, such as the reference to the fallen 
angels, are such as to make it difficult of reception. 

The '' Revelation of John " is the most valuable specimen of a kind 

of literature which was abundant in the later Jewish and early Christian 

The period, purporting to reveal the history of mankind and of Jews 

Revelation, and Christians. Many believe it to have been 'written before the 
fall of Jerusalem, a.d. 68 to 70. Many, however, prefer to accept the testi- 



THE NEW TESTAMENT. 715 

mony of Irenseus, the friend of Polycarp, St. Jolin's disciple, who writes 
that " the Revelation was seen no long time since, but almost in our own 
generation, towards the end of the reign of Domitian " (a.d. 81-96) ; and 
Clement of Alexandria, Origen, and Jerome agree that St. John was 
banished to Patmos during the reign of Domitian. In language of grand 
imagery, the author gives a picture of the future history of the Church, 
including the destruction of the Roman empire, the chaining of the devil, 
the reign of Christ. The glory of the heavenly Jerusalem is set forth in 
the later chapters in language which is indelibly written in the hearts of 
Christians, and which has comforted and strengthened multitudes in the 
trials of life and in the hour of death. There are many arguments which 
support the belief that St. John wrote the Revelation earlier than the 
Fourth Gospel; both contain many of the same ideas, though widely 
divergent in style and matter. The diversity of style is to most persons 
explained by the state of prophetic ecstasy in which it was written. The 
interpretation of the book in detail is too complex, and a subject of too 
great differences of opinion, among orthodox and heterodox alike, to be 
entered into here. 

We will now briefly give an account of the manuscript sources from 
which the New Testament is derived. Early manuscripts of any impor- 
tant book are rare, and there is no complete copy of Homer of Manuscripts 
earlier date than the thirteenth century: whereas the manuscripts Testament, 
of the New Testament are comparatively abundant and ancient, testify- 
ing to their early importance, and the prolonged care taken of them. 
Apparently, the oldest now existing is the Codex Sinaiticus, codex 
discovered in the convent of St. Catherine on the supposed Mount sinaiticus. 
Sinai on the 4th of February, 1859, by Tischendorf, and now deposited in 
the Imperial Library at St. Petersburg. It contains, besides a large portion 
of the Septuagint Old Testament, the whole of the New, together with the 
Epistle of Barnabas and part of the Shepherd of Hermas. Though some 
have attributed it to a later date than the next manuscript, there is a very 
general assent to its being a true relic of the middle of the fourth century — 
a view depending on many details of evidence. Its text does not agree 
precisely with any other. 

The Codex Alexandrinus, in the British Museum, derived early in the 
seventeenth century from Alexandria, contains the whole of the Septuagint, 
and most of the New Testament, except a great part of St. codex 
Matthew, and parts of St. John, and of 2 Corinthians ; also the^exandrinus. 
Epistle of Clement of Rome. It dates from the beginning or middle of the 
fifth century. The Codex Yaticanus of the Vatican Library, codex 
Rome, has been there since the middle of the fifteenth century Vaticanus. 
(excepting when it was transferred to Paris by Napoleon). It contains the 
greater part of the Septuagint, and the New Testament down to Heb. ix. 14 ; 
the concluding portion was added, probably, in the fifteenth cen- codex 
tury. The manuscript dates from about the middle of the fourth EphraemL 
centmy. The Codex Ephraemi, at Paris, is a specimen of a pg^limpsest, or 



7i6 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

manuscript made out after having been partially erased to receive a newer 
manuscript. Yellum or parchment being va^luable in early days, previous 
manuscripts were often erased and written over. Portions of every part of 
the New Testament have been recovered from it, amounting in all to two- 
thirds of the whole. It dates from the fifth century, or even somewhat 

earlier. The Codex Bezse, in the University Library, Cambridffe^ 

Codex Bezse. ^ _ -^- ^ ' . .^_. '^ . . -^ ' ^ ^ 1 

presented by Theodore i3eza, m loUl, contains the gospels and 

Acts in Greek and Latin. It exhibits many bold and even extensive inter- 
polations, some of them supported by the Old Latin and Syriac versions : all 
other Greek manuscripts are of the seventh or later centuries. The earliest 
dated manuscript yet discovered bears the date a.d. 949, and the dates of 
others have to be inferred from various kinds of evidence. There are also- 
some very early manuscripts of parts of the New Testament. All befor© 
the tenth century are written in uncial characters, or capital letters, each 
formed separately, and in the earlier manuscripts without any space between 
the words. 

Seeing that all the earliest manuscripts differ considerably in details, the 

earliest copies of versions in other languages than Greek become of great 

importance. Consequently, the Peshito Syriac, used by the 

Eastern Church long before the separation,^ and the old Latin 

translations, are in the first rank as authorities, for they apparently repre- 

„ ^.^ sent a text of the New Testament which existed in the middle of 

Peshito 
Syriac and the second century a.d. There are other versions, the Egyptian, 
Old Latin. ^^ Curetonian Syriac, the Latin Vulgate, the Gothic, Armenian 
and Ethiopian, which are of high value, some having been made as early 
as the third or fourth century. The Peshito is the most valuable, being 
extremely faithful where it can be judged, remarkable for ease and free- 
dom, and seldom loose. 

Quotations in the early Fathers are of much less value than might have 
been expected, for accuracy and precision in quotation were evidently not 
much considered by them ; and what they quoted has often been altered 
in copying. 

The autographs of the New Testament authors appear to have perished 
early, and the early Fathers refer to ancient and approved copies, never 
having apparently seen any originals. Some critics still hope to recover 
an original text, either by the discovery of new manuscripts, or by com- 
parative and minute study of all the evidence supplied by existing manu- 
scripts. Many of these have as yet not been carefully collated or criticised. 
It is evident that the true readings cannot be derived from any one set of 
authorities, but must be the result of a patient comparison and weighing of 
the evidence of all taken together. 

^ This version is now used alike by tlie Nestorians in Kurdistan, the Monophysites in 
Syria, the Christians of St. Thomas on the coast of Malabar, and the Maronites of 
Lebanon. 




ST. PETER'S CHAIII AT EOME. 



CHAPTEE III. 
C!)e apostolic Cimes^. 

Diflactdty of founding the Churcli— St. Peter— The Rock and the Keys— First successes— Martyrdom 
of Stephen— Persecution— Admission of Gentiles— His later actions and influence- St. Paul — 
His early life— His conversion— His labours at Antioch, Corinth, and Ephesus— Arrest at 
Jerusalem— Imprisonment at Rome— His character — His writings — His theology— His teaching 
about Christ— Human faith— Penalty for sin— The new spirit of the Christian— Jewish ideas 
of sacrifice— The Church as the Body of Christ — Ministry— Baptism and the Lord's Supper — 
Lofty outbursts— Teaching as to women— St. John— His first Epistle— St. James— Faith and 
works— The first general persecution— Pliny and Trajan— Ignatius— His epistles and martyr- 
dom at Rome— Polycarp— His martyrdom at Smyrna. 

THERE can be no manner of doubt tbat the life and death, of Christ, 
combined with the preaching of His disciples, founded the Christian 
Church. But a careful consideration of the gospels will show that sur- 
prisingly little in the way of a definite Church existed at the 
time of the Crucifixion, and that it almost entirely lacked formal founding the 
doctrines and organisation. Thus an enormous work was left to ^^^^ch. 
be accomplished by those who had received and assimilated the direct 
teachings of Jesus. Deprived of the inspiration of His bodily presence, 
they had to act, in order to succeed, as boldly and courageously and wisely 
as if they still had the stimulus of His presence and encouragement ; and 
it is claimed by the Christian Church that it was only in virtue of a realisa- 



7i8 THE WO REUS RELIGIONS. 

tion of His invisible aid and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit which He 
had promised to them that they accomplished what they did. 

Everything appeared to be against the chances of the establishment 
of the new religion. The Founder was dead under circumstances of shame 
and of desertion by His disciples. A prominent disciple, Peter, had denied 
knowing Him with oaths and curses. The triumphant enemies of Jesus 
were ready to crush His followers if they dared to show themselves. Yet, 
by some extraordinary stimulus, which is most rationally referred to their 
absolute certainty of having seen their risen Master, and to their feeling 
an overpowering impulse to tell what they had experienced in their com- 
panionship with Him, they succeeded in drawing to their ranks within a 
few weeks many thousands of adherents in Jerusalem, the scene of the 

„ „ ^ Crucifixion : and the recreant disciple became the most prominent 
St. Peter. ' . 

of the apostles, bold, fiery, and eloquent. According to the extant 

narratives, he had been distinguished by a special appearance of Christ to 

him after His resurrection, and he had received from Him a special pastoral 

charge over His " sheep " and " lambs." Previously to his denial of Christ 

he had made a notable and full confession of belief in Him as '• the Christ 

The Rock and "the Son of the living God," and had received a blessing containing 

the Keys. ^,^ words, " Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My 
Church. ... I will give unto the'e the keys of the kingdom of heaven ; 
and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven," etc. 
These words are relied upon by the Church of Rome as constituting Peter 
the head of the Church, and as giving him power to transmit his headship ; 
and in other ways they are regarded as establishing the powers claimed . by 
Roman Catholicism. It is held by opponents of this view (1) that Christ 
spoke of Himself, not Peter, as the Rock ; (2) that Peter's confession of faith 
was the rock ; or (3) that Peter is addressed in a representative capacity 
as chief disciple. "Whatever may have been the meaning, we find Peter 
taking the lead on the day of Pentecost as the chief preacher and ex- 
ponent of the new teaching. Yet we have no sign of a dictatorship or even 
primacy on his part ; he did not act apart from the other apostles ; at a 
later time, St. Jam.es occupied the leading position at Jerusalem ; and there 
is no record that St. Peter transmitted or assigned his position to any one 
at his death. 

A wonderful enthusiasm was excited by the first preaching of the 
Gospel and the signs and wonders which followed it. A tendency to live 

First sue- i^ social unity, with a common fund, was. manifested, and the 

cesses, only care of the first Christians was to continue praying and 

worshipping in the Temple and testifying to the truth. Soon, however, the 

high priest and the Sadducees grew alarmed at the success of the new 

party, especially as it condemned their own recent action, and before long 

Martyrdom they stoned to death a convert named Stephen, who himself was 

of Stephen, preaching with great power. Stephen had proclaimed at the 
end of his defence that he " saw the heavens opened, and the Son of man 
standing on the right hand of God," and we may trace some afiinity^be- 



THE APOSTOLIC TIMES. 



719 



tween this vision and tliat which subsequently converted Saul, afterwards 
Paul, a young man who took part in the stoning by protecting the clothes 
of the witnesses to Stephen's so-called blasphemy. Stephen's dying iitter- 
ance, " Lord, lay not this sin to their charge," reminds us of his Master's 
similar prayer for the forgiveness of His murderers. 

This tragedy was followed by a persecution which, scattering^^the 
infant Church, was a means of its spread. Saul took violent ac- 
tion in entering houses and forcibly dragging Christian men and 
women to prison. Among the places to which the G-ospel was carried by 
Philip the evangelist 
was Samaria, and 
the Samaritans 
readily accepted his 
teaching. Peter, 
going down with 
John to establish 
the converts/ was 
besought by Simon, 
a magician, to impart 
to him for money 
the power which at- 
tended, his laying 
his hands on the be- 
lievers, and received 
a crushing rebuke. 
By this incident 
traffic in holy things 
for money was once 
for all condemned, 
and from it we have 
derived the term 
" simony." Another 
important ., . . 

^ Admission of 

event was Gentiles by 

the call of ^'*"^- 
Peter to teach Cor- 
nelius, a devout Ro- 
man centurion at 
Csesarea, and his first opening the teaching of the G-ospel to Gentiles. His 
action in baptising him and his household is recorded to have been based on 
then- " having received the Holy Ghost " like the Jewish converts. Peter 
had learnt the great truth that God is no respecter of persons, and that " in 
every nation he that feareth Him and worketh righteousness, is acceptable 
to Him." The apostles and other Christians at Jerusalem, who at first 

_ ^ This occurrence marks the institution of " confirmation " by laying on of hands ; 
which the Western Church has always maintained should be performed by a bishop. 




STATUE OF ST. PETEE, IN ST. PETER S, AT ROME. 



720 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

objected to Peter's action, when they heard the details found their objections 
silenced, and said, '' Then to the Gentiles also hath God granted repentance 
unto life." 

After this period, and his deliverance from prison, when the Apostle 
James had been killed by Herod Agrippa (a.d. 40), we have httle direct 

information about Peter, except when he took the lead at the 
actions and so-called council of Jerusalem, and maintained the conditions of 
influence, equality on which he had admitted Gentiles to the Church. But 
he did not call, preside at, or pronounce the decision of the council, and these 
facts appear fatal to the Roman claims as to the primacy of St. Peter. From 
this time Peter mainly preached to Jews, and still remained so far attached 
to Jewish practices that he incurred a sharp rebuke from Paul at Antioch 
for withdrawing from eating with the Gentile converts. It is believed that 
Peter visited Corinth, and by many that he visited Eome, and was martyred 
there, probably a.d. 67. His impressive energy, power of rapid decision and 
action, and practical tendency, if at times too strongly inclined to follow 
apparent expediency, had a powerful effect in establishing the early Church. 
But a greater light arose out of the martyrdom of Stephen. The first 
martyr of Christ had a distinct influence in developing the Apostle to the 

Gentiles. But here also the great teacher was a Jew of the 

purest lineage, though born a Roman citizen in a city distant 
from Palestine. The Semitic element was all powerful in founding the 
new Church. Taught by Gamaliel, a leading rabbi, Paul at first far outdid 
His early ^^^ teacher in his fanatic regard for Jewish usages. It appears 
^f®- that St. Paul had never seen Jesus before the date of his vision 
while on the way to Damascus to extend the area of his persecution of the 
Christians. His religious life was early of a very intense kind ; and after he 
had seen, as he was certain, the living Christ, just as evidently as He was seen 
His con- ^y ^^® apostles after His death, he became even more energetic 
version, ^s a preacher of Christianity than he had been as a persecutor. 
Even if this vision is regarded as one of ecstasy, and as describing an 
inward and not an objective vision, nothing can get rid of the fact that 
something sufficiently powerful transformed a violent persecutor into an 
ardent believer and a zealous preacher of Christianity against the severest 
diffi-culties and opposition. Paul himself solemnly declared that his com- 
mission to teach, and the matter of his teaching, had been directly received 
from Christ ; and those who even think they can account for the success of 
his preaching by various natural causes, have to charge Paul with being 
either a deceiver or a visionary, which will not readily fit in with his 
practicality of method all through. His preaching rested upon no human 
commission ; he was the Apostle of the Gentiles, " not from men, neither 
through man." 

We shall not attempt to describe the events of his well-known life, his 

indefatigable labours, his extraordinary successes among the most 

* diverse peoples, his terrible sufferings, his heroic fortitude, his 

dauntless courage. It is evident that the Acts of the Apostles records but 



THE APOSTOLIC TIMES. 



721 



a small portion of liis labours. We derive a fuller notion of them from his 
own epistles, where he describes his numerous whippings by 
the Jews, his beating by the Eoman lictor's rods, his being 




stoned, his three shipwrecks, his many perils, his sufferings from hunger 
and thirst, from cold and nakedness. He was prominent in the 
founding of the Church at Antioch, where the name " Chris- ^* ^''^'°°^- 
tian " was first applied to the converts, and where the Gentiles and the 

3 A 



722 THE' WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

Jews first lived in common. He also planted tlie Gospel tlirongliont Asia 
Minor, in Macedonia and Greece. Although he always seems to have 
preached first to the Jews in any place he visited, it became obvious and 
acknowledged that his chief mission was to the Gentiles, and he insisted 
that no burdensome or ceremonial obligations of the Mosaic law should be 
laid upon them. 

Paul had less success in philosophic Athens than among the crowded 
masses of industrial cities, where the sensuality of the rich and the 
At Corinth wretchedness of the poor and the slaves afforded him full scope 
and Ephesus. fQj, j^^g fiery preaching. ' Corinth and Ephesus were two such 
centres. 1 Cor. iv. 11-13 gives a vivid picture of his painful life in Ephesus, 
an object of scorn and humiliation, a suffering, hungry worker of uncertain 
habitation, " dying daily." At one time he had to fight with beasts in the 
arena ; at another he was barely saved by Prisca and Aquila, " who for his 
life laid down their own necks." One noticeable effect produced at Ephesus 
was the falling off of the trade of the silversmiths who made models of 
Artemis and of her temple for sale to worshippers ; and this led to a dis- 
turbance, which was followed by his second visit to Europe. During this 
journey he described himself (2 Cor. vi. 9, 10) as dying yet living ; as 
sorrowful, yet always rejoicing ; as poor, yet making many rich ; as having 
nothing, yet possessing all things. Then, as always, he remembered the 
poor and suffering, and took especial pains to obtain a large, contribution 
for the Christians of Palestine, which he himself took to Jerusalem. On his 
way he touched at Ephesus, and in his farewell address to the Ephesian 
elders quoted a saying of Jesus not given in the Gospels, " It is more blessed 
Arrest at ^ give than to receive." At Jerusalem he was soon attacked 
Jerusalem, ^g ^ molester of Jewish customs and a polluter of the temple. 
The Roman governor, who had seized him in order to protect him, was 
constrained to grant him the appeal to the Roman Emperor (Nero), and to 
send him to Rome, where, according to the Acts, he was kept in a quahfied 
Imprisonment state of imprisonment for two years, having opportunity to teach 
at Rome, those who came to him, making converts among the Jews, the 
Praetorian guard, and even the Imperial household. "Whether he was re- 
leased after this and afterwards preached in Spain, whether he was in fact 
martyred at Rome in a.d. 64 is by no means certain, though generally 
believed. He is described in the "Acts of Paul and Thekla" as " a man small 
in stature, bald-headed, bow-legged, stout, close-browed, with a slightly- 
prominent nose, fuU of grace ; for at one time he seemed like a man, at 
another time he had the face of an angel." 

Occupying, by common consent, the second place in the history of 
Christianity, St. Paul is surpassed by no man in the variety of his experiences, 
and only by his Master in his readiness and power of adaptation 
' to every circumstance. Intensely human, his natural impulse 
was to gain and exert a predominant influence ; his disciplined aim was 
to use his influence entirely to propagate the most important truth, and to 
elevate and strengthen mankind. It is impossible to conceive a man under- 



THE APOSTOLIC TIMES. 723 

taking sucli labours and perils witliout an inner conviction amounting to 
certainty of his Divine commission ; and no one impeaches his sincerity. 
Equally impossible is it to explain away his achievements. Few will deny 
that Paul was one of the greatest men who have ever lived. By turns 
practical administrator, organiser, conciliator, pleader, orator, reasoner, 
original thinker and writer, he was actuated in everything by an absorbing 
devotion to the end he had in view, to persuade men to union with Grod 
through Jesus Christ. And if in the fervour of his advocacy he perhaps 
too lightly assumed that his view of human nature included everything, 
and was too urgent in pressing every one into his own mould, it was because 
of the strength and sincerity of his beliefs, and because, if all he thought 
was true, every man and woman was in imminent danger of eternal death. 

In his teaching about Divine things, while very largely practical, Paul 
was intensely theological — the founder of theology as now understood. Not 
having been a companion of Jesus, he was not surcharged with 
His personal teachings, and rarely quotes Him. He rather comes 
before us as one who had absorbed the spirit of Jesus, and superadded to it 
the conceptions of a mind persistently endeavouring to gain definite ideas 
of the system of Divine and human relationships. Thus the matter of his 
epistles is quite different in style and form from that of any other New 
Testament writer. It is as if he had laboured to arrive at a clear under- 
standing of man's nature and dreadful sinfulness and the remedies for it, 
and had spent his utmost effort to express this. He did not possess all the 
highest literary gifts, and is sometimes complex and involved ; sometimes 
his .analogies are imperfect ; som.etimes his thoughts do not seem logically 
to grow out of one another. His impulsiveness sometimes hurries him rapidly 
through a high flight of thought ; but he is essentially a theologian for the 
most part, and tries to present a sort of mathematical view of salvation. 

His theology ^ was based upon the universal fact of sin, wrong-doing, 
and the tendency to do wrong, a state of disobedience to Grod's law, assumed 
to be known by every man. This is so far personified that we 
seem to verge near something like the Zoroastrian Ahriman, a 
personality constantly suggesting evil actions and seeking to antagonise 
and crush good impulses. The fact of death coming iipon all men is adduced 
as a proof that all have sinned. The fact that Adam sinned is put forward 
as involving the necessary sinfulness and death of all his descendants. 
There was for the Jew a law given by Moses which it was impossible for 
him perfectly to obey ; there was for the Gentile an inner law of the heart 
telling him what was right and rebuking his transgressions ; but his fleshly 
desires were in permanent captivity to sin. 

Thus, without God's intervention, which, however, was foreordained and 
as much part of the general scheme as sin had come to be, man's state was 
one of hopeless ruin. This intervention was in the form of His Son Jesus 
Christ, made a true man, freely given and giving Himself, intended to die 

^ See Dr. Hatch's valuable article on St. Paul in the Encyclo'pcedia JBritannica, 9th 
edition. 



724 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

for man on the cross and to be raised again. This latter event was the 
guarantee of the trnth of the Gospel, of man's forgiveness by God. The 
varying expressions of Paul about the way in which the death of Christ 
saved man have afforded the basis for various theories of redemption. 

His teaching- ^^^^st ^^ became obedient nnto death," He was "made to be sin 
about ciirist. for us," "Christ our Passover is sacrificed," "we were reconciled 
to God through the death of His Son," " God was in Christ reconciling 
the world unto Himself," " ye were bou.ght with a price." The sinner, as 
a condemned criminal, might be acquitted by the favour of God through 
the death of Christ. Christ and His followers are represented as having 
together died to sin. and together risen to righteousness. Thus men might 
once more become righteous by the gift of God, might receive a new life, 
might be adopted as the sons of God. 

Although this salvation was intended and prepared for all men, they 
could only enter into its enjoyment by the co-operation of their own mind 
and will, through faith, that faculty by which one is convinced 
■ of and mentally appropriates that which is not immediately 
tangible. Thus men are said to be saved by their faith, as well as by 
Christ's blood ; and their new righteousness is the result of faith. They can 
only do this by an act of repentance, of grief for past sins, and a resolute 
turning away from them. 

Great objections were evidently raised against this doctrine, as one 
which condoned all sins without the payment of a personal penalty; it 

Penalty for appeared to pass over crimes too readily, and no State has re- 
^^^' frained from punishing men for crimes because of their becoming 
Christians afterwards. Nor is Paul able, in the imperfect knowledge of his 
time, to lay full stress on the physical and social punishment which attends 
and follows wrong-doing in this world, and on the doctrine of physical 
heredity, which explains much that is most striking in his theory of sin- 
fulness and death through "Adam." The view that the Christian doctrine 
of forgiveness wrongly condones crimes, and that it is immoral to conceive 
of a guiltless person as suffering the penalty due to the guilty, has not 
yet lost its influence, and forms a perpetual question for the Christian 
philosopher. St. Paul describes the saved man as actuated, even 

spirit of the filled, by a new spirit. Christ's Spirit dwells in him. It is 
Christian. i;^^pQgsi]3}Q fQ^. j^fj^ ^q g^^^^ gQ Xq^l^ as he realises his new state ; 
and after lapses, repentance brings reinstatement. The new life of man- 
kind is intimately connected with the hope of the general resurrection, of 
which Christ's resurrection is a pledge. The advent of Christ, which Paul 
conceived as near at hand, was to be followed by a reign during which He 
will put all enemies under His feet. Sometimes unbelievers are threatened 
with eternal destruction ; at others we are told that in Christ all will be 
made alive. On this subject, as on numerous others, we may account for the- 
variety of presentation by the fact that the work and influence of Christ had 
various bearings, and could only be adequately stated by using such variety. 
It was so great that no one form of words sufficed to describe it fully. 



THE APOSTOLIC TIMES. 725 

There is much in Paul's theology which is closely — too closely and 
pedantically, according to some — linked with Jewish ideas of the necessity 
of sacrifice — especially if we regard the Epistle to the Hebrews Jewish ideas 
as his. It was also related to philosophy, the freewill and °^ sacrifice, 
necessity controversy. Epicureanism, Stoicism, and Asceticism. The 
doctrine of predestination has been founded very largely on certain ex- 
pressions of his, while others, displaying the freewill of man, are equally 
quoted by its opponents. The question whether salvation is by w^orks or 
by grace alone is largely a matter of discussion from his writings. 

The body of a Christian was described by Paul as '' the temple of the 
Holy Grhost." Every believer was part of Christ's body. The whole 
number of behevers constituted a collective "body," the Church of ^j^^ church 
Christ ; and the members each had their function, without the as the body 
due discharge of which the whole body suffered. We gain a 
good idea of the local communities from his epistles, and the way in 
which their diversities of gifts were utilised. Every man had the right to 
speak in the assemblies, but this right was withheld from women, as 
among the Jews. A system of government, depending sometimes upon the 
vote of the assembly, sometimes upon the authority of the apostles or elders, 
was gradually built up ; and in various ways the new life showed itself in 
original composition, in teaching, and in works of mercy and hospitality 
carried to an extent little practised before. Every such work was part of 
the ministry {dialwnia)^ and every worker was so far a deacon. . 
The special fixing of the name deacon, presbyter, bishop, on 
particular individuals, arose by natural evolution as the churches became 
organised. What is known as the priestly power is little manifested in St. 
Paul's references to any but himself, the other apostles, Timothy, and Titus, 
and it shows no tendency to assume a power to forgive sins, or to pass 
beyond the declaration of forgiveness through Christ. Baptism was the 
mode of formal admission to the Church, and believers were re- Ba^^^ism and 
garded by Paul as buried with Christ through baptism, and the Lord's 
rising with Him in newness of life. Baptism made all men ^pp®^* 
brothers in Christ Jesus, so that afterwards he recognised no distinction of 
persons — Jew and G-reek, slave and freeman, were all equal. All partook of 
a common meal, the Lord's supper, thus realising the unity, and partici- 
pating mystically in the body and blood of Christ, as symbolised by bread 
and wine. 

In the midst of doctrinal elaborations, St. Paul again and again breaks 
into lofty outbursts like the unsurpassed description of Christian love in 
1 Corinthians xiii., and the apostrophe to the wisdom and know- Lofty out- 
ledge of God (Rom. xi. 33-36). By such passages, quite as much ^^^s*^- 
as by his powerful doctrinal statements, going to the root of human difficul- 
ties, St. Paul still influences the world far more than it knows. 

In one important direction many hold that St. Paul falls behind the 
loftiest ideal — namely, in the position he assigns to women. Many Teaching as 
of his references to them emphasise their subjection and subor- *® women. 



726 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

dination to men. As regards wives, lie finds an analogy between the relation 
of the Church as subject to Christ, and that of wives to husbands. 

The Apostle John also ranks among the foremost of the fou.nders of 
Christianity ; but we are singularly ignorant as to his personal history, with 
the exception of the incidents recorded in the gospels. The name 
given by Christ to him and his brother James, ''Boanerges," 
sons of thunder, implies something different from the idea of gentle 
feminine affection so generally associated with St. John, and was justified 
by several actions and sayings of the brothers. But he is specially dis- 
tinguished as "the disciple whom Jesus loved," and as having been 
entrusted by his Master with the care of His mother after His death. 
From this time forward we have no trace of his special individual action, 
though he took part in the general proceedings of the infant Church at 
Jerusalem. According to tradition, he spent most of his later life at 
Ephesus, and lived to a great age, having g-mong his disciples Polycarp, 
Papias, and Ignatius, and dying about the close of the first century. His 
His first first epistle is one of the most important books in the New 
Epistle. Testament. It nowhere deals with the Christian life in the tone 
of St. Paul, but bears strong testimony to the reality of Christ's history. It 
gives a view of the nature of the Divine Being, " God is light," which adds 
to the repertory of Biblical descriptions of God, and he applies the image in 
a number of ways. Christians have confessed their sins and are forgiven, 
and the " blood of Jesus" cleanses them from all sin. They are the sons of 
God, and the proper fruit of that relationship is sinlessness. Their true life 
is to be manifested by love. Christ had laid down his life for them, and 
they ought to be willing to lay down their lives for their brethren. It was 
only by mutual love that the real Christian life could be shown. "With 
matchless simplicity, directness and clearness, the apostle describes the place 
love occupies in the Christian life and evidences. 

It cannot be precisely decided what is meant by the designation of 
<' brethren of the Lord," in which the authors of the Epistles of James and 
St James J^'^^® ^^'® included. They naturally had great influence in the 
early Church; and the Epistle of James is a robust, weighty 
document, addressed to Jewish converts to Christianity, designed to elevate 
their standard of practical life. It appears to have been written in a time 
of difficulty and persecution, and contains many expressions bearing 
specially upon such a season. He condemns the lack of full trust in God, 
and a too great regard for temporal possessions, and reminds his readers of 
the perfection of God's gifts, and the unchangeableness of His -nature. It 
is a matter still under dispute whether it was written before or after St. 
Paul's epistles, and whether it makes any reference to his doctrines. Many 
Faith and regard the epistle as directed against mistaken inferences from 
works. g|.^ Paul's teaching. " The argument turns mainly on the inter- 
pretation of the doctrine of faith and works in James ii. 24, which 
formally, at least, is in direct opposition to Romans iii. 28. Now it is 
certain that the antithesis between Paul and James is not really so sharp as 



THE APOSTOLIC TIMES. 727 

it appears in the verses just cited, because the two do not attach the same 
meaning to the word " faith." In fact, James's faith without works is not 
Paul's justifying faith, but the useless faith without love spoken of in 
1 Corinthians xiii. We have to deal with two types of doctrine using the 
same terms in different senses, so that it is not inconceivable that the two 
may really be capable of such reconciliation in the practical Christian life as 
to make their divergences unimportant." (Prof. Lumby, in Encyc. Brit.) 

The persecution under which the apostles Peter and Paul have both 
been generally believed to have been martyred became known as the first 
general persecution. It took place (a.d. 65) under Nero, who, The first 
having set fire to E-ome, charged the Christians with the crime, general 
Those who were arrested were horribly treated, some being cruci- 
fied, others set on fire, others clothed in wild beasts' skins and torn by dogs ; 
and such cruelty gained compassion for the victims even from the Romans. 
The persecution was widely extended through the provinces, and the Chris- 
tian religion was proscribed by laws and edicts. Fortunately for the young 
Church, before the siege and capture of Jerusalem by Titus, in a.d. 70, the 
Jerusalem Christians had withdrawn to Pella, a village in Decapolis beyond 
the Jordan. There was no cessation, however, in the spread and progress 
of the new religion, and about 95 or 96 the Emperor Domitian set on foot 
the second great persecution. 

The third persecution of which we have any account is that of Trajan, 
dated about 112. "We learn from a well-known letter of Pliny the younger, 
as proconsul of Bithynia, that he had put to death those Chris- puny and 
tians who were informed against and obstinately refused to re- Trajan, 
cant ; those who denied that they were Christians were compelled to invoke 
the gods, and supplicate the emperor's image with incense and wine, and to 
curse the name of Christ. Pliny's testimony as to the early Christian prac- 
tices is very valuable. He says, " They affirmed this to have been the 
utmost of their crime or error, that they were accustomed on a fixed day to 
assemble before daylight, and sing a hymn alternately to Christ as to a god ; 
and they bound themselves by a sacred oath, not to some crime, but to com- 
mit neither thefts, nor robberies, nor adulteries ; not to break their word, 
not to deny a deposit when called upon : which being over, they departed, 
but came together again to take food, in common, and without any guilt." 
The meeting day here spoken of is generally believed to have been "the 
Lord's day," or first day of the week, and the common meal is identified 
with the love-feast eaten in connection with the Lord's Supper. 

Pliny's measures brought back many to the worship of the temples. 
Trajan, in reply to him, directed that while informers and anonymous accu- 
sations were to be discouraged, those convicted must be punished ; but those 
who renounced Christianity and supplicated the gods were to be pardoned. 
The death of Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, who has been previously men- 
tioned (p. 708), is referred to the persecution under Trajan. Ignatius is said 
to have been one of the disciples of St. John, and at any rate was contem- 
porary with some of the apostles. He appears to have been condemned to 



728 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



death about a.d. 107, and to have been sent to Eome, where he 



Ignatius. 



was killed by beasts in the sports of the arena. A good many 




details of his journey to Rome are preserved in his celebrated epistles. That 
addressed to the Romans contains some striking meditations on his ap- 
proaching martyrdom ; indeed, it has been called a martyr's manual, and 



THE APOSTOLIC TIMES. 729 

from early times had a great influence on others. He rejoiced in the pros- 
pect of his death. " Let me be given to the wild beasts," he wrote, His 
"for through them I can attain unto Grod." His journey had been martyrdom, 
a constant struggle with wild beasts (the guards who accompanied him). 
" Let fire and cross, and grapplings with wild beasts, wrenching of bones, 
hacking of limbs, crushings of my whole body come. . . . Only be it 
mine to attain unto Jesus Christ. It is good for me to die for Jesus Christ 
rather than to reign over the farthest bounds of the earth. Him I seek, who 
died on our behalf; Him I desire, who rose again. The pangs of a new 
birth are upon me. When I am come thither, then shall I be a man. Permit 
me to be an imitator of the passion of mj^ God." Parts of his epistles attack 
the docetism of the time, which denied Christ's humanity. His evidence is 
also important as to the early appointment and recognition of bishops. 

His friend Polycarp, another disciple of St. John, was also martyred, 
but many years later. He was learned, of spare diet and simple clothing, a 
liberal almsgiver. At an advanced age he was chosen bishop of 
Smyrna, and was a companion of Papias and Ignatius, who, in- 
deed, charged him to write to the churches eastward of those to whom he 
had written. His only extant letter to the Philippians has already been 
referred to. Various testimonies show that Polycarp exercised very wide 
influence. Ireneeus, afterwards bishop of Lyons (a.d. 177), a pupil of his, 
has described many characteristics of his person, teachings, and character. 

Polycarp, in his later years, visited Rome, where he conferred with 
Bishop Anicetus about the time for celebrating the death of Christ, which, 
Polycarp said, according to the practice of St. John and the other apostles 
with whom he had spoken, should be kept on the day of the Jewish Pass- 
over, the 14th Nisan, on whatever day of the week it might fall. Polycarp's 
end came as a consequence of a popular demand for victims for the public 
games in Smyrna. The cry " Away with the atheists ! " (disbelievers in the 
Oreek and Roman gods), "Let search be made for Polycarp," led to his 
apprehension, when, after a simple " God's will be done," he stood His 
and prayed for two hours, and then went steadfastly before the iJiartyrdom. 
authorities and refused to recant. When pressed to revile Christ, he said, 
" Fourscore and six years have I served Him, and He hath done me no 
wrong. How then can I speak evil of my King, who saved me ? " He was 
led to a stake and burnt to death (a.d. 155 or 156). With his sufferings, it 
is said, the persecutions of the Christians for a time ceased. 

It is evident from these examples that the men who immediately suc- 
ceeded the apostles were inspired by the same spirit, endued with the sam^ 
love for the truth they had received, and resolute to die rather than deny 
their Lord and Master. It was this spirit, this resolution to face death 
rather than do, say, or acknowledge anything they believed untrue to Christ 
and to their religious belief, which laid the foundation of the Christian 
Church so broadly and strongly during the early centuries, when the vast 
power of the Roman empire was continually occupied in discouraging and 
•often in trying to exterminate it. 




THE SEVEN SONS OF ST. FELICITAS, SAID TO HAVE BEEN MARTYKED 
UNDER MARCUS AURELIUS. 



CHAPTER IV. 



Cfin'sti'anitp perse tutrti : ^ecoiiti mxtt COiiD Centufies. 

Persecution by Marcus Aurelius —A Roman senator martyred— Wide spread of Christianity in second 
century.— Persecution by Septimius Severus— Period of toleration— Persecution by Decius— 
Cyprian on flight— The martyr spirit at Rome— Gallienus's edict of toleration— Persecution of 
Diocletian— Galerius's decree of toleration— Constantino grants religious freedom—" Teaching of 
the Twelve Apostles "—Justin Martyr— His flrst apology— Second apology— Dialogue with Trypho 
—Justin's characteristics— Melito—Tatian—Athenagoras—Theophilus of Antioch— Iren^us— The 
Pseudo-Clementine writings— Clement of Alexandria— Origen— His works -"First Principles" 
— " Answer to Celsus " — Hippolytus—TertuUian— Cyprian— Heretical baptism— The unity of the 
Church — Ebionism — Gnosticism — Basilides — Valentinus— Marcion— Tatian— The Encratites— 
Manichseism — Manes, or Mani — The Monarch tans— Paul of Samosata— The Patripassians— 
Sabellius— The Montanists— The Millenarians — Churches — The Church— Catechumens— Baptism — 
ConJarmation— Worship— The Lord's Supper— Love-Feasts— Eucharistic doctrine— Discipline— 
Fasting— Easter — The Quartodecimans— Whitsuntide— Growth of the priestly order— Bishops- 
Popular election — Parish and diocese— Metropolitan, archbishop, patriarch— The bishopric of 
Rome — Unity of the Church. 

IN dealing very briefly with, the vast amount of interesting history 
pertaining to tlie first ages of the Church, we shall first refer to the 
general course of the history, then to the great teachers and writers, and 
the chief heretical movements affecting the Church, and finally describe the 
main features of Church life and organisation in the first three centuries. 

The philosophic emperor, Marcus Aurelius, a sceptic about the gods he 
upheld (see page 438), strangely enough was a more severe persecutor of 
Persecution Christianity than his predecessors. Adopting from the Stoics 
by Marcus their incredulity about marvels, and contemning what he thought 
the obstinacy or tragic airs of the Christians, he was not un- 
wilHng to see in their refusal of homage to the gods to whom he paid out- 
ward homage an act of treason against his own majesty. The calamities 
which occurred during his reign were followed by fresh outbreaks of perse- 
cution more or less throughout his empire. Some of the inscriptions in the 
catacombs of the Christians at Rome record the severity of their lot, and the 



CHRISTIANITY PERSECUTED. 



731 



fact tliat tliey resorted even to caverns to worsliip, without being able to 
escape martyrdom. During tbe time of M. Aurelins, Justin Martyr was 
beheaded at Rome (about 166), Polycarp 
suffered at Smyrna, Melito at Sardis, 
Pothinus, bishop of Lugdunum (Lyons), 
in Gaul (177). In the latter province 
Christian slaves were crucified, natives 
of Gaul were thrown to wild beasts, and 
Roman citizens beheaded by order of the 
emperor. Dogs were allowed to eat the 
bodies, and what they left was burnt and 
the ashes thrown into the Rhone in con- 
tempt for the ' belief in the resurrection. 
The famous Irenseus, afterwards successor 
of Pothinus, carried a letter from the 
Gallic churches to those of Asia and 
Phrygia describing these events. 

During the reign of Commodus (180- 
192), there is recorded the striking fact 

of the martyrdom of a Roman senator, Apollonius, who, however, was 
permitted to read a full apology for his faith before the whole 
Senate. By the close of the second century Christianity had been senator 
preached with success in every province of the Roman empire, ^^^*y^® • 
even possibly in Britain, though we cannot trust the tradition relating that 
a British king, Lucius, sent to Pope Eleutherus begging for Wide spread of 
instruction in Christianity. Beyond the Roman dominions, ins^econd^ 
Parthia, Media, Persia, and various barbarous tribes of Europe century. 

had been evangelised with more or less 




MARCUS AURELIUS. 



success. 

In 202 the emperor Septimius Severus, 
who had at first been favourable to the 
Christians, issued an edict for- persecution 
bidding his subjects to embrace by septimius 
Judaism or Christianity, and 
this edict started the fifth general per- 
secution. In Egypt and the African pro- 
vince the Christians suffered severely. 
Leonidas, the father of Origen, and Pota- 
misena, a virgm of great beauty and 
courage, were among the martyrs at Alex- 
andria. Potamisena is related to have been 
first cruelly tortured, and then killed by 
immersion in boiling pitch. Her be- 
haviour so affected Basilides, the officer 
who led her to death, that he treated her with humanity, and afterwards 
declared himself a Christian. In Africa, possibly at Carthage, Perpetua, 




SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS. 



732 THE WORLDS RELIGIONS. 

,a young wife, Felicitas, a slave, and others suffered at a show on the 
birthday of Geta, son of Severus. The persecutions diminished under Cara- 
calla (211-217) ; while Elagabalus (218-222), absorbed in his own idolatrous 
Period of projects, appears to have tolerated all forms of religion, and to 
toleration, i^g^yg proposed to celebrate, in the universal temple which he built 
on the Palatine Hill, the rites of Jews and Samaritans, as well as Christians. 
His successor, Alexander Severus (222-235), tolerated both Jews and Chris- 
tians, and in his private chapel for daily worship he bad statues, not of the 
.gods, but of deified men, among whom were Abraham, and Christ, with 
Alexander the Great and Apollonius of Tyana. He had inscribed on his 
palace and on public monuments the negative form of the golden rule. 
His mother, Julia Mamsea, was decidedly favourable to Christianity, and 
invited Origen to the court at Antioch. In the reign of Severus the laws 
against Christians were codified by the famous jurist Ulpian. 

Under the next emperor, the Thracian Maximin (235-238), occurred the 

sixth general persecution. The next emperors were of a milder type, and Philip 

Persecution the Arabian (244-249) was so favourable to the Christians that he 

by Deems, j^g^g j^een claimed as the first Christian emperor. Decius (249-251) 

followed with a systematic attempt to destroy the Christian Church, and the 

bishops and clergy were especially sought out and punished. This (called the 

seventh) was the first really general persecution. Decius appears to have 

thought that the luxury and social evils which prevailed were due to the new 

superstition, and it is said that the lives of some Christians at least gave colour 

to the idea. Christianity had gained in social repute, and the clergy and 

members were taking up social arts and practices. Decius is reported to have 

said that he would rather have a second emperor at his side than a bishop 

at Rome ; and consequently Fabian, the bishop of Rome, and many other 

bishops throughout the empire, were among the martyrs of this time. Origen 

was imprisoned and tortured in various ways, and only regained freedom to 

die in the second year after Decius. Many of those prosecuted yielded and 

offered sacrifice and incense to the gods ; others by money payments gained 

certificates to the same effect. Many, even bishops and priests, fied, either 

€yprianon from cowardice or from prudential motives. The latter course 

flight. ^g^g defended by Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, in these words : 

^' Our Lord commanded us in times of persecution to yield and fly. He 

taught this, and practised it Himself. For since the martyr's crown comes 

by the grace of God, and cannot be gained before the appointed hour, he who 

retires for a time and remains true to Christ does not deny his faith, but only 

bides his time." The Christians in prison at Rome wrote to their African 

brethren in a noble strain of martyrdom : " What more glorious and blessed 

^. ^j^g martvr "^^^ ^^^ ^^ ^^ Ti\.^Ti by the grace of God than to confess the 

I spirit Lord God amidst tortures and in the face of death itself; to 

confess Christ the Son of God with lacerated . body and with a 

spirit departing yet free ? . . . Though we have not shed our blood, we 

are ready to do so." Persecutions continued under the reign of Gallus, and 

in the fifth year of Valerian (257-8) there began an eighth persecution in 



CHRISTIANITY PERSECUTED. 



733 



Edict of 
Toleration. 



wliich Cyprian perisliecl, as well as Sixtus II., bishop of Rome, and his deacon 
Lanrentius, related to have been slowly roasted to death on a grid- oaiiienus's 
iron. The martyrdoms under Valerian were followed by the First 
Edict of Toleration, issued by his son Gallienns, and addressed to 
the bishops. He recalled Christian exiles, restored to them their cemeteries^ 
and acknowledged their religion as "permitted." The bishops were in- 
formed that the officials had been ordered to -evacuate the consecrated 
places, and that they were to reoccupy them ; and the edict was to suffice 
as their authority. Thus the right of the Church to hold property was 
effectively granted. 

His successor, Aurelian, despised the Christians, being a devotee of the 
Sun, and he had prepared an edict for a persecution of the persecution 
Christians, wrongly termed the ninth, when he was assassinated. _ of ^ 
The edict was revoked by his successor, Tacitus. Diocletian, 
a rough Illyrian soldier (Emperor, 284-305), even had a Christian wife^ 
Prisca ; and Valeria, his daughter, married to Gale- 
rius, his associate Caesar, is credited with having 
been able to check hostility to Christianity. Many 
important state offices at this time were held by 
Christians, churches were built in every important 
city, and that at ]Sricomedia,in Asia Minor, then the 
seat of Diocletian, was especially fine. The op- 
ponents of Christianity were stirred to make a great 
effort to crush it. It was represented that profane 
persons (Christians in the Emperor's service) pre- 
vented the proper results of divination from being- 
attained ; alWich persons were ordered by Diocletian 
to sacrifice in person. At last, after several pre- 
liminary steps, on February 23, 303, an edict was 
issued commanding the demolition of all Christian 
churches, the burning of all sacred books, the de- 
gradation of Christians from all offices and their deprivation of civil rights^ 
and the reduction of non-official Christians to a state of practical slavery. 
The church of Nicomedia was destroyed. Diocletian's wife and daughter 
were compelled to join in sacrifice to the gods. Persecution was extended 
far and wide. Very many Christians were burnt or drowned ; many were 
imprisoned in dungeons. Every person who pleaded in a court of justice 
was compelled to sacrifice before his plea was heard. Great ingenuity was 
shown in devising new tortures. Only in Gaul and Britain, then under 
Constantius Chlorus as Caesar, was there any toleration for Christians, and 
even here some martyrdoms took place, as that of St. Alban at Verulam. 
Elsewhere cruelty raged. All officials of Christian churches were seized 
and tortured to make them give up their sacred books, and no doubt at this 
time many invaluable manuscripts perished. In the language of Eusebius, 
executions went on till the swords were dull and shattered, and the wearied 
executioners had to relieve each other. Strangeh^ enough, Diocletian was 




DIOCLETIAN. 



734 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

the last Emperor deified by tlie Roman Senate, and the last who celebrated 
a triumph at Rome. In 305, Diocletian^ worn ont by ill-health, abdicated 
at Nicomedia, and Maximin did the same at Milan, Gralerius and Con- 
stantius succeeding them, with Sever us as C^sar in Africa, and Maximin 
in Syria and Egypt. Galerius, seconded by Maximin, continued the per- 
secution, which was even increased in rigour. All imperial subjects were 
compelled to sacrifice, and food exposed in the markets was sprinkled with 
the libations to the gods in order that Christians should find it impossible to 
. , avoid pollution with idolatry. At last, when dying of loathsome 
decree of disease, Galerius in 311 issued a decree of toleration, which 
acknowledged the failure of previous edicts to suppress Christi- 
anity. It was pretended that the edicts had been inspired by a desire to 
bring back Christians to their own primitive faith. Permission was granted 
to them to rebuild their churches and resume their meetings, on' condition 
that they did nothing to disturb the State ; and finally they were begged to 
pray to their God for the health and welfare of the emperors. In 312, Con- 
stantine, after his victory over Maxentius near Rome, proclaimed toleration 
for the Christians, and in June, 313, he granted freedom of reli- 
grants gion and its exercise throughout the empire. In 327 he professed 
free?°^^ Christianity, and urged all his subjects to embrace the Christian 
religion. Thus ended the first great period of the history- of 
Christianity. 

Before beginning to review the early Apologetic Literature, we may 
refer to a« book which has only in receipt years been discovered and 
" Teaching- of P^^-^^^-'^®^ '^^ Constantinople by Bryennius, namely, " The Teach- 
the Twelve ing of the Twelve Apostles," probably dating from the end of the 
^°^ ^" first century a.d., and exhibiting a' notable relation \m the Epistle 
of Barnabas. The first six chapters deal with the Two Ways, of Life and 
Death ; the former summed up in the precepts " Love God who made thee," 
and " Love thy neighbour as thyself, and do not to another what thou 
wouldest not have done to thyself." The Sermon on the Mount is quoted, 
the Decalogue is enforced, and evils resulting from breach of the spirit of 
the Commandments are denounced. Directions are given for baptism, to 
be preceded by fasting ; for modes of prayer, and the form of the Eucharist 
(which consists of very simple thanksgivings, not like those now associated 
with that office). The blessing of the cup precedes that of the bread. The 
wine is identified with ''the vine of David" made known through Jesus. 
The first thanksgiving is directed to be said " after being filled," Which ap- 
parently excludes anything like the modern type of Communion, but which 
would be applicable rather to the early Love-feasts. Due honour and respect 
for apostles and prophets are enjoined. In chapter xv. the instruction is 
given, "Elect therefore to yourselves bishops and deacons," apparently to con- 
duct the weekly services. Those only may attend who have confessed their 
sins in the church. The last chapter (xvi.) exhorts the Church to watch for 
the Lord's second coming. It is conjectured that the book was produced by 
Christian Jews living to the east of the Jordan after the fall of Jerusalem. 



CHRISTIANITY PERSECUTED. 735 

Very early in Christian history began that series of " Apologies '' or 
answers to objections to Christianity which has never since ceased. The 
earliest of which we hear were addressed to the Roman Emperor Hadrian 
about 125, by Quadratus, Bishop of Athens, and Aristides, an Athenian 
philosopher. At first it was very necessary to show the distinctions between 

Justin "the Christians and the Jews. The first great apologist whose 

Martyr. Apology has come down to. us is Flavins Justinus, commonly 
known as Justin Martyr, born at Neapolis in Palestine (now Nablous) about 
the end of the first century. After studying Greek philosophy and becom- 
ing a Platonist, he adopted Christianity, partly by study of. the sacred books 
and partly through witnessing the steadfastness of the Christians under 
persecution. "We have already mentioned his martyrdom at Rome. His 
first Apology was addressed to the Emperor Antoninus Pius, and refutes the 
His first false charges brought against Christianity, declares its principal 
Apology, truths, and describes Christian worship and practices. His 
courage is very marked. '^ As for us Christians," he says, " we do not 
consider that we can suffer any ill from any one, unless we are convicted of 
wickedness or evil-doing. You can kill us, indeed, but damage us you- 
cannot." Against the charge of setting up a new kingdom, he says, " Surely 
we are the best friends a ruler could desire, — we who believe in a God 
whose eye no crime can escape, no falsehood deceive, — we who look for an 
eternal judgment, not onty on our deeds, but even on our thoughts." He 
alleges as proofs of the truth of Christianity that its chief events had been 
predicted in the Old Testament, and that it had produced moral conversion 

Second ill all kinds of offenders. His second Apology, written apparently 
Apology. j^Qt long after the first, was instigated by some atrocious condem- 
nations of Christians to death, showing that a future day of retribution 
would come, and that Christianity was far above the State religion in its 
moral character, and above the philosophical systems in vogue. Bold pro- 
tests of innocence were made, and Justin shows that Christians had nothing 
to withdraw or give up. 

In his " Dialogue with Trypho," a Jew, Justin proves the Christian 
position from the Hebrew Scriptures. Typho wonders how the Christians 
Dialogue with could profess to serve God, and yet break the Mosaic law which 

Trypho. Qq^j ^i^^ giveii, and how they could believe in a human Saviour. 
Justin in reply shows that the binding nature of the Jewish law passed 
away with the coming of Christ, who, while human, was truly divine, pre- 
existent, yet subordinate to the Father, then became incarnate, was cruci- 
fied, rose again and ascended to heaven. He defends himself against the 
charge of advocating a plurality of gods by bringing numerous passages of 
the Old Testament to show that they involved the existence and manifesta- 
tion of such a person as Christ [e.g. in the Theophanies). Tliis dialogue has 
great valile as showing the mode of interpreting Scripture at a very early 
date, and as covering a great part of the ground of theology. Justin is also 
remarkable for his allowing that the Divine Being was revealed in part to 
the GentileSj and especially to such philosophers as Socrates, who, he says, 



736 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



was martyred for Christ. As regards the Holy Spirit, Justin was less 
definite, but he holds Him worthy of Divine honour, as being concerned in 




THE CATAC3MBS AT ROME BURIAL PLACES OF EARLY CHRISTIANS ^ 

creation and in inspiration. He holds mainly the Pauline view ot original 
sin and its remission through Christ ; believes in the resurrection of the 
body, and eternal (seonian) punishment of sinners. 



CHRISTIANITY PERSECUTED. 737 

It is admitted that Justin interprets Scripture in a way very 
antagonistic to Judaism, and that many of his reasonings will not stand the 
tests of strict logic or fuller knowledge. The number and Justin's cha- 
minuteness of his references to Christ's life and words give racteristics. 
evidence that he knew substantially the same history that we have. The 
same body of facts is referred to, with but some few additions and altera- 
tions, such as that Christ was born in a cave, was not comely of aspect, and 
made ploughs and yokes, emblem,s of righteousness ; that the Jews ascribed 
His miracles to magic, that Christ said, " There shall be schisms and 
heresies," and '' In whatsoever I find you, in that will I judge you." He calls 
the records that he refers to '' Memoirs of the Apostles," records of 
Christ's sayings and doings written by the apostles or their followers. 
There is strong reason to believe that he knew St. Matthew's and St. Luke's 
Gospels ; but his inexactness of quotation prevents our being certain that 
he did not use some gospel or original document which has not come down 
to us. There is much in common between his ideas of the word and the 
Fourth Gospel, but he has no direct quotation from it. One or two passages, 
however, seem only compatible with a knowledge of this gospel. He has 
distinct references to 1 Corinthians and 2 Thessalonians, and makes other allu- 
sions onl}^ compatible with knowledge of other books of the New Testament. 
Further, it must be remembered that Justin apparently wrote other books 
which are lost, and which, probably, contained many of the things we miss. 

Melito, bishop of Sardis, in the third quarter of the second century, 
wrote an Apology (addressed to the Emperor Marcus Aurelius), as well as nu- 
merous other works mentioned by Eusebius. In one of his works 
he gave a list of the acknowledged books of the Old Testament. 

Tatian, born in Assyria about 120, was a hearer of Justin Martyr, at 
Eome, and wrote a Discourse to the Gree'ks^ which is practically an '' ik-pology 
for Christianity," in which he denounced the immorality and 
absurdities of the Greek stories of the gods, and vindicated 
the ''barbaric" {i.e. the Christian) writings. He evidently used the 
Logos philosophy of the Fourth Gospel, often in almost identical language, 
and developed the idea of the Spirit beyond Justin. The Spirit of 
God, he says, takes up His abode with those who live justly, and proclaims 
truth in the form of prophecies. Tatian was the first who is recorded to 
have made a harmony of the gospels (the Diatessaron), which has been 
in modern times recovered and reconstructed by Zahn from an Armenian 
version of a commentary on it by Ephraem the Syrian in the fourth 
century. It is deduced from this that Tatian accepted and afhrmea ^ne 
historical character of the four gospels, though he does not regard them, as 
infallible in their chronology, but re-arranges it according to probabilities. 
After the death of Justin Martyr, Tatian was considered to have become 
unorthodox, and to have adopted gnostic views. His extant works only 
discover certain tendencies which may have led him from the Christian 
standards ; but he was condemned by Irenseus as " puffed up as if superior 
to other teachers, and forming his own type of doctrine." 

3 B 



738 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

Athenagoras, of Athens, was a philosopher who studied Christianity 
in order to write a refutation of it, but became a teacher of the faith. 
His " Apology " (which he calls an " embassy " concerning 
' Christians, addressed to the Emperors Marcus Aurelius, 
Antoninus, and Commodus) defends Christians against the current charges 
of atheism, incest, and cannibalism at their feasts. Its date is probably 
about 176. Another work of his " On the Eesurrection of the Dead," 
argues the question mainly from philosophy, and from the nature of God 
and^of man. He strongly upholds the unity of the Godhead, while teaching 
that in God there dwelt from eternity the Logos, His Son. He quotes 
numerous phrases from the New Testament without mentioning their 
source. 

Theophilus qf Antioch, Bishop of Antioch in the latter part of the 
second century, wrote an Apology addressed to an unbelieving friend named 
TheophHus Autolycus, which is perhaps most notable as being the first book 
of Antioch. ^^ which the Trinity (Gr. Trias) in the Divine nature is referred 
to. The first three days of creation, he says, were types of the triad — God, 
His "Word, and His wisdom ; but the personality of the Holy Spirit still 
remains indistinct in his account. 

Irenseus, Bishop of Lyons, a native of Asia Minor, in his youth a pupil 
of Polycarp, and thus connected with St. John, was chosen as the successor 
of Pothinus at Lyons, in 178, and probably held that see for 
twenty-five years. He was a zealous preacher, both to the 
heathen and against heretics, and was notably eager to preserve peace within 
the Church. Already in his time the Roman Church, through Bishop Victor, 
was seeking to compel the Churches of Asia Minor to keep Easter on the 
same day as the E-omans did (see p. 372), and Irenseus remonstrated agains 
Victor cutting them off from his communion, and his circular letter 
probably prevented other Churches from following the E-oman example. It 
is doubtful whether Irenseus was martyred. The great work of Irenseus is 
usually known by the brief title " Against Heresies," but its complete 
designation is "Detection and Upsetting of falsely-called Knowledge," 
(Gnosis), written in Greek against the gnostic heresies. We have the 
greater portion of a Latin version, and fragments of the original Greek. 

Here we may refer to the works known as the pseudo-Clementines, 
written probably in the second half of the second century, in the name of 
The Pseudo- Element of Eome. The Homilies, described as "a philosophico- 
ciementine religious romance, based on some historical traditions," profess to 
writings. ^.^^ ^^ account of the discourses of St. Peter on his apostolic 
journeys, as given to Clement. The author puts into the mouth of Peter a 
mixture of Ebionite and Gnostic teaching, seeing in Christianity merely a 
restoration of the pure primitive revelation. Much of its teaching is inter- 
preted as a veiled attack on St. Paul. The Recognitions purports to be an 
autobiography addressed by Clement to James, bishop of Jerusalem. ^ The 
books resemble one another in many points, and are regarded as diverse 
forms of one original. To Clement were also ascribed the Apostolical Con- 



CHRISTIANITY PERSECUTED. 739 

stitutions and Canons^ the former consisting of eight books of Church laws, 
customs, liturgies, and moral exhortations, an early work, and the latter, 
probably collected in the fourth or fifth century, containing a system of 
discipline for the clergy. All the four gospels, principally St. Matthew, 
are quoted in the Clementines, with considerable verbal differences from 
our present text ; and a few passages not found in our gospels are quoted. 

Clement of Alexandria was the earliest great teacher at Alexandria 
devoted to the instruction of catechumens or those preparing for Christian 
baptism, from about a.d. 190 to 203. He was followed by the clement of 
still more notable Origen, Of the three chief works of Clement, -^exandna. 
the Exliortation to the G^^eelcs shows the folly and immoral character of the 
Greek rehgion ; the second, the Tutor., inculcates Christian morality, and 
the third, " Stromata^^'' or Patchwork, gives the deeper Christian teaching 
in an unsystematic fashion. Clement represents that in his teaching he is 
reproducing original unwritten tradition, derived from the apostles, and con- 
stituting a true guide to knowledge or gnosis, in opposition to the false gnosis 
then abundant. He quotes with emphasis the Epistle of Barnabas, and also 
" the Preaching of Peter," and the "Gospel according to the Hebrews," as 
well as the books of the canon ; but he quotes loosely and inaccurately. He 
describes the philosophic believer as comprehending the complete' truth of 
God, and becoming as far as possible like God. Man is born for God's 
service, for which he is fitted by painful training, and by receiving the 
Holy Spirit. He recognised and valued highly the good side of heathenism 
and of Greek philosophy. " The training of the Jews and the training of 
the Greeks were in different ways designed to fit men for the final mani- 
festation of the Christ. . . . The various schools of philosophy are de- 
scribed as rending in pieces the one truth, like the Bacchants, who rent the 
body of Pentheus, and bore about the fragments in triumph. Each one, 
he says, boasts that the morsel which it has had the good fortune to gain is 
all the truth. . , . He that again combines the divided parts and unites 
the exposition in a perfect whole, will, we may be assured, look upon the 
truth without peril " ("Westcott, in Diet. Christ. Biog.). 

A pupil of Clement, Origen (in full, Origenes Adamantius) was destined 
greatly to excel his master in fame. Born at Alexandria in 185 of Christian 
parents, and baptised in infancy, he early studied both the Bible . 
and Greek literature. During the persecution of a.d. 202, his 
father Leonidas was martyred, and Origen would have suffered the same 
fate but that his mother hid his clothes. He afterwards supported himself 
and his mother and family by teaching Greek and copying manuscripts. 
In 203, at the age of eighteen, he was made head of the catechetical school 
vacated by Clement. To further qualify himself for this office he studied 
under Ammonius Saccas, the founder of Neo-Platonism, a teacher who no 
doubt greatly broadened his views. He lived a most ascetic life, and to 
guard himself against temptation, through having numerous female cate- 
chumens, he emasculated himself ; and by his teaching and life made many 
converts. About 211 he visited Eome, where ideas of a visibly united Church, 



740 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



made up of baptised persons, were already strong, while the Alexandrians 
regarded the Church as composed of all holy people both in heaven and on 
earth. Eetnrning to Alexandria, Origen made a fresh study of Hebrew, 
and started a great commentary on the Bible, for which Ambrose, a rich 
convert, provided a library, shorthand writers and copyists. In his numerous 
foreign journeys to instruct princes and notable people who sent for him, 
the bishops of Jerusalem (Alexander) and CaBsarea invited him to preach in 
their churches, though he was still a layman. Later, he was ordained a 
presbyter by the same bishops (a.d. 228), which excited the anger of Deme- 
trius, bishop of Alexandria, who in 231 and 232 held two councils at Alex- 
andria, at which Origen was accused of having mutilated himself, of having 
been ordained without the consent of the bishop un^er whom he worked, 
and of teaching erroneous doctrines, such as that the devil would be finally 
saved, etc. He was forbidden to teach, and excommunicated, a sentence 
which was confirmed by the Roman and Western Churches, but rejected in 
Palestine, PhcBnicia, and Greece. Origen withdrew to Csesarea, where he 
continued to teach. Afterwards he again travelled widely, partly owing to 
persecution by Roman emperors and by Christians. Meanwhile he con- 
tinued to work at his commentary and other writings. During the per- 
secution of Decius, Bishop Alexander of Jerusalem was martyred, and Origen 
was condemned to death and cruelly tortured. But the death of Decius 
freed Origen, who however was shattered in strength, and died a few years 
later at Tyre, about 255. 

The Church of Rome refused to Origen the titles of Saint and Father, 
in common with Clement of Alexandria and Tertullian ; but he was cer- 
tainly one of the greatest scholars and most powerful intellects of his time. 
He was very fond of allegorical and mystical interpretation, and also of 
literal following of ascetic teaching. He was the first to attempt a complete 
study of and comment on the Bible, and to endeavour to settle 

His w^orks 

its text by a Polyglott Old Testament (called Hexapla), including 
six versions side by side ; namely, the Hebrew, the same in Grreek letters, 
the Septuagint, Aquila's Greek version, the text of Symmachus (possibly 
an Ebionite), and that of Theodotion, an Ephesian. This great work, kept 
in the library at Caesarea, was still in use in Jerome's time. Only a few 
portions have survived. Of his other numerous writings we have little beside 
the "Answer to Celsus," an important work, and the "De Principiis," a work 
on the first principles of Christian doctrine ; but these suffice to show Origen 
to have been the greatest Christian writer who had appeared since the 
"First apostolic times. His work on "First Principles" was the first 
Principles." attempt to fashion a philosophy of the Christian faith. The 
object or end of life, he says, is the progressive assimilation of man to God 
by the voluntary appropriation of His gifts. Rational beings are endowed 
with freewill, and with responsibility for their actions ; they can never 
cease to be. They have the power of learning from the revelation of God's 
will in the Scriptures, upon which a rational faith is to be founded. Bishop 
Butler, in the introduction to his " Analogy," quotes a famous sentence from 



CHRISTIANITY PERSECUTED. 



74T 



this book as having supplied an important hint for his own work. '' He 
who believes the Scripture to have proceeded from Him who is the Author- 
of Nature, may well expect to find the same sort of difficulties in it as are 
found in the constitution of Nature." 

Origen's "Answer to Celsus " is a powerful reply to the "True Dis- 
course " of Celsus, an Epicurean philosopher, who in it attacked the whole 
idea of the supernatural, the incarnation and resurrection of u^nswerto 
Christ, and the intellectual and moral character of the Christians, ceisus." 
Origen's answer is close, and in many parts conclusive ; but his lack of 
the true historic sense mars much of his work. He maintained the true 
and perfect manhood of Christ, subject to the conditions of natural growth, 
and the true and perfect divinity of the " God Word," which was so united 
with the Man Christ Jesus, through the human soul, as to be one person. 




ST. APOLLINAEIS IN CLASSE, BAVENNA (538-549). 

He regarded the Son as less than the Father, and as reaching only to 
rational beings ; while the Holy Spirit was still less, and extended only to 
the saints. The work of Christ was for all men, and for the whole of man. 
His life and death was a vicarious sacrifice for sin, and was even of value 
to heavenly beings. The future consummation of the world would include 
the restoration of all beings to unity in God. Future punishment, pro- 
portionate to sin, awaited all sinners. " His gravest errors," says "Westcott, 
" are attempts to solve that which is insoluble." He has been so far mis- 
understood as to be charged with being the forerunner of Arianism, cind 
with holding many other heresies. For his own age he is a remarkable 
example of boldness and freedom of thought arising in the new Church, 
Among the followers of Origen who can merely be mentioned are Dionysius, 
bishop of Alexandria, a.d. 248-265 ; Gregory Thaumaturgus, bishop of 
Neocsesarea in Pontus, 244-270 ; Pamphilus of Csesarea, the friend of 
Eusebius ; and Hesychius, an Egyptian bishop, martyred in 311 ; while 



742 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

Methodius, bishop of Patara, in Lycia, attacked his views of the creation 
and resurrection of the body in three dialogues. 

Groing back to the contemporaries of Origen, we must briefly mention 
Hippolytus, bishop of the port of Rome, at the mouth of the Tiber, whose 
Hippoiytus. ^^^^^® ^^^ ^^g ^"^P ^^ ^hh\ in Eome, inscribed with the names 
of his works, including one " against all heresies," of which the 
greater part only became known by a discovery in the monastery of Mount 
Athos, in 1842. It is entitled " Philosophoumena," and describes heathen 
philosophies, and all the heresies since the apostles' times, and incident- 
ally gives considerable information about the author's life and beliefs, and 
the history of the Roman Church. He strongly censured the laxity of the 
contemporary Roman bishops Zephyrinus and Callistus. He was probably 
martyred near Rome, near the close of the first half of the third century. 

The earliest great Latin Christian writers flourished in the Roman 
province of Africa, chiefly in the old territory of Carthage. TertuUian, 
Tertuiiian. ^^^^ between 150 and 160, was trained as a lawyer, and only 
became a Christian about a.d. 192, after which he was a presbyter 
of the Church. He joined the Montanists about the end of the century. 
His death took place somewhere between 220 and 240. While still remain- 
ing an orthodox Christian, Tertuiiian wrote several important works, such 
as his Address to the Martyrs, and his Apology, his greatest writing. After 
he became a Montanist, he wrote many books defending the special doc- 
trines of the sect, though without giving up any of what he considered to 
be the true teaching of Christianity. The character of his writings is 
described as " abrupt and impetuous, eloquent and stern," though often 
with tender and beautiful passages. He vehemently denounced flight m 
persecution, second marriages, ostentatious and elaborate dressing by 
Christian women, and enjoined severe fasts and other ascetic practices. 

Cyprian, the second great African father, was born at Carthage, about 
A.D. 200, of a wealthy family, was highly educated, and became a famous 
teacher of rhetoric. He was baptised a Christian in 245 or 246, 
and studied the Scriptures and Christian writers so successfully 
that in 248 he was called by popular acclamation to take the bishopric of 
Carthage, though still only a layman. When the Decian persecution broke 
out, he fled as a matter of expediency. On his return, he had to deal with 
many cases of those who had fallen away under persecution and now sought 
restoration to the Church. Many had even obtained indulgences in the 
name of martyrs, who while in prison under sentence of death were allowed 
to recommend the restoration of persons under condemnation by the Church. 
Consequently, many lax and disorderly persons obtained admission into 
the Church, and occasioned difficulty and scandal. Cyprian in 251 called 
a council of African bishops, which voted in favour of restoring only those 
of the lapsed who were truly penitent. After this, Novatus, a presbyter, 
with a rich layman named Felicissimus, raised an outcry against Cyprian's 
election as irregular and illegal, and the latter set forward Fortunatus as 
bishop of Carthage, and obtained his ordination by ^nq bishops, all of 



CHRISTIANITY PERSECUTED. 743 

whom were either condemned heretics or had lapsed under persecution ; 
but this schism soon vanished. 

Another great controversy in which Cyprian took an active part, was 
about the acceptance of Christian baptism as valid when performed by 
heretical teachers. He held that no such baptism was valid, and Heretical 
that its efficacy depended not only upon the minister being a baptism, 
priest of the orthodox church, but on his personal holiness. In this matter 
Stephen, Bishop of Rome (253-257), took the broader view that the validity 
depended on following the institution of Christ, not on the state or belief 
of the minister. Those baptised by heretics only needed confirmation. 
Stephen appears to have shown more than a dawning of the high pre- 
tensions of the see of Rome, having even refused to receive those who 
brought the decisions of the African council to Eome, denouncing Cyprian 
as " a false Christ, a false apostle, and a deceitful worker." This harshness 
was followed by the rejection of all communion with the African and the 
Eastern Churches ; and gradually the broader view prevailed, and was 
accepted by the Church generally at the Council of ISTicsea. Cyprian's 
martyrdom under the persecution of Valerian has already been mentioned. 
He left behind him eighty-one epistles, giving most valuable accounts of 
ecclesiastical questions in his age. He also wrote a work " On the Unity 
of the Church," which is the first full assertion of the principle » rpj^g unity of 
of a great united visible Church. He says that " the Church *^e church." 
was founded from the first by Christ on Peter alone. . . . She has ever 
since remained one, in unbroken episcopal succession. . . . He is not a 
Christian who is not in the Church of Christ. Whoever separates himself 
from the Church is a foreigner, a profane person, an enemy. ' Extra 
ecclesiam nulla salus ' " (outside the Church there is no salvation). Through 
Cyprian's influence the Church Council first became of prime importance to 
the life of the Church, and episcopacy acquired a greatly increased power. 
He also strongly asserted the independence of bishops when once elected. 

During the first three centuries the successive setting-up of different 
forms of apinion, which their advocates thought compatible with Christianity, 
led to the discussion and settlement by the Church of numerous 
questions of the highest moment. Ebionism was the first impor- 
tant development, a movement full of zeal for the law of Moses, and tending 
to exalt the old at the expense of the new Covenant. The Ebionites,^ who 
first came into prominence about the beginning of the second century, 
regarded Jesus as the son of Joseph and Mary without any supernatural 
conception, and as a mere man. Only after His baptism did He become 
anointed as Christ and endued with His mission as Messiah. They neither 
believed in His pre-existence nor in His divinity ; they looked for His future 
coming, when the earthly Jerusalem would be restored, and the Jews would 
return there to take their place in the Messiah's millennial kingdom. They 
insisted that the Jewish law should be observed by all Christians, and they 

* Ebion, poor ; hence Ebionite, a follower of Christ's teaching about poverty. 



744 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

strongly opposed the teaching and the claims of St. Paul. There was a 
further type of Ebionism which was specially ascetic in its tone, and identi- 
fied Christianity with what was called genuine or primitive Mosaism. The 
Ebionites only accepted the Pentateuch, and even rejected parts of that. 
They did not define the precise moment of union of Jesus with the Messiah, 
who, they held, was ordained to combat and conquer the devil. As the 
latter was their special enemy, they refused every kind of worldly indul- 
gence, except that they recommended early marriages. They observed both 
the Jewish Sabbath and the Christian Lord's day, but they had no regard 
for the Jewish sacrifices and temple; yet they refused all communion 
with the uncircumcised. Many of them sought to propagate their views. 
They exerted much influence in the second and third centuries in Syria, but 
did not succeed in establishing themselves elsewhere. The teaching of Paul 
prevailed, and the bishops of Palestine, as well as those of Eome, showed their 
disregard for Jewish customs in the settlement of the Paschal controversy 
in the second century. The Ebionites gradually died out without having 
exerted any wide influence. No formal pronouncement of a council against 
them was necessary. Their doctrines died a natural death, though a few 
Ebionites were still heard of up to the middle of the fifth century. 

G-nosticism, though it fills a vast space in the religious history of the 
first centuries of Christianity, is in many features not directly its product. 
It appears to have been related largely to Greek and many other 
* non-Christian philosophies, and it attempted to add to the Chris- 
tian faith a knowledge which was superior to faith. It also claimed to be the 
depository of a secret tradition of early Christianity. The term Grnostic is 
used to cover many diverse sects, the more important of which did not arise 
till the second century. The principal general features of gnosticism as a 
philosophy are the idea of the essential antagonism of spirit and matter, the 
conception of a Demiurgus or effective creator of the world, distinct from the 
supreme God, and the idea that Christ's human body was but a phantasmal 
appearance. The Divine being was supposed to become manifested in the 
form of seons, a term applied to all spiritual powers. The Demiurgus, or 
maker of the visible world, was supposed to be produced by the union of the 
lowest seen with matter. The liberation of human nature from evil was 
effected by the work of Christ, the most perfect of the seons. Two principal 
views of morals were held by various gnostic sects : one, that all matter, in- 
cluding human nature, was corrupt, and every material pleasure was conse- 
quently to be avoided ; the other, that the pure spirit could not be defiled 
by any material thing or act. We can but briefly refer to a few of the 
leaders of gnostic sects. 

Basilides, who flourished at Alexandria in the reign of Hadrian (117-138), 

is best known to us by the extracts given from his writings in the work of 

BasUides ^^PP^ty^^^ against all heresies. His high philosophical teaching 

is too complex to be detailed here. The sect he founded lasted in 

Egypt till about the end of the fourth century. Its members professed to 

possess a hidden knowledge, reckoned themselves more than Christians, 



CHRISTIANITY PERSECUTED. 



745 



claimed and exercised great freedom about contact with, heathendom, in- 
dulged in magic and invocations, and were reputed to practise much, 
immorality. Their ideas were very different from those of their founder. 




Valentinus, a much greater man, was probably also an Alexandrian. 
He is known to have taught at Rome about 138-160, and to 
have died in Cyprus in 160. His system became the most general 
form of gnosticism, and was widely spread through Egypt, Syria, Italy, 



746 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS, 

and Southern Gaul. Early in the third century the Valentinians were the 
most numerous of heretics ; in the fifth they were quite extinct. 

Marcion (first half of the second century), son of a bishop of Sinope in 
Pontus, but excommunicated by his father, went to Eome and sought restora- 
tion from the presbyters there. Failing to obtain his object, he 
formed a sect of his own, by whom he was recognised as bishop, 
and became the founder of a line of Marcionite bishops. His sect was very 
widely diffused by the end of the second century, and their strict asceticism, 
which included celibacy and abstinence from meat and wine, and their 
ardent spirit of martyrdom, made them strong and gave them much success. 
They still existed in the seventh century, but they had been largely eclipsed 
by the newer Manichsean heresy. Marcion recognised three ruling powers : 
the good God, first made known by Christ ; evil Matter, ruled by the devil ; 
and the righteous Demiurge, or world-maker, the angry god of the Jews. 
He rejected the authority of the Old Testament entirely, and regarded Christ 
as having suddenly descended from heaven to reveal God, His body being 
a mere appearance and His death an illusion. By His work He cast the 
Demiurge into Hades, secured the redemption of humanity, and com- 
missioned St. Paul to preach it. The Marcionites observed the usual church 
rites, though their Eucharist excluded wine. They fasted on Saturdays. 
Marcion's canon is referred to at page 713. 

Tatian, of whom we have already spoken (p. 737), the convert of Justin 

Martyr, during Justin's lifetime showed in his writings tendencies to 

Tatian. gnosticism, and later became pronouncedly an ascetic gnostic, 

The founding a sect known as the Encratites (the abstemious), which 

Encratites. j^g^^^ ^^^-j ^^^ iouT\h century. 

Our space is quite inadequate to deal with Manichseism, which may be 

briefly defined as an attempt to combine Christianity with Zoroastrianism . 

Ormuzd and Ahriman appeared as Light and Darkness, each pre- 

■ siding over a distinct kingdom and engaged in perpetual contest. 

Manes, or Mani, a Persian magian converted to Christianity, was its founder. 

Manes, about 270, and was cruelly martyred in 277. His teaching spread 

or Mam, ^i^l^ly through Asia, and reached Africa and Rome. Although 

repressed by the Christian emperors, Manichseism survived as a distinct sect 

till the sixth century. 

Manichseism resembled the gnostic sects in describing Christ's body as 
only an appearance, and consequently rejecting the accounts of His birth and 
early life. As primal man He dwelt in the sun by His power and the moon 
by His wisdom. Hence these two were worshipped as being His habitations. 
The Old Testament was rejected, and the Gospels were only partially 
accepted, as having arisen much later than the time of Christ and the 
apostles, and as having been greatly corrupted. Mani himself claimed to 
be the Paraclete, and propounded his teaching as a revelation. In morals the 
higher order of Manichseans, "the perfect," professed asceticism, idleness, 
and celibacy ; the hearers might live an ordinary life, though they might 
not destroy animals. 



CHRISTIANITY PERSECUTED. 747 

The Manichseans had an elaborate organisation — a chief priest, successor 
of Mani, twelve apostles, seventy-two bishops, and priests, deacons and 
evangelists. Their very simple worship included turning to the sun in 
prayer ; anointing with oil instead of baptism of the " perfect," to whom 
the Eucharist was administered ; and fasting on Sunday. 

These were rather teachings conflicting with Christianity than heresies 
within its pale. We now come to heresies which claimed to express the 
true view regarding most important aspects of truth, about the Divine Being 
in His various manifestations. The discussions upon these developed th.e 
Catholic doctrine about the Trinity of the G-odhead, and about the union of 
the Divine and human natures in Christ. The Monarchians, The 
who rose into prominence towards the end of the second century, Monarchians. 
denied the divinity of Christ, or else described it as a power which filled 
the human Jesus. Yet they mostly believed in His miraculous birth by the 
power of the Holy Spirit, and in the residence of Divine power in His nature 
from His conception. Theodotus of Byzantium was an early leader, and was 
excommunicated at Rome by Bishop Victor (about a.d. 200). 

A distinct form of Monarchism originated with Paul of Samosata, 
bishop of Antioch from a.d. 260. He described both the Logos and the 
Holy Spirit as powers or manifestations of God, not distinct Per- paui of 
sons. The Divine Logos, he taught, dwelt more fully in Christ samosata, 
than in any previous teacher. He was deposed in 269 by a council of 
Syrian bishops, but was protected by Zenobia, queen of Palmyra, and only 
finally deposed after his sentence had been confirmed by the Italian bishops. 

A form of Monarchism which explained the three Persons of the 
Trinity as only the threefold aspect of the Divine Being, was termed Patri- 
passian by TertuUian, because it was inferred that this view ThePatri- 
logically involved the belief that it was God the Father Himself pa-ssians. 
who suffered upon the cross. Praxeas brought this doctrine to Rome from 
Asia Minor near the end of the second century, and was at the same time 
a strong anti-Montanist. He urged that the doctrine of the Trinity was a 
belief in three Gods ; and his mode of explaining his own teaching was that 
the one God, who as Father was Spirit, as Son was flesh ; and that the 
Father sympathised and suffered with the Son. He was condemned by the 
Roman Church, and went to Carthage, where Tertullian wrote a book 
against him. Noetus of Smyrna had his own special form of this heresy, 
to which Zephyrinus, Callistus (Calixtus I.), and Sabellius were won. Cal- 
listus thus expressed his view : " The Father, who was in the Son, took 
flesh and made it God. Father and Son were therefore the name of the 
one God, and this one person cannot be two ; thus the Father suffered with 
the Son." 

Sabellius, however, went farther than Callistus, by whom he was excom- 
municated A.D. 218, and was the most original and profound of the Monar- 
chians. He taught that the unity of God unfolded itself in three ^ 
different forms at successive periods, and after the completion of 
redemption returned into unity. The Father is revealed in the law, 



748 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

the Son in the incarnation, the Holy Spirit in inspiration. The Logos he 
imagined as the one God in transition to the Trinity, the three Persons 
being only successive aspects of the Logos, or world-ward side of the 
Divine. His views led to the enunciation of the Nicene Creed. After his 
excommunication at Rome, he appears to have preached in Egypt, where 
he was condemned in 261, at a council called by Dionysius, bishop of 
Alexandria ; and it is significant that the terms of his condemnation de- 
clared the subordination of the Son to the Father in a form almost identical 
with the subsequent Arian heresy. 

The Montanists, an ascetic sect, arose in Phrygia about the middle 
of the second century, under the preaching of Mont anus, a priest of Cybele. 
The He believed, or gave out, that he was himself the medium of the 
Montanists. Paraclete or Comforter promised by Christ ; and during the per- 
secution by Marcus Aurelius he proclaimed the immediate coming of the 
Holy Spirit, and the commencement of the millennial kingdom of Christ, 
and he and his followers prepared for it by a life of severe discipline and 
a spirit of enthusiastic martyrdom. Most of the Asiatic Churches regarded 
this announcement as made by demoniacal influence, and excommunicated 
the Montanists. In the West it met with more favour, being supported by 
Tertullian, and many Africans and Roman Christians, by Irenseus and the 
Churches of Gaul. Praxeas and Caius, however, obtained its condemnation 
at Rome; but the powerful advocacy of Tertullian greatly raised its 
importance, and led to renewed and enlarged belief in the work of the 
Comforter. On other than these special views, the Montanists were ortho- 
dox in doctrine, acknowledging the entire authority of both Old and New 
Testaments, and agreeing with the Church in their views of the Trinity. 

By a natural transition we come to the Millenarians or Chiliasts, who 
believed in the speedy second coming of Christ to reign in person a thousand 

The years before the general resurrection and last judgment. The 
MUienarians. Montanists were among the most fanatical believers in this, but 
it gradually died after the adoption of Christianity by Constantine, to be 
revived again in more recent times. 

The Christian Churches (assemblies of Christians) only gradually ac- 
quired fixed local habitations, and the word " ecclesia " was applied to 
Churches, ^^^^ngs of believers from its current use for other meetings. 
1 Cor. V. 18, which speaks of the Christians " coming together 
in the church," shows how the meeting place became identified with the 
meeting. Still for a long time the Church met anywhere it could, and 
private houses were generally used, though it was often necessary to 
assemble in desert places, and at catacombs and other burial places. We 
do not find mention of special buildings for Christian worship until about 
the end of the second century, when, in addition to the name ecclesia^ they 
were called " the Lord's houses," and " houses of God." The name " Lord's 
house" referred specially to the Lord Jesus Christ. In French ecclesia 
appears as eglise^ in Welsh as eglwys ; but the Anglo-Saxon cyrice^ cyrc, 
English church, Scotch kirk, German KircTie, supplanted it. Whether this 



CHRISTIANITY PERSECUTED. 



749 



word is derived from the Greek word for "Lord's house," or from a primi- 
tive Aryan word meaning enclosure, is doubtful. 

During the second half of the third century many churches were built, 
often of considerable architectural pretensions, and provided with gold and 




INTERIOR OF S CLEMENT'S, ROME (TWELFTH CENTURY). 
(Built above a sixth-century hasilica. The choir, probably dating from the sixth century, is here an enclosure 

witliin the 7iave.) 

silver vessels. The church at Nicomedia, destroyed by Diocletian, was one 
of the grandest. 

In its application to persons, the " Church " signified the whole body ot 
Christians, those dwelling in any town or neighbourhood constitut- 
ing the Church in that place. Of course admission to the Church 
had to be guarded, and exclusion had to be practised as necessity arose. 



750 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

Baptism constituted the rite of admission, accompanied by a profession of 
faith. To ensure the soundness of the latter, previous instruction was 

needed, and in the second centary classes of '' catechumens " were 
a ec umens. f^^^^^^^ j^^ which two or three years might be spent before bap- 
tism. The latter rite was often administered on the eve of Easter and AVhit 

Sunday. A confession of faith had to be made at baptism, in- 
ap ism. ^-^^^jj^g ^]^g chief heads of the Christian faith, and the devil was 
formally renounced. The sign of the cross was made upon the forehead, 
the kiss of peace was given by the minister, and usually baptism was by 
immersion. The rite was not restricted to adult converts, but was also 
administered to the children of Christian parents, this practice being derived 
from the apostles. Tertullian was a prominent opponent of infant baptism, 
believing that it brought children too soon into a condition of responsibility, • 
and that deadly sins committed after baptism could not be forgiven. But 
the tendency to very early baptism (on the second or third day) was strongly 
marked in the middle of the third century. Sponsors not only took the 
vows on behalf of infants, but appeared as sureties for adults. Of course in 
the case of children the catechumen stage had to follow baptism. 

Confirmation, in the case of adults, originally followed baptism at once, 
the presbyters laying their hands on them and anointing them with holy oil. 

In the second century this rite was usually performed by bishops, 
"but infants as well as adults were confirmed, and afterwards 
the Lord's Supper was administered, even to infants in some churches. 

Simplicit}^ characterised the Christian meetings during the first two 
centuries. The meeting places had an elevated seat for the minister to read 

and preach, a plain table for the communion, and a basin of 

water for baptism ; but during the second century the table came 
to be called the " altar," and it was enclosed within railings, together with 
the reading desk and the seats for the clergy. Justin Martyr in his 
Apology gives the following most interesting account of Christian worship 
in his time. ^' On Sunday a meeting is held of all who live in the cities 
and villages, and a section is read from the Memoirs of the Apostles, and the 
writings of the Prophets, so long as the time permits. When the reader has 
finished, the president ^ in a discourse (homily) gives the admonition and 
exhortation to imitate these noble things. After this, we all rise and offer 
prayer. At the close of the prayer, bread and wine and water are brought. 
The president offers prayers and thanks for them as he is able, and the 
congregation answer Amen. Then the consecrated elements are distributed 
to each one and partaken of, and are carried by the deacons to the houses 
of those absent. The wealthy and the willing then give contributions, 
according to their free will, and this collection is deposited with the 
president, who therewith supplies orphans and widows, the poor and needy, 
prisoners and strangers, and takes care of all who are in want." Other 
accounts give fuller descriptions of the singing of Psalms, of the songs in 
the New Testament, and of specially composed hymns, both of praise and 
^ The presiding- presbyter, or bishop. 



CHRISTIANITY PERSECUTED, 75T 

doctrine. Antiphonal or responsive singing was early introduced. Of tliese 
hymns there remain the fine hymn by Clement of Alexandria, and the 
morning and evening hymns of the Apostolical Constitutions. 

In the latter part of the second century the Lord's Supper was separated 
from the ordinary Sunday service, and only full members were allowed to 
remain. Both bread and wine were given to all communicants, The Lord's 
water being mixed with the latter. The Love-feasts of the supper, 
early Churches originated out of the common social meal, but soon became 
more or less perverted to occasions of ostentation on the part of the richer 
members. They at first combined a meal with a special religious service. 
Collections were made for the poor or for necessitous Churches ; the 
" kiss of love " preceded the breaking up of the meetings. As special 
buildings came into use for worship, it was felt that they should not be used 
for such common meals ; and this practice was forbidden by councils in the 
fourth century. The Love-feasts continued to be held in the 
evening, after the Eucharist had been transferred to the morning ; 
and they often became little more than a meal given to the poor. 

The great controversies which have surrounded the Eucharist or 
Holy Communion date in essence from near the apostolic age. Thus 
Ignatius, in answer to those who denied that the Eucharist was Euciiaristic 
the body of Christ, affirmed that it was ^' the fiesh of the crucified doctrine, 
and risen Lord, a medicine of immortality, an antidote to death, giving 
eternal life in Jesus Christ." Both Justin Martyr and Irenseus speak of the 
descent of Christ into the consecrated elements as being like His incarnation. 
TertuUian says that the words of Christ, " This is My body," mean " This is 
the figure or symbol of My body " ; but he also says that the body and 
blood of Christ are really received into the body of the communicant. 
Clement of Alexandria describes the wine as a symbol or allegory of the 
blood of Christ, explaining that the recipient receives the spiritual, not the 
physical, blood of Christ. But the early fathers in general were strongly 
influenced by Jewish ideas, and regarded the Eucharist as in sOme sense 
a sacrifice, which superseded the former sacrifices. In the second century 
the fathers mainly regarded it as a thank-offering ; but the African fathers, 
and especially Cyprian, in the third century, inclined to look upon it as a 
sin-offering. 

Discipline was, on the whole, strict in the early Church. Excom- 
munication was the great weapon against offences ; but it might Discipline 
almost always be taken off, after a shorter or longer period of 
probation, instruction, fasting and prayer. TertuUian expresses the view 
that this penance was a satisfaction rendered to God. Sometimes penance 
was continued throughout life, and full restoration was by some of the 
stricter bishops denied to some offenders even in the hour of death. But 
ultimately it was agreed that the Church should grant absolution and re- 
storation to any penitent upon his deathbed. 

Fasting early became an aid to prayer and a means of self -discipline. 
Partial fasting on Wednesdays and Fridays, and the great fast before 



752 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

Easter, in memory of the forty days' fasting of Jesus, were observed in the 

second century. At first this was of very varying length ; and it 

^^ ^^' was only later that a forty days' fast was settled, through the 

influence of the Eoman Church. The Montanists often fasted fourteen days 

at a time, eating only bread and salt and drinking water. 

Tertullian is the first writer who records the giving up of ordinary 
business on the Lord's Day : but fasting was forbidden on that day of joy ; 
also prayer was made standing, not kneeling, as on other days. Many 
Christians kept both the Jewish and the Christian Sabbath. Easter was of 
course the most important festival, combining the influence of 
the Jewish Passover and the Christian resurrection. This double 
significance led to a long dispute as to the proper time of keeping Easter. 
One party held to the Passover date, the 14th of Msan, irrespective of the 
Quarto- ^^y ^^ ^^ week ; these were termed the Quartodecimans. The 
decimans, other party, and especially the Roman Church, insisted on the 
fact that Christ was crucified on a Friday, the day preceding the Jewish 
Sabbath, and rose again on the J Sunday, on which therefore the anniversary 
ought always to be kept. About a.d. 160 it was agreed between Polycarp 
and Anicetus, bishop of Rome, to permit differences of practice on this 
point. About 170 the Laodiceans, opposed by other Asiatic Churches, 
observed the Jewish Passover by eating the Paschal lamb ; and the con- 
troversy became so acute that in 196 the Eo'man bishop Victor tried to get 
the whole question of Easter settled, and councils of bishops in various 
countries adopted the Roman practice ; but the Asiatic Churches maintained 
their usage till the Council of Mcsea. 

The period between Easter and Pentecost (Whitsuntide) was observed 

as a continued festival, during which prayer was always made standing, 

^.^ the communion was received daily, and fastinsr was ffiven up. 

Whitsuntide. -t^ ^^ n i ^ T- -1 

Ascension Day was apparently first observed m a special manner 
in the third centur3^ Christmas and saints' days were not kept till later. 

Coming now to the official members of the Church, the growth of a 
hierarchy or governing priestly class followed a natural and rapid course of 
Growth of the ®^*^^^^^^^ ^^ these earJy centuries. At first the exercise of the 
priestly ministry (outside the ranks of the apostles) was a direct conse- 
quence of gifts, believed to be imparted by the Holy Spirit. 
Those marked out as specially qualified for giving instruction, leading 
worship, and administering the affairs of the Church were inducted to their 
ministry by the laying on of hands by the apostles and the elders already 
appointed, in a Church meeting. Various expressions describing these 
ministers, such as prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers, bishops or over- 
seers, presbyters or elders, deacons, etc., are found in the New Testament, 
but not as yet quite defined in their functions or rank. The terms bishop 
and presbyter (elder) are mostly used interchangeably ; but the latter term 
alone is used in the Acts of the Apostles ; and where we read of 
bishops of a Church it is always in the plural. The emergence 
of the office of bishop as the chief officer of a large Church or group of 



CHRlSTIANIXy PERSECUTED. 753 

churches was, however, very speedy, although the two terms, bishop and 
presbyter, are used as synonymous by Clement of E-ome, Polycarp, and even 
by Irenseus. Out of various possible modes of organisation, one gradually 
emerged which appeared best suited to the conditions of the Church. But 
the idea of the priesthood of all Christian believers remained active for a 
considerable time ; and Tertullian says that where there were no ministers, 
any Christian administered the sacraments, as a priest to himself alone. 

But Ignatius, in his epistles, already recognises the full dignity of the 
office of a bishop, and the three orders of bishop, priest and deacon ; and 
by the beginning of the third century the ministry, the priestly order, the 
clergy, are ranked as a distinct order, to which admission could only be had 
by ordination. Minor orders, such as those of sub-deacon, acolyte, exorcists, 
reader, were also in existence. In proportion as the clergy were distin- 
guished from the people, they were maintained at their expense, by means of 
weekly collections and other gifts. "With all their ideas of commission by 
Divine calling, yet the people chose their own ministers, though they might 
accept the nomination of the bishop or priests ; and it is remark- Popular 
able how the consent of the entire congregation was held election, 
necessary to an appointment during the first three centuries, and the 
election of Cyprian to the bishopric of Carthage by popular acclaim is a 
strong case in point. By the end of the third century the power of the 
bishops was largely increasing ; the episcopal office in its entirety was 
regarded as the continuation of the apostDlical office, and the bishop was 
the '' vicar of Christ " to the churches he ruled. " Blessed are they who are 
one with the bishop, as the Church is with Christ and Christ with the 
Father,'' says Ignatius. An unbroken episcopal succession was most highly 
valued. Cyprian describes bishops as the channel or medium through which 
the Holy Ghost is bestowed on the Church in unbroken succession. " The 
bishop," he says, " is in the Church, and the Church is in the bishop, and if 
any one is not with the bishop, he is not in the Church." But he regards 
the entire order of bishops as exercising an undivided episcopate, and each 
bishop as representing in his diocese the authority of the whole order. So 
the way was prepared for the idea of the visible unity of the Catholic 
Church. 

The word which we render ''parish" at first signified the sphere of a 
' bishop's action ; the term diocese arose in Constantine's time. Bishops of 
central meeting-places were termed metropolitans, and those of parisii and 
the most important churches, such as those of Antioch, Diocese. 
Alexandria, and Eome, were early known as archbishops or patriarchs. 
Gradually the superior influence of the Church and Bishop of 
Rome grew in accord with its central position and its being the Archbishop, ' 
seat of the empire, and of the supposed bishopric of St. Peter, ^^*^^®^- 
and also its supposed foundation by St. Paul. Irenseus, at- the end of 
the second century, gives the Church of Eome precedence as The Bishopric 
being the chief centre of apostolical tradition derived from Peter ^^ ^o^®- 
and Paul. Cyprian calls the Church of Eome " The chair of St. Peter and 

3 c 



754 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



the chief church, the source of the unity of the priesthood, the root and 
mother of the Catholic Church," yet he writes to the Bishop of Rome as his 
brother and colleague, not as Father (Papa, or Pope). This latter was not 
used as the special title of the bishops of Rome till the fifth century. 

The unity of the Holy Catholic Church was held by the great fathers of 
the second and third centuries as an indisputable and natural fact, spring- 
Unity of the i^g from unity with Christ. During the conflicts with heresy, 
Church. ^}^Q need for the exclusion of the heretics became prominent. 
Tertullian's sentence, " Outside the Church there is no salvation," has already 
been quoted. Irenseus wrote : ^' The Church is the dwelling-place of the 
Holy Ghost on earth ; where the Church is, there is also the Spirit of God ; 
and where the Spirit of God is, there is the Church and all grace." As yet this 
unity had not been evidenced in any universal council ; but it was believed 
that the Councils or synods which were assembled from time to time in 
important centres were specially guided by Divine grace in their decisions. 
In some of these presbyters and even the laity took part. Thus in the first 
ages the main outlines of the whole scheme of the Church were elaborated 
as necessity arose ; and it is astonishing to find how much the ground o± 
recent controversies on church organisation was anticipated by the wisdom 
of the first three centuries. 




GROUND PLAN OF ST. SOPHIA, CONSTANTINOPLE. 



ja 




&_ 






9H 




^^H 






IB 




^fc 













INTERIOR SECl'ION OF ST. SOPHIA, CONSTANTINOPLE. 



CHAPTER Y. 
CbrisJtiamt)) ad a ^tate Cburrb : dTourtl) Centurp* 

The Emperor Constantine— The Edict of Milan— Constantinople— The Donatists— Arius and Arian- 
ism— The Council of Nicsea—Athanasius— Later victories of Arianism^Death of Arius— Exile 
of Athanasius— Julian the Apostate— Athanasius in power — Hi3 writings and character— The 
Athanasian Creed— Arianism in the West— Council of Constantinople— Ambrose— Hermits— St. 
Anthony— St. Symeon Stylites— Pachomius, Founder of Monasteries— St. Martin of Tours— 
Eusebius— Basil— Gregory of Nyssa— Gregory Nazianzen— St. John Chrysostom— Epiphanius, 
Cyril, Ephraem—Lactantius— Jerome— Christianity beyond the Empire— The Goths— Ulfilas— 
Christianity as a State Church^Influence of the Emperors— Power of Bishops— Power of 
Clergy— Deacons— Exarchs and Primates— The See of Rome— Rise of the Papal Power. 

THE Emperor Constantine had strong leanings to the old gods and the 
old E/Oman religion, and it was not till 324 that he formally professed 
Christianity, and recommended his subjects to adopt it. Yet he dedicated 
his new City of Constantinople (324) jointly to the God of the The Emperor 
Martyrs and the Groddess Fortune, while his coins, stamped on constantine. 
the one side with the monogram of Jesus, on the other bore an image of the 
Sun God. He kept the Roman title of Pontifex Maximus (Chief Pontiff), 
and was not baptised till he was near death. Consequently some deny to 
Constantine the title of Christian ; yet he undoubtedly was its 
steadfast protector and promoter. For details of his celebrated 
(and probably fabulous) dream, in which he saw a cross in the 
heavens with the legend, " By this conquer," followed by the 
appearance of Christ, we must refer to secular history. To this dream is 
traced his adoption of the monogram-cross on his standard called Labarum^ 
the cross representing the two leading letters X (CH) and P (R) in the 
Greek name of Christ. This monogram was very largely used on the 
shields and helmets of soldiers, on coins and guns, as an amulet, etc., but 
it almost certainly dates from an earlier time than Constantine's. 

We may here give some of the clauses of the Edict of Milan (313) 
which first granted universal toleration in religion. It granted " both to 
the Christians and to all, the free power of following the religion The Edict of 
which each chose, and that none who should give his mind to ^iian. 
the rites of the Christians, or to that religion which he thought fittest for 




756 



THE WORLD'S RELTGWNS. 



himself, should at all be denied its exercise." Later, Constantine exempted 
Christian ministers from all military or civic services, abolished numerous 
laws and customs that were specially objectionable to Christians, gave 
facilities for setting Christian slaves free, made bequests to churches legal, 
and contributed largely to their building ; had his sons educated in 
Christianit}^, ordained the civil observance of Sunday, and removed the 
symbols of the Roman gods from his coins. Among his principal advisers 
were Hosius, Bishop of Corduba (Cordova), in Spain, as early as 313 ; and 

later, Eusebius, Bishop of Csesarea, 
the great church historian, and Lac- 
tantius, often called the Christian 
Cicero. 

Constantinople was from the 
first a Christian city, adorned with 
Constant!- churclies and crucifixes, 
^°P^®- and pictures from sacred 
history. Constantine not only at- 
tended Christian worship, but him- 
self wrote and delivered addresses 
strongly in favour of Christianity, 
' calling himself the Bishop of bishops. 

AVe must pass lis^htly over 
TheDonatists.^ , ,.^, ^. ^ 

Constantine s action m re- 
ference to the Donatist schism in 
Africa. His intervention was first 
sought by the Donatist part}^, and 
after the Council of Aries (314), and 
the Emperor himself at Milan (315), 
had pronounced against the Donat- 
ists, and for the Catholic party which 
held the Romish Church, yet he was 
so far tolerant, when they stood firmly 
to their principles, as to grant them 
full liberty of faith and worship. 

A more famous controversy led 
to the summoning of the first of the 

great Christian Councils 

known as cecumenical. that 




ST. ATHAKASIUS. 



Arius and 
Arianism. 



of Nicsea, in 325. This was the Arian controversy, which centred about the 
teaching of Arius (256-336), a native of Libya, who first became notable by • 
attacking the moderation of Peter, Bishop of Alexandria, towards the 
lapsed. Arius, then a deacon, was excommunicated by Peter, but was 
restored and ordained presbyter by his successor, Achillas. A still later 
bishop of Alexandria, named Alexander, was charged with Sabellianism 
by Arius, who brought forward views which may be traced to those of Paul 
of Samosata, and maintained that the Son was created by Grod out of 



CHRISTIANITY AS A STATE CHURCH. 



757 



nothing, and afterwards created the world, and was invested in large 
measure with Divine power. Against him Alexander maintained the unity 
or identity of substance (Homooitsia) of the Father and the Son. Having 
been condemned by a Council of Egyptian and Libyan bishops, Arius went 
to Nicomedia, where the Bithynian bishops declared his views orthodox. 
Thence he issued works of various kinds in support of his belief, and the 
whole Church was shaken so much, that in 324 the Emperor Constantine 
addressed the Alexandrian Church in terms of great solicitude, begging for 
the return of peace. This proving 
unavailing, Constantine The Councu 
conceived the plan of call- °^ Nicsea. 
ing a general council, which as- 
sembled at Nicsea in 325. The Latin 
Churches sent only seven bishops, 
and Sylvester, of Rome, was not. 
present, though represented by two 
presbyters. In all there were over 
318 bishops at Nicsea, including the 
Patriarchs Alexander of Alexandria, 
and Eustathius of Antioch. In the 
debates which followed, Athanasius, 
Archdeacon of Alexandria, 
became conspicuous as an 
antagonist of Arius. The party of 
Arius was in a great minority, but 
he defined his doctrine with great 
clearness, not only maintaining the 
finite existence of the Son, but also 
denying that He was immutable or 
incapable of sin. A moderate party, 
led by E use bins of Csesarea, was in 
favour of declaring the divinity of 
Christ in words derived from the 
New Testament ; but the majority 
insisted on declaring the full Ho- 
moousian doctrine, and embodied it 
in the famous Nicene Creed, as far as 
the words " and in the Holy Grhost " ; 



Athanasius. m 




ST. GBEGORY OF NYSSA. 



the rest of the Creed having been added by the Council of Constantinople in 
38 L Arius was banished to lUyria, his books were burnt, and other severe 
penalties were decreed against him and his followers. The power of the State 
was thus formally used against heretics for the first time. Yet when Con- 
stantine was approaching death, Eusebius of Csesarea induced him 
to recall Arius, who drew up a creed which satisfied the Emperor, victories of 
and the semi-Arian party of Eusebius regained their influence at ^^^^^^^• 
Court. At Alexandria, Athanasius became bishop on the death of Alexander, 



/ 



758 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

and refused to re-admit Arius to communion, as he had been condemned by 
the oecumenical council. But after several attacks had been made against 
him, Athanasius was banished by the Emperor to Treves (336) ; his Church 
still refused to receive Arius. The latter was about to be received back by 
Death of the Church of Constantinople, when he was suddenly taken ill and 
^^^^' died (336). He was acknowledged to be of an unblemished moral 
character, modest in demeanour, and ascetic in life. The controversy became 
even fiercer after his death ; an Arian bishop was afterwards appointed 
to Alexandria, and Athanasius was condemned by successive synods and 
Exile of councils, and exiled more than once (343, 356), while the Arians 
Athanasius. yiQiently persecuted the Catholics. Meanwhile the followers of 
Eusebius of Caesar ea, after his death, became a distinct party called the 
Jfi^o??^o^ousians, the term expressing the belief that the essence or substance 
of the Son was like., though not the same as that of the Father ; they also 
held that the Son was like the Father in all things, and was not a creature, 
but begotten as a Son before all worlds. This doctrine was adopted by the 
majority of Eastern bishops. The Arians became more pronounced than 
Arius, emphasising the view that the Son was a creature, and unlike the 
Father both in substance and in will. A series of councils vainly 
endeavoured to compose these theological differences. 

The Emperor Julian, a grandson of Constantius Chlorus, though 
educated in Christianity, renounced it before being named Csesar in 355, 
Julian the and when he succeeded to the empire in 361, he proclaimed his 
Apostate, pagan faith, while granting universal toleration. But he took 
away from Christianity all the peculiar honours granted by Constantine, 
and renewed the worship of the old gods at great cost. He encouraged the 
Jews, as being enemies of Christianity, and forbade Christians to teach 
rhetoric and grammar in schools. He even attempted to remodel the pagan 
priesthood, and to moralise the old mythology. Comparatively few persons, 
except his immediate flatterers, followed Julian in his return to heathenism, 
and his name was branded as Julian the Apostate. 

The impartiality which Julian boasted had one important effect, in 
taking away from the Arians the advantages they had gained. The exiled 
Athanasius Catholic bishops returned to their dioceses (361), and Athanasius 
in power, ^^s restored to his see of Alexandria, only to be again banished 
on a frivolous pretext in 362. But Julian's death in 363 restored the supre- 
macy to Christianity, and the new emperor Jovian adopted the Nicene creed 
and gave Athanasius a leading place in his councils. The great bishop 
remained in possession of his see till his death in 373. Most of his writings 
were in defence of the Catholic doctrine of the Trinity. They include 
His writings " ^^^.tions against the Arians," a treatise on "the Incarnation of 
and the Word," and " Epistles in defence of the Nicene Creed," all 
written in a clear and cogent style. All historians bear testimony 
to his singular ability, conscientiousness, and judiciousness, his fearlessness 
in the midst of opposition, his patience and perseverance, which was fitly 
summed up in the motto "Athanasius against the World." The creed to 



CHRISTIANITY AS A STATE CHURCH. 



759 



which his name is attached probably expresses his views, but it is not known 
to have existed before the sixth 
century or even later, and 



The 
it Athanasian 

was first used in Church ser- 
vices in Gaul in the seventh century, at 
Rome in the tenth centary. The Greek 
Church only received it after altering the 
article on the Procession of the Holy 
Ghost. 

After many fluctuations and much 
controversy, Arianism was suppressed 
within the Roman empire by Arianism in 
the end of the fourth century t^^ west, 
by the coercive action of the Emperors 
Theodosius and Yalentinian II. ; but many 
of the Teutonic converts to Christianity 
adopted Arianism, which they only slowly 
gave up, the Lombards retaining it till 662. 

Theodosius the Great (379-395) on 
his baptism (380) issued an edict that 
none should be recognised as council of 
Catholic Christians but those Constanti- 
who adopted the faith in the 
co-essential Trinity. Gregory Nazian- 
zen, who had distinguished himself as an 
orthodox teacher, was made bishop of 
Constantinople (but soon resigned) at the 
council of Constantinople (381), to which 
none but believers in the Nicene Creed 
were summoned. This council added to 
the creed the paragraph describing the 
nature of the Holy Ghost, as proceeding 
from the Father (the words " and the 
Son " were added at the council of Toledo 
in Spain, a.d. 589), and His equality with 
the Father and the Son. This council 
also condemned the Apollinarian heresy, 
which taught that Christ possessed a real 
body, but that the "rational soul " in Him 
was replaced by the Divine Logos. 

In the West a remarkable man, Am- 
brose, prefect of Liguria, was called to 
be bishop of Milan in 374 by 
the popular voice, though only 
a layman and a catechumen. He thereupon sold his property for the poor, 
and led an ascetic life. He was the first bishop who censured, withstood, 




Ambrose. 



ST. ANTHONY. 



760 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



and overawed emperors, and maintained the superior rights of the Church. 
Miracles are reported in connection with his important actions. He refused 
to receive the Emperor Theodosius to communion after his massacre of 
the Thessalonians in 390 until after he had spent eight months in penance 
and seclusion, and had granted an edict forbidding capital punishment to 
take place till at least thirty days after the sentence. He died in 397, two 
years after Theodosius. His influence on Christian hymnology and liturgical 
sayings was great, and several of his hymns are extant. He procured the 
confiscation of the revenues of heathen temples and the withdrawal of most 
of the privileges of their priests and vestals. In 382 the emperor Gratian 
removed from the meeting-place of the Homan senate the altar of the goddess 
Victory, on which the senators took the oath of fealty, and on which offer- 
ings were made at every meeting. 



The old sacrifices were forbidden, and 
many temples were destroyed. In 
Alexandria the Scrap eum and most 
other temples throughout Egypt 
were destroyed. In 392 Theodosius 
issued a comprehensive edict against 
heathenism of every description 
throughout the empire, and he also 
exercised strict discipline against 
Christian heretics, the Manichseans, 
Ariaiis, and all others not recognised 
as true Catholics. The old religion 
however continued to have many 
adherents, as is made evident by the 
frequent decrees against them during 
the first half of the fifth century ; 
and the Goths, who had become 
Christians, when they invaded Greece 
and Italy, destroyed many temples 
and altars which survived, and were 
more zealous against heathenism 

than the Roman Christians. 

During all this period monasticism had been spreading. From the 

earliest times of Christianity there had been a strong tendency towards 

withdrawal from public life to attain greater sanctity. Some of 

Hermits. . ,. ^ -, , - t . ,• . ti 1 

the gnostic sects strongly believed m asceticism, celibacy, and 

solitude. Hermits were not infrequent, especially in Egypt and Syria, in 

the third century. Paul of Thebes was the first who was very noted, 

uavmg retired to the desert of Upper Egypt in 251 in his twenty-third j^ear; 

he is said to have lived ninety years alone. 

St. Anthony is the great founder of monasticism. Born of Coptic 

parents about 251, in Lower Egypt, in 270 he sold the estate left by his 

parents and gave the proceeds to the poor, and adopted an ascetic life, with 




ST. GBEGOUY NAZIAKZEN. 



CHRISTIANITY AS A STATE CHURCH. 



761 



the rule, "Pray witlicut ceasing," though continuing to work. Later he 
lived in a tomb, in a ruined castle near the Eed Sea, and in ^^ ^^^^^^^ 
a cave between the Nile and the Eed Sea. In all these retire- 
ments he w^as attacked by sensual temptations, and was said to be personally 
assailed by the devil. Ever cheerful, he gave advice and consolation to all 
comers, and was said to have worked many miracles. He hated heresy, 
especially Arianism, and in 351, when 100 years old, appeared in support 
of Athanasius, at Alexandria, and converted many heretics and heathens. 
He died in 356; and his life, written by Athanasius, proved a powerful 
stimulus to the monastic life. 

St. Symeon StyHtes was the first of a type of solitary monks who 
practised forms of voluntary pain. He was a shepherd who is said to have 
fasted throughout Lent for twenty-six 
successive years. In 423 St. symeon 
he betook himself to a soli- 
tary place forty miles east of Antioch, 
where he stood for thirty-six years 
on the top of a pillar surrounded by 
a railing, sometimes leaning, and 
often bowing in devotion. The pillar 
was gradually increased in height, 
till at last it was thirty-six cubits 
high. Food was taken up to him by 
his disciples by means of a ladder. 
Here he preached twice a day to 
those who resorted to him, and gave 
counsel to kings and emperors. He 
died in 459. 

Developing the idea of monasti- 
cism to which St. Anthony had given 
such vivid life, Pachomius, pacnomius, 

also born in Lower Egypt, founder of 
. monasteries, 
founded m 325 a society 

of monks on an island in the Nile. 

The order grew till, when the founder died, in 348, there were eight or nine 

societies, numbering 3,000 members. The members were not bound by 

rigid vows, and varied manual labour was mingled with religious exercises. 

Three lived in each cell, eating in common but in silence, making their 

wants known by signs. Pachomius also established a cloister of nuns under 

his sister, whom he did not allow to visit him, saying that she should be 

content to know that he was still alive. In the East, especially in Pontus 

and Cappadocia, monasticism grew rapidly, and Basil and Gregory Nazianzen 

made the monasteries centres of religious education. In the West 

Athanasius first started monasticism into vigorous life, and it was st. Martin of 

attended with fewer vagaries of asceticism than in the East. St. Tours. 

Martin of Tours, a zealous destroyer of temples, founded the first monastery 



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ST. JOHN CHBYSOSTOM. 



762 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

in Gaul, near Poitiers, and while Bishop of Tours, led a monastic life at the 
head of eighty monks. He was reported to have conflicts with the devil, 
and to have three times raised the dead to life. 

We cannot dwell on the many names of eminent Churchmen during 

the fourth century, who by their writings and teachings settled the great 

Catholic doctrines. Eusebius of Csesarea (270-340) was the great 

ecclesiastical historian of his time. His Life of Constantine is 

extremely eulogistic. His " Praeparatio Evangelica " and " Demonstratio 

Evangelica" are of high importance, and storehouses of learning. Basil 

g .. the Grreat (329-379), Bishop of Csesarea in Cappadocia, an ascetic, 

and founder of a hospital for lepers, whom he did not fear to 

kiss, was a noble example of Christian fortitude. When threatened with 

confiscation, banishment, and death by the Emperor Valens for his resistance 

to Arianism, he said : " Not one of these things touches me. His property 

cannot be forfeited who has none. Banishment I know not, for I am 

restricted to no place, and am the guest of God, to whom the whole earth 

belongs. For martyrdom I am unfit ; but death is a benefactor to me, for 

it sends me all the quicker to God, in whom I live and move.'' Among his 

writings were 365 epistles. Though Catholic as to Arianism, he did not 

take the highest ground about the Deity of the Holy Ghost, and thus 

incurred the displeasure of the high Catholics. 

Gregory of Nyssa was the younger brother of Basil, and a voluminous 
and acute writer. Among his more important works were a great catechism 
Gregory of of Christian doctrine, and a book on " The Soul and the Resur- 
Nyssa. rection." He believed in the final redemption of all intelligent 
creatures. Gregory Nazianzen (330-391), the bosom friend of Basil, was 
Greg-ory niost noted for the eloqu.ence of his orations, especially five 
Nazianzen. (delivered at Constantinople in defence of the Nicene belief. He 
is esteemed only second to John Chrysostom, who was born at Antioch 
St. John A-D. 347, and chosen Patriarch of Constantinople in 398. His 
Chrysostom. eloquence won him his surname Chrysostom (golden-mouthed) ; 
and he was unsparing in denouncing the hypocrisy of the court of the 
Emperor Arcadius, successor of Theodosius I., and the vices of his age. He 
was more than once banished by court influence, and died during a com- 
pulsory journey to the east of the Black Sea, in 407. He wrote more than 
600 homilies, 242 letters, and many other works. 

Epiphanius (died 403), a Jewish convert, wrote three important works 

against heresies. Cyril, Bishop of Jerusalem (died 386), wrote an important 

Epiphanius, catechetical work on Christian theology. Ephraem the Syrian, 

Cyril, ' the great divine and poet of the Syrian Church (died 379), wrote 

p raem. commentaries in Syriac on the whole Bible, and hymns that were 

long popular. 

Lactantius (died 330) was the earliest great Father of the Latin 

Church, and the tutor of Constantine's son Crispus in Gaul. His " Divine 

Lactantius. Institutes " is a great refutation of heathenism and defence of 

' Christianity, full of eloquence. Hilary of Poitiers (died 368), 



CHRISTIANITY AS A STATE CHURCH: 763 

called the Athanasius of the West, wrote a great work on the Trinity. 
Hieronymus, commonly known as St. Jerome (340-420), one of the greatest 
and most learned of the Fathers, combined with his great ability 
and zeal, much bitterness, pride, love of power, and irritability. 
Born on the borders of Dalmatia and educated at Rome in profane learning, 
on receiving Christian baptism about 370 he became an ascetic, and travelled 
to the East, coming under the influence of Gregory Nazianzen, and 
acquiring much Grreek and Hebrew learning. In 382 he went to Rome and 
assisted Bishop Damasus in his correspondence. By this bishop's suggestion 
Jerome began to revise the Latin version of the Bible, which became the 
foundation of the Yulgate, and which he afterwards completed at 
Bethlehem, translating the Old Testament directly from the Hebrew. He 
was a successful promoter of monasticism at Rome, and had many disciples 
among noble ladies whom he incited to celibacy, beneficence and asceticism, 
and whom he praised extravagantly. The widow Paula and her maiden 
daughter Eustochium were among his intimates, and were made the 
occasion for reproaching him. He left Rome for the East in 385, followed 
by these ladies, and in 386-7 they settled at Bethlehem, already a centre of 
religious devotees. His Latin version of the Scriptures was denounced as a 
corruption, and as a daring innovation. He died in 420, leaving, besides 
his translations, commentaries on many books of the Bible and numerous 
letters and religious tracts. 

Early in the fourth century Christianity was introduced into Ethiopia 
(Abyssinia), and Frumentius, ordained by Athanasius, became the first 
bishop of Axum. In the middle of the century the Gospel was Christianity 
preached in Arabia, and even reached India. In Persia it main- beyond the 
tained the ground gained in earlier centuries, and Christians 
were tolerated for long periods or persecuted, according as peace or war 
prevailed between Persia and the Roman Empire. The Groths, first evan- 
gelised by Roman captives, were represented by a bishop, 
Theophilus, at the Council of Mcsea. Ulfilas, his successor (348), 
descended from Cappadocian captives, led a large number of Christian Goths 
across the Danube to ask protection from the emperor (355) from tyranny at 

home ; and his labours in Moesia were invaluable. He invented ,„^, 

. ... ulfilas. 

an alphabet for the Moeso-G-othic language, reduced it to writing, 

partially translated the Scriptures into it, and was largely instrumental in 

spreadmg Arianism among the Gothic people, who, when they conquered 

Rome, cruelly persecuted the orthodox Catholics. 

Christianity as a State Church largely influenced politics, and was itself 

in turn influenced by the State. It was not that, as in so many other cases, 

State and religion rested upon one common basis, the ruler being Christianity 

either ex-officio priest or inseparably connected with the priestly as a 

class. The Christian priest based his claims upon the unseen, 

upon a Divine revelation independent of any earthly power, and had a 

standpoint from which he could impartially judge, censure, denounce, or 

approve of earthly potentates : and he did not fear death or temporal 



764 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

penalties in comparison with his hope of heaven and dread of hell. Naturally 
the clergy wished to direct public events to favour the ends they believed 
righteous ; but they not infrequently fell under the temptation to gain court 
Influence of influence by servile behaviour. Consequently the emperors as- 
tue emperors, g^j^g^ a sort of guardianship of the Church, and an attitude of 
watchfulness against the spread of erroneous opinions, which really acted as 
a check to freedom of thought and opinion. But the emperors were seldom 
original thinkers in religion, and depended upon one or other party in 
religious thought or political questions. Yet they did not hesitate to sum- 
mon councils of the Church and even to preside at them, and to enforce their 

Power of decisions as if they were State laws. Religious disputes were 

bishops, again and again brought for decision to the imperial courts, and 
one party at least always found it advantageous to have the support of the 
physical force wielded by the Empire. The bishops even gained a sort of 
civil authority in regard to religious questions referred to them, for the 
governors and magistrates were ordered to carry out their decisions. 

With this influence it is not surprising that the clergy began to claim 
exemption from civil law, and to demand that they should be judged only by 
their spiritual peers. But they also exerted a humanising effect over the 
laws and their administration, and often interceded for offenders, gaining 

Power of respite for them that they might by prayer and penance make 
clergy, peace with heaven, protecting those who resorted to the churches 
for asylum. Even in these respects abuses crept in, and some made gain 
out of their intercessions, or protected gross criminals without reason. As 
the Church increased in wealth and influence, many entered the ministry 
from motives of ambition, especially in the great cities, and there was a 
tendency to seek gifts, legacies, etc., from the wealthy. But many bishops 
and clergy showed conspicuous munificence and self-denial, and by their 
labours for the poor, by building hospitals, redeeming captives and other 
pious works, showed the reality of their Christian profession. 
Deacons gained more and more influence, and had enlarged 
spiritual functions, being sometimes permitted to preach and baptise, though 
as yet forbidden to administer the Eucharist. One of their number presided 
in each church, was termed archdeacon, and often succeeded to the bishopric. 
The marriage of the clergy became less frequent in this century, especially 
in the West. 

As the clergy rose in esteem, so the bishops became more and more 
elevated above the clergy, and were less subject to popular election. Em- 
perors, other bishops, canons which fixed the qualifications of bishops, 
accusations by factions, all had much influence in these appointments. The 
Exarchs and superior bishops of Constantine's thirteen dioceses gained the title 

Primates, of Eocarchs in the East and Primate in the West. We have 
already seen that the bishops of Rome, Antioch, and Alexandria were 
recognised by the Council of Nicsea as presiding over the Western, the 
Eastern and the African Churches respectively. The Council of Constanti- 
nople (381) assigned to that diocese precedence next to Rome. It was not 



CHRISTIANITY AS A STATE CHURCH. 



765 



till 451 that the Council of Chalcedon gave to these four chief bishops the 
title of Patriarch and Pope (Papa). The See of Rome at first The See of 
gained its dignity more as being the bishopric of the ancient Ro^iie- 
capital of the Empire than as the See of St. Peter. The council which met 
at Sardica in Illyria in 343 granted that bishops might appeal, if they 
desired it, from a synod to Julius, Bishop of Rome, but if this required to be 
granted, it was not generally acknowledged as a right. In the fourth cen- 
tury the Churches generally held to their local and provincial rights against 
all attempts of the Roman bishops to exercise authority over them, and the 
Eastern and African bishops took their own independent course. But the 
transfer of the seat of empire to Constantinople and elsewhere made the 
bishop of Rome more prominent, and by reason of frequent appeals for advice 
and decision from conflicting parties in the East, by the habit of referring 
questions to Rome throughout the West, and by constantly taking the 
orthodox side, the Roman bishop became more and more a pontiff, exercising 
a sort of imperial power in the Church. Letters (decretal epistles), Rise of the 
sent from Rome in answer to applications, gave directions and^^P^^ Power, 
even commands, and were written in the name of the bishop, who gradually 
became known as the Pope. The fourth century placed the Church in a 
very different position as an established Church from that which it had 
occupied in the preceding three centuries. 




ANCHORITE. 




ST. AUGUSTINE AND MONICA. 



CHAPTER VI. 

€l)t €l)xml) in tl)e jfiftl) nixb ^ixti) Centuries* 

St. Augustine— His " Confessions "—His conversion— Made Bishop of Hippo— His influence— Pelagius— 
Ccelestius— Pelagianism condemned— Semi-pelagianism— Theodore of Mopsuestia— Nestorius— 
Cyril— The Council of Ephesus— The Nestorians — Eutyches and Dioscurus— The Monophysite con- 
troversy—The " Robber-synod "—Council of Chalcedon— Later Monophysite proceedings— Theo- 
doric— Justinian— Fifth general council— The Monothelites— Sixth general council— The Syrian 
Jacobites — The Copts — The Abyssinian Church — The Armenian Church — Doctrines — The 
Maronites— Christian progress among Goths, etc.— Conversion of Clo vis— Increased power of the 
Pope— Leo I.— The Pope above human judgment —Relations with emperor— Development of 
Clericalism— Monastic life— St. Benedict— The Benedictine Order— Basilican churches— Memorial 
churches— Consecration— Relics— Crosses and crucifixes— Pictures and images — Worship of the 
Virgin— The Saints — Pilgrimages— Opposition to new practices — Jovinian— Vigilantius — The 
Creeds— Eastern Liturgies— Western Liturgies. 

"TTIE-OM this time forward we find a marked distinction between the 

JJ questions agitating, the Church in the East and in the West, pre- 

st. Angus- saging the separation which took place later. We will speak 

tine. f^pg^ Qf i]^Q controversies which surround the famous name of St. 

Augustine, since he partly belongs to the fourth century. Aurelius Angus- 



THE CHURCH IN THE FIFTH AND SIXTH CENTURIES. 767 

tinus was born not far from Hippo, in Numidia, in 354, his mother, Monica, 
being one of the most devout, affectionate, and intellectual women who 
have ever lived. His education was considerable, but his wayward life had 
more influence upon his subsequent thoughts. It is recounted in the deeply- 
felt ''Confessions" written about 400, and acknowledged as a His"Con- 
masterpiece of truthfulness and enthralling interest. " Thou Sessions." 
hast made us for Thyself," it begins, " and our heart is restless till it rest 
in Thee." From nineteen to twenty-six he was a Manichsean, but at last 
found the doctrines untenable, and the lives of the leaders insincere. After 
teaching grammar and rhetoric at Carthage he went to Rome in 383, where 
he became sceptical, in 384 migrating to Milan, still teaching rhetoric. 
Here he was a hearer of Ambrose, became a catechumen, studied St. Paul's 
writings, heard of the lives of St. Anthony and other recluses, and finally (in 
September, 386), was suddenly converted by the reading of Rom. mscon- 
xiii. 13, 14, " Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not pro- version, 
vision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof." "While on her way back to 
Africa with her son, Monica died at Ostia ; and Augustine, after a stay at 
E-ome, returned to Carthage in 388, was ordained presbyter in 391, and 
Bishop of Hippo in 393, which bishopric he held for thirty-five Made Bishop 
years, gaining a position second to none in the African Church, of Hippo. 
He died in 430, during the siege of Hippo by the Vandals. Among his 
voluminous works, personal, philosophical, apologetic, doctrinal, practical, 
and polemic, we must mention, besides his " Confessions," his ^' Retracta- 
tions," written in 427, his " City of Grod," contrasting the transitory cities 
of earth with the eternal city of God, his " Discourse on the Apostles' 
Creed," his books '' On the True Religion," and on " Heresies," and many 
controversial tracts and discourses. 

Under the influence of St. Augustine the canon of Scripture was settled 
in its present form (including the Apocrypha) at the Councils of Hippo (393) 
and Carthage (397). His exposure of Manichseism gave that system its death- 
blow ; and through him the doctrine of the double procession of the Holy 
Ghost from the Father and the Son completed the Nicene view of the 
Trinity. He took the Catholic side against the Donatists, with His influ. 
their strict exclusiveness and painful asceticism, and was in ®^^®- 
favour of using compulsory measures to reclaim them from their errors. 
His influence on the development of almost all the main Catholic doctrines 
was great, and has never ceased. Against Pelagius, he asserted the 
supreme importance of the Divine influence in man's redemption, deriving 
all human desire for good from divine grace, so that the entire glory 
belonged to God. 

Pelagius, a British monk, born about 350, was an ascetic who especially 

exalted the human self-reliant element and the power of man's free will in 

his elevation. He visited Rome, Africa, Palestine, etc., and was ^ , . 

' ' ' . ., Pelagius. 

opposed by both Jerome and Augustine, and by Orosius, a pupil 

of Jerome's. The latter accused Pelagius at a Synod in Palestine ; but the 

dispute was referred to Rome. Coelestius, a convert of Pelagius at Rome, 



763 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



developed his system, intellectually, and the heresies with which he was 

charged were as follows : that Adam was created mortal, and 

would have died if he had not sinned ; that Adam's fall injured 

only himself, and that children were born uninfluenced by his fall ; and that 

though unbaptised, children dying in infancy receive eternal life ; that 




there were sinless men before Christ ; and that the human race does not die 
through Adam's fall. Coelestius was condemned twice by African synods, 
Peiagianism and Pope Innocent I. endorsed the condemnation. Zosimus, 
condemned, j^jg successor, at first approved of Coelestius and Pelagius, and 
later condemned them, ordering all who maintained their views to be 



THE CHURCH IN THE FIFTH AND SIXTH CENTURIES. 769 

excommunicated. CoelestiiTS was further condemned by tlie third oecu- 
menical Council at Ephesus (431). But the Eastern Church did not adopt 
Augustine's views, and held a position (semi-pelagian) midway between 
Pelagianism and the Augustinian doctrine of free and irresistible semi-peia- 
grace and absolute predestination. John Cassiari, a founder of sianism. 
cloisters for men and women at Marseilles, was the leader of semi-pela- 
gianism in the West, and it obtained wide favour in the Gaulish Church. 

The Christological controversies of the fifth and sixth centuries, which 
absorbed so much attention in the East, though they also affected theology 
in the West, were attended by so much non-religious intrigue, and were so 
intimately connected with affairs of civil history, that it is impossible to 
recount them even in outline. We must barely mention the most notable 
names connected with them, and the conclusions settled by councils of the 
Church. 

In contradistinction to the Apollinarians (p. 759), who represented Christ 
as having the divine Logos in place of a rational human soul, Diodorus, 
Bishop of Tarsus, and Theodore, Bishop of Mopsuestia in Cilicia Theodore of 
(from 393 to 428), ascribed to Christ a two-fold personality, with Mopsuestia. 
perfectly distinct divine and human natures. Nestorius, however, who 
became patriarch of Constantinople in 428, gave his name to this 
party, the Nestorians. Their views led to the naming of the 
mother of Christ ^' Theotokos," " mother of God," while the opposite party 
termed her " mother of man." Nestorius proposed the term '' mother of 
Christ," but was q[uite as bitterly attacked as the Arians had 
been. Cyril, Bishop of Alexandria, was his unbending opponent. 
The turbulent but indecisive oecumenical Council, which met at Ephesus 
in 431 under Theodosius II. and Yalentinian III., stigmatised ^he Council 
^estorius as a heretic, and he was deposed ; and two years later, °^ Ephesus. 
433, the more moderate Nestorians agreed to accept the term " mother of 
Crod," in consequence of the union without confusion of the divine and 
human natures in Jesus :; and at the same time condemned Nestorius, who 
■died in 439. His doctrines were still taught in the theological school of 
Edessa in I^orthern Mesopotamia until its dissolution by the emperor Zeno 
in 489. 

After their virtual expulsion from the empire, the Nestorians travelled 
widely^ disseminating their rendering of Christianity in Persia, India, and 
China, and later in Arabia, Syria, and Palestine. In the sixth ^he 
century their liturgy was translated from Greek into Syriac, as Nestorians. 
■still in use. They were considerably favoured by the Moslems, and had 
much success among the Mongols. In the thirteenth century the Roman 
Church began a long series of more or less successful missionary efforts 
among them, by which many were converted, especially in 1551, and these 
•are under a patriarch of the Chaldseans, nominated by the Pope. Those 
who remain true to their ancient theological position are under a patriarch 
•of their own ; the Church is but a remnant of its former self, numbering 
•about 70,000 in the Kurdish mountains and around Lake Urumiah. They 

3 D 



770 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



reject the name and the doctrine of Nestorius, and call themselves Chal- 
dseans. American missionaries have, in the last fifty years, made great 
efforts to counteract the Eomish propaganda, and have printed a translation 
of the Bible and other books in their Aramaic language ; and there are 
now a number of self-supporting Protestant Churches formed by Nestorian 
converts. 

Although in past times the Nestorians produced a considerable litera- 
ture, Httle has survived except the Rituals and hymns. There are three 
liturgies— those of Nestorius, of Theodore, and the Apostles. Forms for 
daily worship are appointed to be said four times a day, consisting mostly 
of prayers, psalms, and readings of the Scriptures. In all essentials the 
Nestorians conform to the Catholic doctrines, except in those points affected 

by their special beliefs as to the 
twofold personality of Christ. 
They recognise the Bible as their 
sole rule of faith ; and they have 
never practised image- worship 
and confession, or believed in 
purgatory. Their patriarch and 
bishops abstain from animal food^ 
and are celibates. They have a 
special annual commemoration of 
the dead. They have many and 
prolonged fasts during the year-,, 
which are strictly observed. 
They believe in apostolical suc- 
cession, and derive their orders- 
from the original foundation of 
the Church in Persia by two of 
the seventy disciples sent forth 
by Christ. In recent years cor- 
dial communication has been 
opened np between the Church 
of England and the Nestorians-, 
in order to instruct the latter in Anglican doctrines, in the hope of 
inducing them to make acknowledgments such as would enable the two 
Chnrches to enter into cordial commmiion. An interesting body of 
Nestorians still exists on the Malabar coast of India, named after St. 
Thomas, to whom they attribute their conversion. They use a Syriac 
liturgy, and acknowledge the spiritual headship of the Nestorian patri- 
arch. 

The next great controversy, the Eutychian, had for its theological 

leader Eutyches of Constantinople, who held that Christ after His incar- 

Eutvches ^^^^^^ ^^^ ^^^y ^^^ nature, which was the nature of God become 

and man. Thus it might be said, " God is born, God suffered, God 

was crucified and died." Dioscurus, Bishop of Antioch (444-451),. 




NESTORIAN CROSS. 



THE CHURCH IN THE FIFTH AND SIXTH CENTURIES. 771 

was the leader in action of tliis " Monophysite " (one nature) party. Euty- 
ches, attacked by Tlieodoret, was deposed by a synod at Con- ^j^^ 
stantinople (448), which, declared that Christ after His incar- Monophysite 
nation consisted of two natures in one substance and one person. 
This belief was approved by Leo I., bishop of Eome (440-461). A Council 
held at Ephesus in 449 was so turbulent as to be called " the The " Robber 
Synod of Robbers " ; it absolved Eutyches on his repeating the synod." 
Nicene Creed, and deposed and excommunicated Theodoret and even Leo, 
its decrees being ratified by the emperors Theodosius and Valentinian. 
After further intrigues, the fourth oecumenical Council was held at The Councu 
Chalcedon, opposite to Constantinople, in 451, and was attended ®^ ^^^i°®^<^^- 
by about 600 Eastern bishops, and by two delegates sent by Leo of Home. 
The proceedings of the "Robber Synod" were annulled, Dioscurus and Euty- 
ches were banished, and the Mcene Creed was adopted, with an addition 
which acknowledged Christ "in two natures, without confusion, without 
severance, and without division." Finally, the Patriarch of Constantinople 
was declared to rank second to the Bishop of Eome, but with equal rights. 
Leo, however, claimed supremacy for the See of Rome, in virtue of St. 
Peter, its alleged founder. 

The Chalcedon declaration was at once impugned widely, and its 
opponents, who maintained the oneness of Christ's nature, though acknow- 
ledging that it was composite, were known as Monophysites. ^^^^^ 
They proclaimed that " God has been crucified," and altered the Monophysite 
Cathohc Sanctus to this form: " Holy God ! Holy Almighty ! Holy p^°°^^^"^^^- 
Immortal ! who hast been crucified for us, have mercy upon us ! " New 
commotions and divisions arose ; an attempted compromise by the emperor 
Zeno, tacitly giving up the Chalcedon declaration, failed ; and fresh division 
of parties arose. Meanwhile the Arian Theodoric, the great Gothic Theodoric 
king of Italy, had proclaimed the tolerance of all religious rites, 
and asserted that " we cannot impose religion by command, since no one can 
be made to believe against his will." 

Justinian, who came to the throne of Constantinople in 527, aimed at 
restoring the glories of Church as well as Empire, reclaiming heretics, and 
settling the orthodox doctrines. He rebuilt the church of St. . 

Sophia (see p. 555), and again rebuilt its dome after an earth- 
quake in 557 ; for its service he appointed sixty priests, one hundred deacons^ 
forty deaconesses, and other officials in proportion. 

The decrees of the four general councils were made part of the imperial 
laws. Justinian condemned the Nestorian Theodore of Mopsuestia and the 
writings of Theodoret against Cyril, in the decree of the " Three Fifth general 
Articles," which ultimately led to the summoning of the fifth Council, 
general Council at Constantinople in 553, with no Western representatives ; 
but its most important result was to assert the independence of the Eastern 
empire and Church of the bishop or Pope of Rome. The Monophysites were 
not reconciled to the Catholics ; but when Justin II. (565-578) issued an 
edict of toleration, the party gradually died out within the empire, though 



772 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



it remained active beyond the empire in the Coptic, Syriac, and Armenian 
Churches. 

The Monothelite (one will) controversy in the next century turned on 
another subtle attempt to define the nature of Christ. Sergius, Patriarch of 
The Constantinople, and Theodore, an Arabian bishop, put forward the 
Monotheiites. yi^^y that in , Christ there was but one will, and one life-giving 
operation, the Divine, controlling the human. In 649 Martin L, Pope from 
649 to 655, held a council, at which the doctrine of two natural wills and 
operations, the Divine and the human, in Christ ^v^as declared ; and at the 

Sixth general sixth general 
Council. Council, held at 
Constantinople in 680-1 — 
the last recognised as such 
by all Christendom — the 
Monothelite doctrine was 
condemned; and the doc- 
trine of two wills was 
finally affirmed. " These 
two natural wills are not 
contrary, but the human 
follows the Divine and 
Almighty will, not resist- 
ing or opposing it, but 
rather being subject to 
it." At the same time the 
Pope Honorius I. (625-40) 
was condemned for his 
declaration in favour of 
one will. 

Of the Monophysite 
Churches still existing, the 
The Syrian Jacobite is the 
Jacobites, least numerous. 
It accepts the decrees of 
the "Eobber Synod" of 
Ephesus, and rejects the 
Chalcedon declaration. It is scattered over Syria, Mesopotamia, and Baby- 
lonia, numbering fewer than 250,000 members. It was founded by Jacobus 
Baradseus of Telia, consecrated bishop in 541 or 543, and thenceforward an 
active propagator of Monophysite doctrines for forty years. The head of 
the Church, called Patriarch of Antioch, lives at Diarbekir. The members 
and indeed the clergy are as a rule very illiterate and ignorant. Many 
Jacobites have in recent years entered into the Roman Catholic communion, 
under patriarchs at Aleppo and Damascus, and these have improved greatly 
in education and religious knowledge. 

The Copts of Egypt are very closely connected with the Syrian Jacobites, 




ABYSSINIAN PRIEST AND DEACON. 



THE CHURCH IN THE FIFTH AND SIXTH CENTURIES. 773 



dating the origin of their monophysite faith from Baradssus. They have 
now about 130 churches and monasteries. They have a patriarch, ^j^^ ^j 
bishops, arch-priests, deacons, and monks. They practise circum- 
cision at the age of eight years. They are but a remnant of the ancient 
Coptic Church, having undergone very severe persecution from their Moslem 
conquerors, and many having embraced Islam. As early as the time of 
Pachomius, the Psalms and other Scripture books were translated into 
Coptic ; and a large por- 




tion of the Bible, several 
apocryphal gospels, gnos- 
tic works, homilies, mar- 
t^'rologies, etc., exist in 
that language. 

The Abyssinian 
Church was founded by 
Frumentius, a The Abyssin- 
Tyrian mer- ian church, 
chant, ordained by Atha- 
nasius in 327, and after- 
wards first Bishop of 
Axum, in Abyssinia. Per- 
haps owing to the long 
residence of Jews in Abys- 
sinia,. Christianity is there 
more mingled with Judaic 
elements than anywhere 
else. Circumcision of male 
infants, as well as infant 
baptism, is practised; the 
Jewish Sabbath is kept 
in addition to Sunday ; a 
great annual festival is 
kept, when the whole na- 
tion is re-baptised ; and 
pork and other " unclean " 
food is strictly abstained 
from. 

The Abyssinian Christians are zealous for the Monophysite doctrine. 
They revere saints, religious pictures, and the cross, but not the crucifix or 
images. The common people are very ignorant, and their religious notions 
are almost entirely superstitious, and their morals are little influenced by 
Christianity. Yet religious controversy is rife among them, and it is said 
that there are something like seventy different opinions held in Abyssinia 
respecting the union of the two natures in Christ. The churches in the 
province of Tigre are square buildings, while in Lasta and Amhara they 
are circular. Men and women enter by separate doors. There is an outer 



ABYSSINIAN TABOT, OR AEK. 



774 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



court formed by the projecting eaves of the roof, and supported by posts 
outside the main wall; in this the congregation meet to sing psalms. 
There is a chamber on the north-west termed the " house of bread," in 
which the priests make the bread and wine for the sacrament. There is 
a second court decorated with paintings of the Virgin and saints, and 

Scripture scenes ; and 




an inner court, to the 
east, which only the 
priests may enter, con- 
taining the ark, usually 
of four upright wooden 
posts, with a shelf mid- 
way, on which one or 
more volumes of the 
Bible, and crosses and 
censers are kept, and a 
stone slab at the bot- 
tom, carved with mystic 
lines, and inscribed with 
the name of the patron 
saint of the church. 
The ark is kept screened 
from view by a curtain, 
and it is specially re- 
verenced. Bells are not 
used, but the congrega- 
tion is summoned by 
two pieces of stone hung 
in the churchyard be- 
ing knocked together. 

The Abyssinian 
"A buna," or chief 
bishop, is appointed and 
consecrated by the Cop- 
tic Patriarch of Alexan-v 
dria. He must be celi- 
bate, though the priests 
generally are married. 
The numerous monas- 
teries and churches 
have valuable endowments ; and the priests also receive large gifts and fees 
for the numerous offices they perform in relation to almost every depart- 
ment of life. They are on the whole unlearned, and do not allow the 
people to read the Grospel for themselves, but confine them to the Psalms. 
Funerals are celebrated with much religious pomp. The whole of the 
Psalms are recited ; the funeral procession halts seven times on its way to 



CARVED STONE "WITH CROSS, THE GOSH M. RHITHAR MONASTERY, 
ARMENIA. 



THE CHURCH IN THE FIFTH AND SIXTH CENTURIES. 775 



the churchyard, when incense is burned and prayers are offered ; and 
prayers for the dead are repeated frequently within forty days after buriaL 
Anniversary memorial services are obligatory, and are gone through with a 
dummy figure on a bier. Altogether the Abyssinian Church is one of the 
most degraded forms into which Christianity has degenerated. 

The Armenian Church was founded by Gregory 'Hhe Illuminator," 
prince of the reigning family of Armenia at the end of the third century. 
His successors took the title of Patriarch, and later of Catholicos. The Arme- 
The Bible was translated into Armenian in the first half of the ^^^^ Church, 
fifth century, and does not follow any known text of the Septuagint or 
the New Testament. Armenian bishops took part in several of the Church 
Councils. Being unrepresented at the Council of Chalcedon (451), the 
Armenian Church never accepted its decisions, and in 491 their Patriarch 
annulled them. From this point the Armenian gradually lost touch with 
the orthodox Church, though they in later times denied that they held 
the Eutychian doctrine. Their bishops, however, attended the 5th, 6th, 
and 7th general Councils. In the fifteenth century the entrance of Jesuits 
into Armenia, who made many converts, occasioned much dissension. The 
Catholic Armenians became a distinct community at the end of the 
sixteenth century. 

The Armenian Church now receives protection from the Czar of Russia, 
and its doctrines are almost identical with those of the G-reek Church, deny- 
ing the special doctrines of the Roman Catholics. They have the 
seven sacraments : (1) baptism by immersion, with anointing with 
holy oil, followed by the eucharist ; (2) confirmation, at once after baptism ; 
(3) the eucharist administered in both kinds to all, without mixture of 
water with the wine ; (4) penance — confession with fasting ; (5) ordination, 
by anointing with holy oil ; (6) marriage ; (7) extreme unction — the 
anointing being only for priests, while others only have prayers said over 
them. The liturgy, of very early origin, contains the Nicene Creed with a 
damnatory clause, and prayers of John Chrysostom and Basil. The dead 
are prayed for, though the Church does not believe in purgatory nor grant 
indulgences. Besides Sundays and the usual holy days of the Eastern 
Church, the Armenians observe ten national saints' days. They keep 
Christmas on the 6th of January. The priesthood, strangely enough in a 
Christian Church, is hereditary ; during the lifetime of the father or grand- 
father, the heir of a priestly family may follow a secular calling, leaving 
it at the death of the priest he is heir to. But he may only marry before, 
not after ordination. Only the monks, called black clergy, can obtain the 
higher offices. The four Armenian patriarchs have their seats at Constanti- 
nople, Jerusalem, Sis (Nisibis) in Cilicia, and Etchmiazin, near Mount Ararat. 
The Church is entirely maintained by voluntary offerings of the people. 

The Maronites, of Lebanon, numbering a quarter of a million, originated 
more especially from the Monothelite development of the " one The 
nature " controversy. The name is derived from Maro, a fourth- ^^^°^^*®s- 
century saint, to whom a great monastery, in the valley of the Orontes 



776 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



was dedicated, presided over in the latter part of the seventh century by 
another John Maro. His preaching and zeal diffused Monothelite doc- 
trines throughout the Lebanon district, in which many Christian refugees- 
from the Mahommedans gathered together. In the latter part of the 
twelfth century the Maronites were for the most part reconciled with Rome,, 
but they retain their own Syriac ritual, communion in both kinds, and 
married priests. They have a large number of monasteries and convents. 
The people are very superstitious, and have suffered much from the Druses,, 
who massacred them cruelly in 1860. (See page 578.) The College founded 
at Rome for the education of Maronites has produced a remarkable family 




^YEST ENTBANCE, MONASTEEY OF ST. MACAE, ARMENIA. 

of Oriental scholars, the Assemanni. A small remnant of the Maronites stili 
reject communion with Rome. 

In the West the Goths, Vandals, and other Teutonic peoples had 
accepted Christianity to an extent which was considerably softening their 
Christian pro- ^^^^^^^y 5 ^^^ making possible their union with the Latin nations. 
^GotL^^tc^ Retaining many of their old superstitions, often accepting 
Christianity merely at the bidding of their princes, and pro- 
fessing Arianism for the same reason, they persecuted and plundered the 
Catholics wherever they went. Belisarius (534), the great general of 
Justinian, in turn destroyed the Arian Vandals, especially in Africa. 

Clovis, king of the Franks, was baptised in 496 by Bishop Remigius 
(died 533), at Rheims, and took the Catholic side. Being at t]Qi.s time the 



THE CHURCH IN THE FIFTH AND SIXTH CENTURIES. 777 

only Catliolic monarcli, all other Christian sovereigns being Arians or 
Monophysites, his successors on the Frankish and afterwards conversion 
on the French throne received the title of Eldest Son of the ofciovis. 
Church. Clovis was not much less scrupulous in serving the ends of the^ 
Church than he had been before his conversion, but thought to atone for 
crimes by liberal gifts to churches and monasteries. He died in 511, the 
3^ear in which the first Frankish Church Council met at Orleans. But the 
purity of religion degenerated greatly in the Frankish kingdom. Incredible 
miracles were alleged, superstitious and showy worship increased, while- 
crime did not diminish. 

Meanwhile the Popes of Rome, at first oppressed by the power of the 
Exarchs of Ravenna, who now acted as imperial viceroys in Ital}', were 
raising their pretensions and consolidating their power, being the j , 

only strong authority left in Rome itself. Innocent I. (400-41 7) power of the 
asserted jurisdiction over Eastern Illyricum, and claimed that all ^^^^' 
the Western Church should conform its usages to those of Rome. Zosimus> 
(417-8), Boniface I. (418-423), and Celestine I. (423-432), still further ad- 
vanced their claims; but Leo I., the Grreat (440-461), was the most 
successful asserter of the papal rights, claiming unbroken apostolic 
tradition on behalf of everything done by the Church at Rome, gaining 
the submission of the African, Spanish, and Gaulish Churches, and pro- 
curing from the Emperor Yalentinian III. a law which declared the Bishop 
of Rome ruler of the whole Church (445). At the Council of Chalcedon his- 
legates took equal presidency with the Patriarch of Constantinople, and in 
other ways he paved the way for the most advanced claims of medieval Popes. 

During the G-othic rule over Italy, the Popes became more evidently 
the pivot of the Catholic Church. Theodoric, called upon to decide between 
rival Popes, Symmachus and Laurentius, decided for the former ; and when 
moral charges were brought against Symmachus, summoned a Council of 
Italian bishops in 501 or 503, which acquitted Symmachus, because of 
difficulties which "must be left to the Divine judgment." Ennodius, 
afterwards Bishop of Pavia, in a Defence of the Cou.ncil, developed the 
principle that the successor of St. Peter was above human judg- ^^^ p 
ment, and only responsible to God ; and this view was adopted above numan. 
by the sixth Roman Council, held by Symmachus. The papal '' ^^^ ' 
elections, with their intrigues, bribery, and strife, gave little countenance to 
the idea of human perfection surrounding the papacy. The Popes became 
dependent upon the Emperors for their confirmation in power, in j^ej^tiojig 
return for which the Popes received new temporal privileges. The with the 
papal ascendency was maintained by appeals from all quarters, ^p®^°^^' 
answered by " decretal epistles," given as from apostolical tradition, and 
asserted as being of universal authority. These epistles, together with 
the decisions of the Councils of the Church, were collected about the 
middle of the sixth century by Dion3^sius Exiguus, forming a standard text 
of Church law. Dionysius also framed the new cycle for the dates of 
Easter, adopted at Rome in 525, and settled the system of dating from the 



778 



TH^ WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



Christian era, which, he placed four or five years too late. The most 
important events in Christian history at the end of the sixth century 
are the renunciation of Arianism by the Spanish Church at the Council of 
Toledo in 589, the election of Gregory the Great as Pope in 590, the 
mission of Augustine to Britain in 596, and the baptism of Ethelbert, king 
•of Kent, in 597. But these events usher in the dawn of the medieval 
period, contemporary with the rise of Mohammedanism. 

There are a multitude of interesting details about the development of 
Church order, government, and practice, in the fifth and sixth centuries, 
Development which we must pass lightly over. The tonsure, a shaving of 
of ciencaiism. ]jiore or less of the crown of the head, was commonly adopted 

by the clergy in the sixth century. 
Schools of divinity arose at Alexandria, 
Antioch, Edessa, and other great 
centres, as well as in important mon- 
asteries. Bishops alone ordained 
ministers, and largely appointed them 
to their churches. Lay patronage, 
however, was granted by Justinian to 
founders of churches in 541. Celibacy 
of the clergy became common ; though 
not required by any general Council, 
there was a growing assumption that 
no man could marry after becoming a 
deacon. Abuses soon arose which had 
to be corrected by special laws. Un- 
fortunately, nionasticism itself, with 
its strict professions, had a prejudicial 
influence on general Christian mor- 
ality, it being thought that it was not 
necessary for ordinary people to aim 
at the correct conduct required of a 
monk. As the Church grew in State 
favour, it became infected by the worldliness of courts, and increased the 
pomp of its worship and the dignity of its surroundings, while too often 
•showing glaring imperfections and impurit^^ in conduct. 

Monasteries naturally became the refuge of those who sought purity. 
The person of monks impressed the Goths and Teutons, who endowed 

monasteries in compunction for their sins, and from fear or 
Monastic life. . ^ ^^ . ^ ., .,. ' „ 

veneration lield monastic buiklmgs and revenues as well as 

monks sacred from spoliation and injury. Yet even in the monastic life 

-degeneracy crept in ; and when St. Benedict (born in 480 near Nursia, in 

Italy) began his remarkable career, there was much need of reform. In early 

St B d- t y^^^^^ ^^ became an ascetic, and his piety grew famous and was 

' associated with many wonders and reputed miracles. Resorted 

to by many desiring instruction, Benedict founded twelve monasteries of 




ST. BENEDICT. 



THE CHURCH IN THE FIFTH AND SIXTH CENTURIES. 779 

twelve monks eacL. in the liills forty miles east of Rome. Driven by envy 
to leave this localit}^, Benedict in 528 founded the monastery of Monte 
Cassino, which became the most famous and powerful in the Roman com- 
munion. Never ordained a priest, his influence far transcended his nominal 
position, and his system was established all through Western Europe before 
his death, in 543. 

Benedict was the first who enjoined a vow of permanent monastic 
residence and discipline, marked by ceaseless striving after perfection of 
•character and conduct, chastity, labour, poverty, great modera- TheBenedie- 
tion in food, and entire obedience to the abbot, the superior of the *i^® Order. 
monastery. The giving up of all private property to the monastery formed 
a nucleus of corporate property, which rapidly increased, and enabled the 
Order to be hospitable to strangers and the poor, and to set on foot many 
works of mercy as well as ecclesiastical and literary enterprise. The educa- 
tion of the young by the monks was made very important. Benedict had 
the judgment to allow in his " Rule " for different modes of life suitable for 
different climates, races, and circumstances. Episcopal supervision and the 
abbot's rule being granted, all the monks were held equal, and they chose 
their own abbots. The monasteries were so planned that every necessity of 
life could be provided for within its walls, and no monk might quit the build- 
ing except by special leave. Vanity was checked by forbidding a monk 
to do any work in which he showed a tendency to pride himself on his skill. 

Within three centuries there were scarcely any monks in Western 
Europe who had not adopted the Benedictine rule. They were not organ- 
ised as a body corporate, but gradually individual monasteries formed so- 
cieties or " congregations," of which there were at one time more than 150, 
in addition to the monasteries remaining independent. Fifty Benedictine 
monks have become popes, the first being Grregory the Great (590-604). In 
the 14th century it was reputed that there had been 37,000 Benedictine 
monasteries, and in the fifteenth there were 15,000. After the Reformation 
they were reduced to 5,000, and now do not number more than about 800. 
The congregations of Benedictines differ in many respects from one another, 
being only united by the essential vows of the order. In Protestant and 
heathen countries their principal activity is missionary. 

The temples of the old gods did not furnish the models for the new 
'Christian churches, one reason perhaps being that their small and dark 
inner sanctuaries were ill-adapted to the public nature of Basiiican 
Christian rites. The Roman law courts and business places known churches. 
as Basilicas^ open from end to end, were more suitable, and were either 
actually given to the Church by Constantine, or were taken as the models 
of new buildings. We cannot give details, but the general style of these 
■churches is seen in the figures we give of St. Paul's outside the walls at 
Rome and St. ApoUinaris in Classe at Ravenna. The apse, the semi- 
circular recess at the upper end in which the judges' and officials' chairs 
Avere set, was used for the bishop's and priests' seats and the Lord's table. 
It was known as the sanctuary or presbytery, and its wall was often covered 



78o THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

with mosaic pictures of sacred subjects. The "Lord's table '^ was already 

in the fourth century termed " the place of sacrifice," translated by Jerome 

" altar," wood being gradually replaced by stone in its construction, and the 

space beneath it being often used to receive the relics of the saint or martyr 

to whom the church was dedicated. Raised on steps, enclosed by pillars, 

Avith veils hung between, covered with a canopy or baldachino, decorated 

with gold, silver, and precious stones and carvings, it is not surprising that 

the altar on which the mysterious consecration of the elements of the 

Eucharist was performed, was specially venerated, and that the laity were 

kept at a distance from it by rails. The part next to it, the choir, had a 

raised floor, was set apart for the readers and choir, and included the desk 

Memorial 01' pulpit. Memorial churches, on the model of Roman circular 

•churches, tombs, were circular or polygonal, often domed, and from these the 

Byzantine type of architecture developed, of which the church (now mosque) 

of St. Sophia at Constantinople (pp. 555, 754, 755) is the finest representative. 

All churches were specially consecrated to divine service ; and 
Consecration. , • r. ^ f • 

the possession of relics of some samt was early held of primary 

importance. The consecration service, at first simple, became a complex 

one, with special ritual, and it was essential that the Eucharist, 
Relics. I 1. I 7 

consecrated by the bishop, should be placed with other relics 
in a chest. The sacredness of churches was further assured by forbidding 
arms to be worn in them ; hence they became places of asylum from 
violence ; but ordinary criminals, Jews, slaves, and other special classes 
were excluded from its protection. The loss of the relics took away the 
sacredness of the building. 

Crosses, carved and sculptured in various forms, were conspicuous 
ornaments of churches, and, as the material symbol of redemption, became 

Crosses and venerated and even worshipped as having some mystic virtue ; 
crucifixes, ^.vl^ in obedience to the same tendency to believe in charms, the 
sign of the cross was often made in order to preserve from danger. The 
Emperor Julian sneered at the Christians for reverencing the cross, and 
in the sixth to the eighth centuries numerous Christian writers defended 
its adoration, and adduced marvellous narratives to show the benefit of so 
doing. In fact, forms of service for the adoration of the cross are to be 
found in ancient liturgies, both Roman and Greek. With the figure of 
Christ crucified added, the cross became a crucifix, though in the beginning 
purely symbolical and not realistic in its representation. At first the type 
of the " Lamb of God " was used, and the crucifix was only ordained to be 
set up in churches at the Council of Constantinople in 691. Even before the 
fourth century pictures had come into use in churches ; but separate pictures 

Pictures and ^'^^ images of Christ and sacred personages, at first regarded as 
images, contravening the second commandment, in the fifth and sixth 
centuries were commonly set up, especially those of the mother of Jesus 
with her infant son. Leontius, bishop of Neapolis in Cyprus, thus defended 
image- worship in the latter part of the sixth century : " I, worshipping the 
image of God, do not worship the material wood and colours ; God forbid ; 



THE CHURCH IN THE FIFTH AND SIXTH CENTURIES. 781 



but laying hold of tlie lifeless representation o£ Christ, I seem to myself to " 
lay hold of and to worship Christ through it." 

We have already recounted the controversies about the veneration of 
Mary as ''• Mother of God," which developed a tendency to think of her on 
the same level as Jesus Himself; and it was a Monophysite worship of 
Patriarch who first placed her name in all the prayers of his *^® virgin, 
liturgy. In Justinian's reign she was invoked for the prosperity of the 
State ; and the tendency to pray for the aid of a female mediator, which 
had been strong in the Greek and Roman religions, was transferred to the 
Virgin Mary. The surviving feeling for the old religion, too, welcomed the 
veneration of saints and martyrs in the place of the deified heroes ; and 
prayers and vows to them became common. Relics were manufactured 
to meet the demand, as well as stories of spurious miracles ; and marvellous 
biographies of saints, some with a foundation of fact, others entirely 
fictitious, were written and circulated. The title of ''saint," at first and of 
right belonging to every Christian, as separated from a worldly 
life, was gradually confined exclusively to those who were con- 
spicuous for their holy life or martyr's death. Names were inscribed in the 
roll of saints, and read out as deserving of commemoration, by authority of 
the bishop, and later of the metropolitan, synod, or even Emperor. Days 
were set apart for commemorating them, often the anniversaries of their 
martyrdom, and thus ecclesiastical calendars came into use. 

Holy places also grew into reverence, beginning with the scenes of 
Christ's life and death. Constantine's building of the Church of the Holy 
Sepulchre, and the "finding of the true cross" by his ^^^^^©^ pijgrimages 
Helena powerfully stimulated the idea of pilgrimage to Jerusalem. 
Fragments of the supposed true cross, were spread throughout Christendom, 
and were venerated as most sacred relics. 

There were not wanting opponents of the new practices of monasticism, 

invocation of saints, worship of relics and images, etc. ; but their voices 

were overpowered by the strength of the supporters of the tendency opposition 

of the times. Aerius, an Armenian (fourth and fifth centuries), to new 

Helvidius, Jovinian andVigilantius in the Western Church are the 

most notable of these early Protestants. The three latter were all violently 

attacked by Jerome, who was very indignant at the success of 

Jovinian at Rome, who taught that all baptised Christians, if 

their conduct was consistent with their professions, were equal in Christian 

privileges, and that neither celibacy nor monasticism placed them on a 

special pedestal. Jovinian was excommunicated and banished from Rome 

about 390 ; and he appears to have died before 406. Vigilantius, born just 

north of the Pyrenees, became acquainted with Jerome in his house „. ., ^. 

T • - 1 • • 1 1 • • 1 • Vigilantius. 

at Bethlehem, and excited his ire by his opposition to the worship 

of departed saints and their relics. Vigilantius thought it was better for a 

man to seek objects of charity around his own home, rather than give his 

property entirely to the poor or to the monks. The strength of Jerome's 

antagonism is a measure of the difficulty such a teacher had in getting 



782 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

heard by those who were most influential in the Church ; and Vigilantius- 
and his fellows were doomed to failure. 

The creeds of the Church were practically settled in this period. The 
Nicene Creed, though mainly determined as we have already related, was- 
based on an ancient baptismal creed found in the "Apostolical 
Constitutions," audit was as a baptismal creed that it continued to 
be used before it was inserted in any liturgy. In 511 Timotheus, bishop of 
Constantinople, ordered that it should be recifced at every congregation ; and 
about this time it was inserted in the principal Eastern liturgies. The 
Council of Toledo in 589 ordered that it should be recited before the Lord's 
Prayer in the liturgy. 

The Apostles' Creed, often regarded as the oldest, from its name, was 
only adopted as a written creed, in the Western Church, later than the 
Nicene, It no doubt represents a very early baptismal creed, having various 
versions, which do not appear to have been early put into writing. 

The Athanasian Creed, which is rather an argumentative and declaratory 
psalm, declaring the necessity of holding the Catholic faith as essential to 
salvation, was never a baptismal creed, nor was it the product of a Council. 
It is of Western though unknown origin, probably in the fifth century : it 
is first met with in the Gaulish Church, where its use spread into the whole 
Latin Church and part of the Greek. In 676 we find it required of every 
cleric to assent to this creed, at the Council of Cressy (Christiacum). 

No fewer than a hundred ancient liturgies are known, the majorit}?- 
belonging to the Eastern Churches, centring round the metropolitan 
Eastern Churches of Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria, Constantinople, 
Liturgies. Ephesus, and Rome. There are none which ascend to the 
apostolic age, though ascribed to apostles or evangelists, such as St. James 
or St. Mark ; but they mostly took written form in the fourth to the sixth 
centuries. The Liturgy of St. Clement, probably the oldest, dates from the 
beginning of the fourth century. It is given in the " Apostolical Constitu- 
tions," and contains distinct services for catechumens and full members, verj^ 
simple services, without even the Lord's Prayer, any creed, or the mention of 
saints' names. The Liturgy of St. James is the oldest of those proceeding from 
Jerusalem, and arose in the fourth century ; it includes the Nicene Creed ^ 
with the terms Homoousios and Theotokos, and with commemoration of the 
mother of God and all saints, '• that we through their prayers and interces- 
sions may obtain mercy." From this were developed the liturgies named 
after St. Basil and St. Chrysostom — the -latter, not originally associated with 
his name, being still regularly used in the Sunday services of the Greek 
Church, while that of St. Basil, a longer form, is reserved for Lent and some- 
special occasions. A free translation into Syriac from the Liturgy of St. 
James is still used in various forms, in the monophysite Eastern ChurcheSv 
The Liturgy of St. Mark (Alexandrian), used in Egypt till the twelfth 
century, contains the Nicene Creed as enlarged at Constantinople, and is 
probably derived from the Liturgy of Cyril. The Liturg}^ of Edessa, also' 
termed that of Thaddseus, originated with and is used by the Nestorians. 



THE CHURCH IN THE FIFTH AND SIXTH CENTURIES. 783 

" The Western liturgies include tlie Epliesian forms, connected with the 
name of St. John, and used in the early Churches of Spain, Gaul, and Britain ; 
the Liturgy of St. Ambrose, still used in the diocese of Milan, and western 
containing many of Ambrose's compositions, as well as others by liturgies. 
Simplicius, his successor ; and the Roman, or Petrine. The latter is very 
ancient in its leading features, but extant copies are not found of earlier 
date than the 461. The whole liturgy constitutes the Missal. The edition 
ascribed to Pope Gregory the Great, modified more than once, obtained 
precedence over every other, and was adopted by the Council of Trent. 

We have thus traced the Church through the early stages of conflict, 
and its establishment as part of the E-oman imperial system, to its gradual 
elevation above the civil power. We are now at the dawn of the medieval 
period, terminated by the Reformation. The greatest facts of this period 
are the final separation between the Eastern and Western Churches, the 
encroachments of Mohammedanism, and the evangelisation of the heathen 
peoples of Europe. 




THE CATHEDRAL, BAMBERG, BAVAEIA : FOUNDED 1004. 




POPE GREGORY THE GREAT. 



CHAPTER YII. 
Cf)ri5tiamtL> to tfte ^fparation between (©a^jt aiiir mit^L 

(seventh to tenth centuries.) 

Pope Gregory I.— Mission of Augustine to England— The early British Churcli— St. Patrick— St. 
Columba— Independent spirit of Celtic Church— Columban and St. Gall— St. Boniface, the Apostle 
of Germany— Charlemagne and the Papacy— The Holy Roman Empire— Alcuin— The Eastern 
Church— The Controversy about Images— John of Damascus— Seventh (Ecumenical Council— The 
Caroline Books against Images— Council of Frankfort— Leo the Armenian— Theodore the Studite 
—The Empress Theodora— Photius and Ignatius— Eighth Council (Roman)— Eighth Council 
(Greek)— Last disputes between East and West— Adoptionism— The Isidorian Decretals— The 
Real Presence— Paschasius—Ratramn— John Scotus— Predestination— Gottschalk—Scotus on 
^'Predestination"— Hincmar— Council of Quiercy— Christianity in North and East Europe— 
Anskar—Olaf— Cyril and Methodius— Vladimir— St. Stephen of Hungary— the Wends, Lithu- 
anians, and Pomeranians. 

THE cHef doctrines of the Christian Church being settled, and the ground 
plan of its organisation being complete, it enters upon its " middle 
age," lasting till the Reformation, and marked in the central point b}^ the 
iinal separation of the Eastern from the Western Church. The great period 
Pope of the Papacy begins with the remarkable Pope Gregory I., the 
Gregory L Qj^^^t. Bom at Eome in 540, he was elected Pope in 590, when 
assaults of heretics, corruptions of members, etc., had greatly weakened the 
Church. In his own words the Church was " an old and shattered ship, 
admitting the waters on all sides, its timbers rotten, and shaken by daily 
storms." He literally reorganised the Church, re-arranged the liturgy, es- 
tablished the G-regorian form of chanting, and asserted the supremacy of' 
Rome throughout the West and in Africa. While recognising the Patriarchs 
of Alexandria and Antioch as his equals, he strictly objected to the Patriarch 
■of Constantinople calling himself oecumenical bishop, and also renounced 



CHRISTIANTTY IN THE SEVENTH TO TENTH CENTURIES. 785 

the title for himself; yet at the sixth general council, 681, the title was 
granted to the Patriarch of Constantinople, was claimed by the then Pope, 
and usually taken by succeeding Popes. 

On the whole, Grregory was tolerant towards heretics, and succeeded in 
reconciling several Arian Churches by emphasising the first four councils and 
reckoning the fifth as less important. He was, however, zealous against the 
Donatists and in uprooting the remains of heathenism. He was a strong 
supporter of monasticism, and his " Pastoral Rule " long guided the Western 
bishops. His 850 letters show remarkable practical wisdom. 
Before his death, in 604, he had heard of the success of the mis- Augustine 
sion to England on which he had despatched Augustine in 596. *° ^^^la^^- 
Ethelbert, king of Kent, was baptised at Canterbury on Whitsunday, 597, 
followed by many of his subjects. Augustine became the Archbishop of 
Canterbury and metropolitan of England, and the old British church near 
Ethelberc's palace was his cathedral. Augustine also founded the Bene- 
dictine Abbey of St. Peter and St. Paul, at Canterbury, afterwards more 
famous under the name of Augustine himself. 

Long before the Anglo-Saxon invasion, Christianity had been widely 
diffused in Qreat Britain, probably from Gaul ; and we find it recorded on 
undoubted authority, that three British bishops, Eborius of York, ^j^^ ^^^. 
Rasti tutus of London, and Adelfius of Caerleon, attended the British 
Council of Aries in 314, and others were present at the Council of 
Sardica in 347, and of Ariminum in 360; and after this time various notable 
churchmen, such as St. John Chrysostom and St. Jerome, refer to the British 
Church. We have already mentioned that the originator of the Pelagian 
heresy was a British Christian, and bishops from Gaul visited Britain in 429 
and 447 to counteract his influence, and to spread the gospel among the native 
Britons, now being deserted by the Roman legions. Gaulish monks from 
the great abbey founded by St. Martin of Tours at Marmoutier, preached the 
monastic life in Cornwall, Wales, Ireland, and Scotland. 

Christianity was introduced into Ireland in the latter part of the 
fifth century by Patricius, or Patrick, a Briton born near Dumbarton, 
in Scotland of Christian parentage. In Ireland the tribe be- c+ p + • v 
came the unit of ecclesiastical life. In fact, the chief became 
a sort of abbot, and the converted tribesmen and women devoted them- 
selves to fasting and prayer, and often to celibacy. The chief ship and 
abbacy went together by hereditary descent. It is remarkable how the 
monastic life took hold of the Celts, who were so much in love with it that 
they went far and wide to propagate it, visiting many parts of Britain, and 
leaving their mark from Naples to Iceland, and extending as far as Franconia 
and Carinthia. St. Columba (521-597), a native of Donegal, of g^ 
Irish blood royal, founded monasteries and churches in Ireland, 
and in 563 went to Scotland to convert the Picts. He received a grant of 
the island of lona in 563, and there set up the famous church and monastery 
which for 150 years was the head of the national Church of Scotland. His 
Church, established at first outside the influence of Rome, became opposed 



786 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



to the Eoman Church in several points, such as the date of keeping Easter, 
a matter held to be of great importance, and refused to yield obedience 
to the Roman pontiff. The abbot of lona, though usually only a presbyter, 
exercised the authority as of a pope over the numerous bishops under his 
jurisdiction. 

Scotland, Ireland, and Wales produced numerous saints in the seventh 
and eighth centuries, and they converted a considerable portion of England 
which had not yet been reached directly from Rome. The monks of the 
Celtic Church are credited with having been better missionaries than parish 
priests, and their Church gradually waned before the more systematic efforts of 
Independent ^^ Roman emissaries. In the seventh century the Irish accepted 
spirit of the Roman date for Easter, followed by the Welsh in the middle 
'of the eighth. The monasteries of the Celtic foundations long 
kept up their independence of diocesan bishops ; but in the eleventh cen- 
tury their subjection was finally accomplished. The interesting details of 
medieval English Church history must be sought in more extended works, 
especially the conflicts of the temporal with the ecclesiastical power, and of 
England with Rome; but England did not in these times do anything in 
development of the main features of Christianity. 

Meanwhile the Scoto-Irish monks were represented on the Continent by 
such men as Columban, who established monasteries under strict rule in the 
Coiumban Vosges, maintaining his independence of the Pope ; he afterwards 
and St. Gau. ^j.g^yg]]Q(j widely in Europe, dying in 615. His disciples also 
founded monasteries, the most famous being that of St. Gall in Switzerland. 
Other British missionaries evangelised Frisia in the seventh and eighth 
centuries. 

The greatest missionary sent out from England in Anglo-Saxon times 

was Winfrid, afterwards known as St. Boniface, the apostle of Germany 

(680-755), born at Crediton in Devonshire. In 716 he be^an to 

St. Boniface, ^ . ^' . . t • rr-ir^ • T 1 • P -r» rx 

the apostle preach m Frisia, and m 718 received authority irom Pope Gregory 
of Garmany. jj^ ^^ preach to all the German tribes. This he did with great 
success, destroying objects of heathen worship, and founding churches and 
monasteries. Gregory III. in 732 made him archbishop and primate of 
Germany. After the great victory of Charles Martel over the Saracens 
in 732, that monarch seized church treasures and possessions to reward 
his followers ; and the imperfection of the hold which Rome had on the 
Frankish Church, as well as the numerous disorders that were prevalent, in- 
duced Pope Zacharias in 741 to commit to Boniface the task of reforming 
it. He secured the assent and authority of the State for his reforms, but 
was not able to enforce the obedience of the Frankish bishops to metropoli- 
tans or to the Pope. The Scoto-Irish preachers, too, gave him much 
trouble ; and we learn that, in addition to their rejection of Roman obedience, 
they discountenanced saint and relic worship, and pilgrimages. He is said 
to have crowned Pepin King of the Franks in 742 ; but this is doubtful. On 
June 5th, 755, his tent at Dokkum in West Friesland was surrounded by 
armed pagans, who massacred the whole party of fifty-two, Boniface having 
forbidden resistance. 



CHRrSTIANTTY IN THE SEVENTH TO TENTH CENTURIES. 787 



The connection of the Frankish kingdom with the Papacy had in 754 
been strengthened by Pepin's accepting coronation at the hands of Pope 
btephen II., who in 755 received from that king the famous 
Bonation of Pepin, conquered from Astulf us, king of the Lombards, ""^^Th?''' 
and constitutmg the beginning of the Papal States. Karl the ^^^^^y* 
Great (Charlemagne) in 774 extended the Donation to correspond with 
the old Exarchate of Eavenna, and at his several visits to Eome paid the 
utmost respect to the See of St. 
Peter and to the Pope. Pope Leo 
HI. on his accession (795) offered 
to Karl the allegiance of the Ro- 
man citizens, sending him the 
banner of Eome and the keys of 
St. Peter's alleged tomb. Only a 
few years later (800) Karl was 
called on to pronounce judgment 
on serious charges against the 
Pope ; and his court declared the 
Pope above all human judgment. 
On Christmas Day, 800, Leo 
crowned Karl in St. Peter's, and 
did homage to him as 
Emperor of the West, R^man Em- 
thus renouncing all p^^®' 
connection with Constantinople^ 
and setting up what became after- 
wards known as the Holy Eoman 
Empire. 

From this point we shall not 
follow the details of ecclesiastical 
relations with the civil power, 
which developed into forms utter- 
ly alien to the spirit of Christ's 
teaching. We can only note those 
points in which further develop- 
ments were given to the constitu- 
tion of the Church or the forms 
and appurtenances of religious 
observance or creeds. 

Karl successively forced Christianity on the Saxons, the Frisians, the 
Bavarians, the Avars of Pannonia, and the Bohemians ; and missionlrTes 
i^ollowed m the wake of the conquerors. AJcuin, an Englishman, 
directed these latter efforts. Karl did much to spread education ^''""• 
and reform religious administration according to the Eoman system. He 
budt among others the cathedral of Aachen (Aix-la-Chapelle), where he died 




STATUE OF ST. BONIFACE. 



788 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

Meanwhile, in the East, Mohammedanism had been making rapid pro- 
gress, and winning from Christian dominion and profession large territories. 
The Eastern The patriarchates of Jerusalem, Antioch, and Alexandria, and the 
Church, bishoprics dependent on them, became merely nominal. In the 
eighth century the great controversy on images rose into prominence, and 
the Emperor Leo III, followed his edict of 723 for the forcible 
controversy baptism of Jews and Montanists b}^ one forbidding the growing 
about images. ^^^gj^^p of images or pictures by Christians (724), which the fol- 
lowers of Mahomet charged against them as idolatry. The so-called images 
were mostly mosaics or pictures on a flat surface, sometimes appearing in 
relief by the arrangement of silver or other metals by which they were 
setoff; and image- worship in the East by no means signifies worship of 
modelled or carved figures. The decree of Leo led to a rebellion, which was 
suppressed, and all images were then ordered to be taken down or coated 
over with plaster. 

John of Damascus, author of the " Correct Exposition of the Orthodox 
Faith," came forward as an able defender of images. He urged that the 
John of revelation of God in the flesh in the person of Christ had made 
Damascus, i^aageg lawful, in order to represent to those of later times what 
His disciples and hearers had seen. Images, he said, were for the unlearned 
what books were to the learned. He did not adore the matter of the images, 
but the Author of matter, who for his sake became material that by matter 
He might work out man's salvation. Imagesof saints were lawful as memorials. 
He refused to acknowledge the Emperor's right to interfere in the matter ; 
the ordering of the Church belonged to its pastors. Popes Gregory II. and 
III. similarly attacked Leo, who in return transferred Greece and lUyria to 
the patriarchate of Constantinople (733). A council held at Constantinople 
in 754, but unattended by any patriarch or any Western representatives, 
utterly condemned the use of images and pictures for religious purposes, but 
declared it lawful to invoke the Virgin and the Saints. The then Emperor 
Constantine V. substituted paintings of secular subjects for sacred images and 
pictures, and cruelly treated all who disobeyed his edicts. On his death in 775 
the chief influence in the East came to Irene, wife of Leo IV., his successor. 
She was a great supporter of images ; and during the minority of her son, 
Constantine VI., 780-797, she proclaimed liberty of conscience. A general 
Seventh council (the seventh oecumenical and second of Nicsea) was sum- 
(Ecumenicai moned, and Pope Adrian I. not only recognised the newly 
appointed Patriarch of Constantinople, Tarasius, but sent legates 
to the council (787). This council declared that images and pictures of 
Christ and the Virgin, as well as of angels and saints, should be set up for 
kissing and reverence, although not for true worship, which belonged to 
God alone. They were, however, to be honoured like the Cross, the Gospels, 
etc., with incense and lights, because the honour paid to the image passed 
on to the original. There was still a strong iconoclast element among the 
clergy and laity, and especially in the army, which had served under the 
iconoclast emperors. 



790 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

The Churches north of the Alps felt the decision in favour of images 
as a great blow to their efforts at uprooting the worship of the old Teutonic 
idols ; and Alcuin, as it is believed, wrote the famous " Caroline 
books against books " in Karl's name, refuting the arguments of the council 
images. ^^^ exposing the fallacy of its position. He took the strong 
intellectual position that " those persons must have faulty memories who 
need to be reminded by an image, and canndt raise their minds above the 
material except by the aid of a created and material object." These lessons, 
he said, cannot be taught by the images themselves, for the merits of the 
saints are not external and cannot be seen ; and the unlearned are the 
very class who will be drawn to pay real divine worship to the images. 
G-reat objection is taken to the adoption of opinions without apostolic 
warrant, which were condemned by the Fathers and early councils. The 
moderate conclusion reached is, that these images should be permitted 
and not destroyed, but that their worship ought not to be enforced. The 
CouncUof Council of Frankfort (794), presided over by Karl, aided by 
Frankfort. Alcuin, at which German, English, and Lombard, as well as 
Frankish bishops were present, with two legates from Rome, condemned 
what is termed " the late synod of the Greeks," and refused all adoration 
and service of images. Thus the path was paved for the Roman Church 
to throw in its lot completely with the new Western empire, and sever 
itself definitely from the East. 

The iconoclast controversy was once more revived by Leo V., the 
Armenian, Emperor of the East (813-820), who in 814 ordered a general 
Leo the removal of images, and seated an opponent of images in the 
Armenian, patriarchate of Constantinople. Theodore, head of the Studite 
monastery at Constantinople, strongly opposed the Emperor, was scourged, 
Theodore the i^'ip^isoned in a dungeon, and threatened with death. Appealed 
studite. ^Q ]3y Jiim, Pope Paschal I. strongly supported the image- 
worshippers, and ordained priests for the Eastern Churches which refused 
the iconoclast priests. Leo Y., in return, persecuted the image- worshippers 
most rigorously, and in consequence lost his life by a conspiracy which 
seated Michael II. on the throne, who recalled the image- worshippers, and 
replaced Theodore, though forbidding discussions and allowing each party 
to follow their own views. Finally Michael asked the aid of Louis, son of 
The Empress Karl the Great, in discouraging image- worshippers at Rome (824). 
Theodora. Yet after several fluctuations, the worship of images was restored 
in Constantinople in 842 by the empress Theodora, mother of the infant 
Michael III. ; and the first Sunday in Lent, the anniversary of the restora- 
tion, is celebrated at the present day in the Greek Church as the Feast of 
Orthodoxy. 

There was yet another controversy in the East about images, which 

led to a dispute as to two rival patriarchs of Constantinople, Photius and 

Photius and Ignatius, who were required by Pope Nicolas I. (858-867) to come 

Ignatius, ^q J^ome for a decision between them, the Pope claiming that 

the Roman Church was '' the head of all, on which all depend." The 



CHRISTIANITY IN THE SEVENTH TO TENTH CENTURIES. 791 



conversion of the Bulgarians was complicated by the doubt about image- 
worship, the king receiving different advice from East and West. Finally 
the Latin clergy were driven out of Bulgaria, and a Grreek archbishop was 
sent by the iconoclast patriarch Ignatius, and Bulgaria became firmly 
attached to the Greek Church. Meanwhile Photius held a council which 
anathematised Pope Nicolas ; in his letter of invitation he accused the men 
of the West of corrupting the gospel with pernicious novelties, teaching a 
different system of fasting, forbidding the clergy to marry, and denying 
the right of pres- 
byters to confirm. 
The greatest ob- 
jection, however, 
was the '^adultera- 
tion " of the creed 
with spurious ad- 
ditions, affirming 
that the Holy 
Grhost proceeds 
from the Son, 
which he called 
blasphemy against 
God the Father. 
The violence of 
Photius is further 
shown by his call- 
ing the Romans 
apostates and ser- 
vants of Anti- 
<hrist. But later 
Ihotius was him- 
sdf deposed and 
aiathematised. 
Tie eighth general 
ccuncil, according 
to the E/Omans, 
hdd at Constanti- 
noDle in 869, at 

wlich the Pope was represented by two bishops, and at which also the 
pariarchs of Antioch, Jerusalem, and Alexandria were repre- Eighth 
seited, again condemned the iconoclasts, and finally established Council 
im;.ge-worship in the East. This council agreed that pictures 
anc images were useful for the instruction of the people, and ought to be 
woishipped with the same honour as the books of the Gospel. The strange 
whrligig of Eastern affairs, however, in 878 restored Photius once more 
to tie patriarchate ; and while he requested the co-operation of Rome in 
anotier council, he strongly asserted his independence in that council 




CHABLEMAGNE. 



792 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



Ei hth (called the eighth by the Grreek Church, 879) which rejected 
Councu the acts of the council of 869 against Photius. A little later, 
communion was again restored between the Greek and Eoman 
Churches. 

No other event of supreme interest marks the history of the Eastern 
Church for some centuries ; it had to make strenuous efforts to maintain itself 
against the advancing power of Mahometanism. In the eleventh century 
the Emperor Basil II. proposed to Pope John XYIII. that the con- 
between East flicting claims of Rome and Constantinople should be met byallow- 
an es . ^^^ ^^ each patriarch the title universal or oecumenical bishop ; 
but the Patriarch of Constantinople, Michael, denounced the heresies of the 
Roman Church, and especially the use of unleavened bread in the Eucharist, 
and in 1053 closed the Latin churches and monasteries at Constantinople, 
while Pope Leo IX. was a prisoner with the Norman conquerors of Naples 
and Sicily. In 1054 he sent legates to Constantinople to seek a settlement, 
but Michael would not even discuss with them, and they left Constantinople 
after laying a solemn excommunication of him on the altar of St. Sophia. 
No later efforts of reconciliation were successful, and from this point no inter- 
communion has existed between the Roman and the Eastern Church. 

In the West the controversy about images continued both in writing 
and in the discussions of councils, and there was considerable opposition to 
images within the Frankish Church till the end of the ninth century. 

Before proceeding to mention the chief doctrinal controversies of the 
medieval Church, we must briefly notice the Western discussion about thei 

Sonship of Christ, which was distinct in its type from the Easter: 
Adoptiomsm. ^. -^ -r^-n . ^-r^ii /-.t-.ti-i 

dispiates. During the reign of Karl the Grreat, Fenx, bishop o| 

Urgel in Catalonia, taught that Christ was the Son of Grod by adoption onH 

not by partaking of the Divine substance. After much controversy, Alcuiji 

wrote a treatise against Felix, and discussed with him for six days in 79f, 

Felix declared himself convinced, but was kept under supervision till Hs 

death in 818, when he left behind him a paper reasserting the principal 

points of his teaching ; but he gained few adherents. 

We cannot follow all the varying attitudes of the Western empire a^d 

the papacy in the ninth and tenth centuries, in which now one, now ihe 

other, emerged as temporarily siapreme, nor the disastrous fall of successive 

Popes into gross immorality and arbitrary conduct. The Frankish Chujch 

meanwhile kept considerably aloof from Rome, and even condemied 

or excommunicated a Pope when culpable. Pope Leo IV. in 852 buijt a 

wall around the suburb of Rome beyond the Tiber, enclosing the basilifan 

church of St. Peter (on the site of the present St. Peter's) and the sitcj' on 

which the Vatican Palace now is ; and from him it derived its name of the 

The isidorian Leonine city. During this century a forged collection purporting 

Decretals, ^q \yQ Papal Decretals gained currency under the name of Isi(jOre, 

bishop of Seville, in the first part of the seventh century, and was adcbted 

by the Frankish and the Roman Church generally. It purported to coltain 

nearly 100 decretal letters of bishops of Rome, some dating as far back as 



CHRISTIANITY IN THE SEVENTH TO TENTH CENTURIES 793 



the apostolic times, and giving accounts of cliurch councils which never took 
place ; and the forgery was favoured by quotations from genuine materials. 
These forged letters exalt the power of the clergy, and raise bishops almost 
above any human judgment ; also the Pope's power is carried beyond any- 
thing previously written. They were quoted and used in councils and by 
Church writers for centuries ; and even when demonstrated to be forgeries, 
still continued to have influence. For what the clergy desired and believed, 
they readily accepted a plausible authority, without critical examination. 

The belief in the material presence of the body and blood of Christ m 
the Eucharist was taught in 831 by Paschasius Eadberfc, a monk of Corbie. 



THE CATHEDBAL OF AIX-LA-CHAPELLE. 



He held that after the consecration of the elements nothing was really 

present but the flesh and blood of Christ, the same in which He THeReai 

was crucified and rose from the dead. Many Prankish Churchmen Presence. 

denounced the doctrine, the most eminent being Eatramn, who paschasius. 

said that the body and blood of Christ were only figuratively ^^^^^^^ 

presented to the faithful soul in the Eucharist, the change being 

not material but spiritual. John Scotus, the great Irish theologian of the 

ninth century, taught that the Eucharist was only a commemora- ^^^^ ^^^^^^ 

tive ordinance, and thus anticipated many Protestants. But this 

was denounced a^ heretical, and the doctrine of Paschasius was generally 

accepted^ 



794 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

Another great controversy, which has not yet died out, was that on 

predestination. The famous Gottschalk, a pupil of Alcuin (786-856), son 

„ ^ ^. of a Saxon count, appears to have been the first to teach that 
Predestina- ' ^^ ... 

tion. not only were the good predestined to happiness but also the 

wicked to damnation. This was going beyond St. Augustine, 

who, while terming those finally lost " reprobates," did not say they were 

predestined to destruction, but that they were left to the just judgment on 

their sins. Gottschalk, though accused of it, denied that he represented Grod 

as the ordainer of evil, for His double predestination was "good" in either 

case ; Grod's just judgments must be good, and to those just judgments the 

wicked were predestinated, and their persistence in sin was foreknown. 

He held that Christ died only for the elect. Grottschalk had to go through 

the usual persecution suffered by those who bring forward any novelty in 

doctrine, being condemned by councils, rigorously treated by the inflexible 

Hincmar (Archbishop of Rheims from 845 to 884), and cruelly flogged in 

the presence of King Charles the Bald ; but he maintained his opinions. 

John Scotus, at the request of Hincmar, wrote his great treatise " on 

Divine Predestination," a work so subtle and free in its inquiries that it 

Scotus on pre- caused him to be accused of various heresies. He said it was 

destination, improper to speak of Divine predestination or foreknowledge, 
because to God all time is present ; but if the term be used, predestination 
must be eternal, and only to good. But the number of those who will be 
saved or lost is known by God, and therefore may be called predestined. 
At the same time Scotus asserts that the human will is free to choose good 
^ or evih After the publication Hincmar held a council at Quiercy 

Councilor (853), which asserted that man fell by the abuse of his; free will ; 
Quiercy. ^^^^ q.^^ ^^^ jj^^ foreknowledge predestinated some to life whom 
He chose by His grace ; but those whom He by His righteous judgment 
left in their lost estate. He did not predestinate to perish, but predestinated 
punishment to their sin. The free will, lost by the Fall, was recovered 
through Christ ; God would have all men saved, and Christ suffered for all ; 
and the ruin of those who perished is their own fault. After much further 
controversy, Hincmar wrote an elaborate work on the whole matter, addressed 
to Charles the Bald (" Epistola ad Eegem "). Gottschalk was kept in prison 
twenty years by Hincmar's influence, who refused him the last sacrament 
unless he would agree to his own statements of doctrine. The old theologian 
steadfastly maintained his views, and died without sacrament ; and burial in 
unconsecrated ground was given to this maintainer of independent thought. 
A brief note must suffice to indicate the successive introduction of 
Christianity into the northern and eastern countries of Europe. In 826 

ciiristianitv -^^^^ar, a monk of Corbie, was sent to evangelise Denmark and 

in North and Scandinavia, and became one of the most famous and successful 

urope. ^^ missionaries. By his influence Denmark and Sweden formally. 

tolerated and recognised Christianity. Anskar built hospitals, founded 

monasteries, redeemed captives, and did much to diminish the slave trade. 

When miracles were ascribed to him, he said, " If I were worthy in the sight 



CHRISTIANITY IN THE SEVENTH TO TENTH CENTURIES. 



795 



of my Lord, I would ask Him to grant me one miracle — that He would 

make me a s^ood man." He died in 865, and his work was 

. . . Anskar 

well carried on by his friend Rimbert. A reaction took place 

under Gorm the Old, king of Denmark, who however was compelled by 

Henry the Fowler to put down human sacrifices. Cnut (Canute) as king of 

Denmark established Christianity on a sure basis, and definitely placed the 




THE BAPTISM OF ST. STEPHEN OF HUNGARS. 



Danish Church under the Roman. Heathen worship was not put down in 
Sweden till towards the end of the eleventh century. In the twelfth and 
thirteenth the Finns were converted ; in the thirteenth and fourteenth 
centuries some progress was made among the Lapps. Norway, partly 
evangelised by Anskar's efforts, long retained much heathenism. Haco 
the Good (934-961) followed Christian rites and brought English clergy to 



7q6 the WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

Norway, but was afterwards forced by his people to take part in the old 
heathen worship. Olaf Tryggvason at the end of the century 
came forward as the Christian champion, and enforced the accept- 
ance of baptism all through Norway (see p. 443). His great-nephew Olaf 
Haroldson (1015-1030), promoted Christianity by similar drastic measures. 
Under his son, St. Magnus, the new religion was fully established. 

The Apostles of Moravia in the ninth century were Cyril and Methodius, 
sent from Constantinople in 803. They knew the Slavonic language, and 
Cyril and ^^^^slated the liturgy into it, and adopted it in public worship. 
Methodius Bohemia became Christian in the ninth and tenth centuries, and 
the Slavonic liturgy was introduced there, but was violently 
opposed by the Eoman clergy, who ultimately maintained the Latin form. 
Christianity advanced into Poland through Bohemia, and thus became con- 
nected with the Roman Church, while the Russians were evangelised from 
Constantinople in the latter part of the tenth century. We have already 
Vladimir in ^©fe^i'^d (P- 452) to the action of Vladimir in destroying the 
Russia, national god Perun at Kief, and compelling his people to be 
baptised Christians. From this time the Greek form of the Church was 
rapidly spread, and the Bible became known in Cyril's Slavonic version. 

The Magyars and Slavonians of Hungary, while they first received 
Christianity through the G-reek Church, eventually were connected with 
St. Stephen Rome through Walk, baptised Stephen, who was king of Hungary 
of Hungary, j^^ IQOO. He organised and endowed Christianity throughout his 
kingdom, built hospitals and monasteries, and for these and many other 
services was canonised as the patron saint of Hungary. 

The Wends and Lithuanians of the Southern and Eastern Baltic, cut 
off by language and race from their Christian neighbours, long resisted the 
The Wends, ^^o^ts of missionaries, and even the compulsion of the sword. In 
and p^^^^^' ^^ sacred island of Riigen (p. 453) idolatrous worship continued 
nians con- after it had been expelled from the mainland. The Lithuanians, 
Finns, Pomeranians, Esthonians, etc., offered a stubborn resist- 
ance in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and were largely massacred, 
rather than converted, by soldiers of the cross. The Pomeranians were 
almost exterminated by the Teutonic Knights. In Lithuania heathenism 
was re-estabHshed in the thirteenth century. Despite the strenuous efforts 
of both Greek and Roman clergy, it was not till the end of the fourteenth 
century that they were successful. The Roman Church prevailed on the 
union of Lithuania to Poland by a dynastic marriage. 

During its first thousand years the Church of Christ was nominally 
united, though already practically split up into numerous divisions. A 
strong body of doctrine and an elaborate system of practice had been 
created, at the cost of much division of opinion, of many bloody wars, of 
much excommunication and heart-burning. The struggle to create a 
Universal Church had very largely felt the influence of national tastes and 
tendencies. The tempting idea of securing unity by force and under one 
spiritual head had seized many minds. Opinion was developed into dogma 
and thrust on the unwilling by force. 




ST. ISAAC S CATHEDHAL, ST. PETERSBUEG. 



CHAPTER V]II. 

The Orthodo-K Church in Greece, Bulgaria, Roumania, etc.— Its History in Russia— Vladimir II. 's dying 
Injunctions-Moscow: The Kremlin— The Patriarchs-The Troitza Monastery-Russians and 
Poles-The Patriarch Nicon-Peter the Great-The Holy Synod -Oath of the Bishops -Ambrose 
-Plato— Philaret -Missions -Doctrines — Sacraments -Membership -The Hierarchy — Liturgy 
and Services-Monks -Parish Priests -Style of Churches -Icons, or Images -The Altar Fasts 
-Yearly Communion-Extreme Unction-Burial-The Czar's Position-Dissenters-The Old 
Believers -Other Sects— The Sabbatniki— The Molokani— The Duchoborzi— Mount Athos. 

THE '^Orthodox" Eastern or Greek and Russian Church, although 
claiming to represent the stock from which all Christendom has 
originated, is to-day the smallest of the great divisions of Christianity ; 
and unlike the Roman Church, it is subdivided by national 
boundaries. The Greek Church in a limited sense includes the^^church!^°'' 
Greek populations of Greece, Turkey, Asia Minor, and elsewhere, 
with Constantinople for its ecclesiastical centre and Mount Athos for its 
holy mountain. The patriarch of Constantinople is elected by a synod of 
bishops, but the selection must receive the approval of the Sultan. The 
Church of the kingdom of Greece is now acknowledged as inde- 
pendent of Constantinople, and is organised with a synod of five ^''^''®®^®' 
bishops, as in Russia. The Servian Church, with some intervals of subiec- 

797 '^ 



798 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

tion to the see of Carlowitz in Austria, and to the patriarch of Constanti- 
nople, has been independent since 1830, with a patriarch at Belgrade. The 
Bulgarian Church, long semi-independent of Constantinople under an 
_ exarch, is now completely so ; but the Bulgarian exarch lives at 

Roumania, Constantinople, and claims jurisdiction over Bulgarians outside 
®*°" Bulgaria. The Roumanian Church, though it was founded from 
E-ome, was long governed from Constantinople ; but one of the first pro- 
ceedings of the Roumanian Government in 1861 was to declare the in- 
dependence of the National Church, which is now under a primate living 
at Bucharest. There are also very many members of the Greek Church 
in the Austrian Empire ; the great body of the Eastern Church is, however, 
that within the Russian dominions. 

We have already referred to the conversion of Vladimir (buried at Kief 

and afterwards canonised), followed by the adoption of the Greek faith as 

Its history the national faith of Russia, as it expanded from a small State to 

in Russia. \>^^ present enormous extension. The spread of Christianity was 

easier in Russia than in any other country of Europe, a fact with which 

the early translation of the Scriptures and liturgies into Slavonic by Cyril 

and Methodius doubtless had much to do. The close relation of the Russian 

Church to Constantinople has been shown by the fact that for five centuries 

the metropolitans of Russia were either Byzantines or closely related to 

Constantinople. Jaroslaff early in the eleventh century introduced into 

Russia the canon law and Christian education from Constantinople. 

VI d- '11' Vladimir the Second (who began to reign in 1113) was a 

dying ' notable combination of fierceness with devotion, who left to his 

injunctions, g^^g ^-j^^ following among other dying injunctions : — 

" my children, praise God and love men. For it is not fasting, nor solitude, nor 
monastic life, tliat will procure you eternal life, but only doing good. Forget not the poor, 
nourish them ; remember that riches come from God, and are given you only for a short 
time. Be fathers to orphans. Be judges in the cause of widows, and do not let the 
powerful oppress the weak. Put to death neither innocent nor guilty, for nothing is so 
sacred as the life and the soul of a Christian. Never take the name of God in vain ; and 
never break the oath you have made in kissing the crucifix. . . Be not envious at the 
triumph of the wicked and the success of treachery. Fear the lot of the impious. Do 
not desert the sick ; do not let the sight of dead corpses terrify you, for we must all die. 
Receive with joy the blessing of the clergy ; do not keep yourself aloof from them ; do 
them good, that they may pray to God for you. Drive out of your heart all suggestions 
of pride, and remember that we are all perishable — to-day full of hope, to-morrow in the 
coffin. Abhor lying, drunkenness, and debauchery. Love 3^our wives, but do not suffer 
them to have any power over you. . . Never take off your arms while you are within 
reach of the enemy. And to avoid being surprised, always be early on horseback. 
When you are on horseback say your prayers, or at least the shortest and best of all : 
' Lord, have mercy upon us.' " 

For centuries the metropolitan of Russia lived at Kief ; but in 1320 his 

seat was transferred to Moscow. Here on the Kremlin hill was gradually 

Moscow: The built that vast aggregation of palaces and churches which is the 

Kremlin, centre of Russian reverence. The patriarchal cathedral in its 

centre is the crowning-place of all the Czars, and contains the most sacred 



THE EASTERN CHURCH— RUSSIAN AND GREEK. 799 

pictures in Eussia. Already, in the middle of the fifteenth century, the 
metropolitan was elected without guidance from Constantinople. The 
One notable metropolitan, Philip, suffered martyrdom from Ivan Patriarchs, 
the Terrible, that strange mixture of cruelty and temporary fanaticism 
in religion, for protesting against Ivan's many cruelties. In 1582 the 
patriarch Jeremiah created Job, the metropolitan of Moscow, a patriarch ; 
and it was asserted that thus the place of Rome in the patriarchate, 
vacated by its schismatic conduct, was filled. 

The extensive foundation of monasteries in Eussia during the period of 
the Tartar invasions proved a great factor in preserving the liberties and 
religious life of the people. The most famous monastery in Eussia, that of 
the Troitza (Holy Trinity), about sixty miles from Moscow, was The Troitza 
founded in 1338, and became in addition to a monastery, a Monastery, 
cathedral and group of churches, and a university protected within walls 
like those of a fortress ; it has been enriched by successive Czars and 
multitudes of pilgrims, and it is now the greatest place of pilgrimage in 
Eussia. It was first made sacred by the pious hermit Sergius, who in 
later life stimulated the Grand Prince Demetrius to his victory on the 
Don in 1380. And this tradition of patriotism was well kept up by later 
generations of prelates and clergy. 

The same spirit was evoked against the encroachments of the Poles, 
who, being of the Eoman Church, contributed largely to make the Eussians 
dislike the Western Communion. The Poles were declared to Russians 
be more debased and wicked than idol-worshippers, for their ^'^^ ^**^®^- 
cruel conduct to members of the orthodox (Eussian) Church. They were 
even said to have subjected them to Jews, who would not let them build 
churches, and deprived them of their priests. Church and State were 
identified in the contest between the two nations. When Moscow was in 
the hands of the Poles, and Eoman masses were celebrated in the Kremlin, 
when patriarch and archbishop were done to death or carried captive, the 
monastery of Troitza held out, and its defenders were encouraged by 
Dionysius, the abbot. When it conquered, Eussia was practically saved, 
and the future of the orthodox Church secured. From the priest Philaret, 
afterwards patriarch of Moscow, sprang the present imperial line. Philaret 
and his son Michael Eomanoff, the first Czar of the line, practically ruled 
the nation jointly. Seven years after Alexis came to the throne, in 1652 
Nicon was made patriarch, and proved himself the greatest reformer of the 
Eussian Church. 

Nicon has been called a Eussian Chrysostom, Luther, and Wolsey ; but 
he was of a rougher type than these, grim-faced, of red hue, with bloodshot 
eyes, and seven feet high. Of peasant stock, he showed virtues The Patriarch 
not specially due to his origin, but to a rare spirit of discernment ^icon. 
and courage. He endeavoured to root out abuses, and especially intemper- 
ance, which had obtained a great hold on the clergy. He founded hospitals 
and almshouses, visited prisons, and relieved the famine-stricken. At his 
bidding the seclusion of women was made less stringent, and the empress 



8oo THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



was, for the first time, allowed to go to church publicly by day. He 
recognised the baptisms of the Roman Church, had Greek taught in the 
schools spread the study of vocal music for church services, and set about 
obtaining the best Slavonic translation possible of the Bible. But g^mong 
his most striking reforms was the introduction of preaching. His homilies 
and sermons at first astounded and tried the patience of the unaccustomed 
worshippers ; and indeed his style seems to have been by no means perfect, 
in excuse for which his having no model to learn from may be pleaded. 
But his methods of discipline were too rigorous, and not framed in the spirit 
of the Founder of Christianity. His agents scourged, imprisoned, and 
otherwise cruelly treated priests and monks found drunk ; and he showed 
no mercy to those who violated his decrees or his views of Church discipline. 
His enforcement of the Church ritual was rigid, and he banished foreigners 
relentlessly who refused baptism in the Church, or respect to the sacred 
pictures. But with all his austerity, he had instincts for magnificence, as 
shown by his monasteries, his patriarchal palace, and the state he kept up. 
At last, even his most faithful friend, the Czar, was alienated, chiefly, it 
must be owned, by the intervention of Nicon's enemies. Nicon resigned 
his office, apparently expecting to be invited back ; but the see was 
declared vacant (1658). It was not, however, till 1667 that he consented 
to the election of a new patriarch. But his enemies were not satisfied with- 
out his formal condemnation. They assembled a council of the Eastern 
patriarchs — the first that had ever met in Russia — together with the most 
distinguished bishops. He was degraded from his rank to that of a simple 
monk, and banished to the monastery of Therapontoff to spend the rest of 
his life in penance. In 1681 the new Czar, Theodore, consented to a 
scheme for his recall ; but Nicon died on the journey to his own church of 
the New Jerusalem (a copy of the Church of the Sepulchre at Jerusalem), 
in which he was finally buried.^ 

Czar Peter the Great accomplished a more remarkable change in the 
Russian Church, namely the abolition of the Patriarchate. Adrian (1690- 
Peter the 1^02) was the last patriarch ; on his death a guardian was 
Great, appointed. The archbishops in Russia and the Eastern patri- 
archs agreed to recommend the abolition of the office ; and in 1720 it was 
definitely abolished, and in its stead a synod of prelates was instituted, as 
a governing body, appointed by the Czar. This body acts as the highest 
court of appeal in Church matters, examines and censures theological books, 
The Holy superintends all churches and convents, and conducts trials for 
Synod, ecclesiastical offences, etc. The Czar is represented in the synod 
by a lay procurator general, and on receiving the Czar's confirmation the 
decisions of the synod have the force of law.^ 

Peter had to encounter much opposition from the Raskolinks, or Russian 
Dissenters, who had bitterly opposed the reforms of Nicon. Peter's intro- 
duction of pictures by "Western artists, his improvements in Church singing 

^ See Dean Stanley's vivid account of Nicon in his " Eastern Church." 
^ See " The Russian Church and Clergy," North British Review., vol. liii. 




CHUBCH OF THE ASSUMPTION, MOSCOW. 

Part of interior, sliowing Icons on pillars. 

801 



3 P 



802 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



and in the calendar, and liis attempts to forbid wearing beards, met with 
their most strenuous opposition on religious grounds. But Peter in the 
main carried his people with him, and the rebellions which arose were put 
Oath of the down. He was able to introduce some remarkable provisions into 
Bishops, -tj^^e Q^i^ taken by the Russian bishops at consecrations, pledging 
them to put down pious frauds and culpable indolence. It is a striking 
commentary on the state of the Church as he found it, that such provisions 
should have been needed : — 

"I promise and vow that I will not suffer the monks to run from convent to convent. 
I will not, for the sake of gain, build, or suffer to be built, superfluous churches, or ordain 
superfluous clergy. I promise yearly, or at least once in three years, to require on my 
visitations that there may be erected no tombs of spurious saints. Impostors who go 
about possessed, with bare feet and in their shirts, I will give up to the civil authorities, 

that they may drive out the evil spirits from them 
with the knout. I will diligently endeavour to search 
out and put down all impostures, whether lay or 
clerical, practised under show of devotion. I will 
provide that honour be paid to God only, not to the 
holy pictures, and that no false miracles be ascribed 
to them." 

Peter was aided in his reforms by Theo- 
phanes, Metrophanes, and Demetrius of Eos- 
toff, the author of " Lives of the 
Russian Saints." Another saint in 
the next generation was Ambrose, archbishop 
of Moscow, who made a new translation of 
the Psalms from the Hebrew. His death 
(1771) was violent and tragic, owing to his 
having ordered the removal of a sacred picture 
to which the people had crowded in such 
numbers as to endanger the public health, 
during a severe pestilence. In the empress 
Catharine's time Plato, the metropolitan of 
Moscow, with whom two such unlike men as Reginald Heber and Diderot 
Plato. "^^^^ S^^d to converse, was famous throughout Europe. Philaret, 
who became metropolitan of Moscow in 1826, revived the spirit 
of asceticism, and of religious warfare and propagandism. The 
conquest of Poland afforded opportunities, which were taken advantage of, 
for reclaiming to the orthodox religion the Dniats, who had acknowledged 
the supremacy of the Pope, though they had changed in little else from the 

_. . principles of the Eastern Church. Missionary enterprise was 

Missions. -^ 11- . . r^", ■ TT 1 ii T 

aroused, and m recent years missions to Siberia, Kamschatka, and 

Japan have been successfully organised. Even in Western Europe and in 

the United States, Russian priests have gathered the members of the 

Eastern Church into congregations ; and in 1879 a bishop was appointed to 

San Francisco, to supervise the congregations of the Pacific coast of North 

America. 




PECTOKAL OKNAMENT OF KUSSIAN 
BISHOP. 



THE EASTERN CHURCH— RUSSIAN AND CREEK. 803 

The Greek Church, as regards its main doctrines, is very much in the 
position of the early Church, and accepts the decrees of the first seven 
councils as we have already described them. Its 2:reat difference 

!D C1JTIII6S 

from the Western Church relates to the procession of the Holy 
Spirit, which, in accordance with the Nicene and Constantinople decisions, 
is from G-od the Father alone. On the question of Redemption, it holds 
that Christ has redeemed mankind, who had fallen by one original act of 
Adam ; but God's grace is requisite to enable man to accept regeneration. 
It repudiates and censures the idea of priestly "indulgences."" It also rejects 
the E/Omish doctrine of purgatory, believing in the existence of two separate 
places for the souls of the dead, where they await the resurrection and the 
final judgment. But prayers for the dead are admitted in hope that they 
may benefit them, through the mercy of God. The Greek Church also 
allows prayer to the Virgin Mary and to saints and martyrs, for their inter- 
cession, although it is by no means held that the}^ have already attained 
heaven. 

The Sacraments recognised by the Greek Church are seven, the same as 
those of the Latin Church. Four of these — Baptism, the Eucharist, ordina- 
tion by laying on of hands, and penance — they regard as directly 
instituted by Christ. The other three are marriage, confirma- 
tion, and extreme unction, which are derived from the New Testament and 
the primitive Church. Baptism is by immersion of the body three times 
in succession ; infants are baptised on the eighth day. It is believed that 
baptism entirely destroys original sin. Confirmation takes place at once 
after baptism, with anointing by holy ointment. In the Eucharist both 
(leavened) bread and wine are partaken of by all communicants, excepting 
infants, who receive only the wine. It is believed that the elements 
are changed into the body and blood of Christ, Avhich are really received 
by the faithful. The consecrated bread does not, however, receive the 
same special veneration as in the Romish Church ; when it is carried to 
the sick, the priests do not prostrate themselves before it, nor do they carry 
it in procession. The sacrament of penance is preceded by confession ot 
individual sins to the priest, and absolution is given, on condition of the 
discharge of penances imposed, in the form " May the Lord absolve thee ! " 

The Church is regarded as composed of those who profess and believe 
the articles of faith. Outside the visible Church it is declared that there 
is no salvation. The Church being under the continual inspiration 
of the Holy Spirit, cannot err in matters of faith. Bishops, 
priests, and deacons form the ministry. Four patriarchs— of Constantinople, 
Antioch, Jerusalem, and Alexandria — equal in rank, constitute the upper 
circle of bishops. The patriarchs may agree to issue directions for ^he 
the whole Church, but their decisions are not held universally Merarchy. 
binding unless ratified by a general council of bishops. Bishops alone 
confer the sacrament of Orders. They must be unmarried, while priests or 
deacons must be married, and may not marry a second time. 

The term liturgy is specially given to the services of the mass, which, 



8o4 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



as we have already mentioned, are in two forms, the shorter, named after 
Liturgy and St. John Chrysostom, and the longer after St. Basil. These are, 
Services, \}^ \^ true, in Greek or Slavonic according to the country, but in 
such antiquated dialects that they are but little understood by the people. 
The daily services vary enormously, consisting mainly of prayers adapted 
to each day, in all filling many large volumes, and so intricate that few 




priests are perfect in them. They are read in a low and indistinct voice, 
so as to be almost entirely inaudible to the congregation ; and this goes 
with an absence of devotional behaviour in the congregation, and not 
infrequently in the clergy. What we should term sermons are little 
known, the principal substitute for them being the recital of the life of 
some saint, often full of fabulous details and miraculous stories. 



THE EASTERN CHURCH— RUSSIAN AND GREEK, 805 



All the bishops are monks, and the entire ecclesiastical administration 
is in E-ussia in the hands of the monks, or " black clergy." Although in 
the last century a large portion of the property of the monasteries 
was confiscated by the State^ the monasteries which survive are 
well-to-do, receiving, besides State grants, large sums in the form of volun- 
tary offerings. The monks are mainly conservative ; their rules are still 
those of St. Basil, enjoining religious ceremonies, prayer, and contemplation, 
very unlike the active labour, either in industry, art, letters, or philanthropy, 
often incumbent on Western monks. The upper classes of the laity call the 
monks in most frequently to perform marriages, funerals, etc., and pay them 
proportionately higher fees than the " white clergy " can exact. There are 
still many hermits in Russia, greatly revered. 

The parish priest (called papa, or pope,) is usually the son of a parish 
priest; and being kept in a strictly subordinate position by the monks, 
he is antagonistic to the latter and little considerate of any- ParisH 
thing but the number of social or necessary religious ceremonies priests. 
he can perform for fees. Of intellectual or spiritual knowledge he has 
usually very little. All wear long beards, with long hair parted down the 
middle, long over-garment with loose sleeves, and a longer under-garment 
reaching to the feet. They are collectively known as " white clergy." 

Almost every Russo-Greek church is built in a form of the Byzantine 
style,^ with a cupola or dome, surmounted by a cross, over the east end, and 
a belfry at the west. There is a large antechapel or entrance-hall ; style of 
a main building in which the worshippers stand (there being no churciies. 
seats) ; and an altar enclosure, raised two or three steps above the rest of 
the building, with a wall or screen near the front completely covered with 
icons or pictures of the saints within silver or chased metal plates, repre- 
senting the clothing of the saints, through which the painting of j^Q^g qj. 
the face, hands, and feet is visible.^ The four main pillars of images, 
the church are also completely covered with icons. (See our illustration 
p. 801.) In front of each icon is a candelabrum of great size, capable of 
containing thirty or forty candles. In the centre of this screen is a large 
double door, which is open during service, and behind which the priest 
stands during the liturgy. The whole space behind this is called the altar, 

^ We can only briefly mention the magnificent Kremlin in Moscow, in which are united 
all the elements of the ancient religious life of Russia. " Side by side stand the three 
cathedrals of the marriages, coronations, and funerals of the Czars. Hard by are the two 
convents, half palatial, half episcopal. Overhanging all is the double, triple palace of 
czar and patriarch. Within that palace is a labyrinth of fourteen chapels, multiplied 
by sovereign after sovereign, till the Imperial residence has been more like the dwelling- 
place of a pope than of a prince." — Stanley's Eastern Church. 

^ Respecting the adoration of images, Dean Milman wrote : " The ruder the art, the 
more intense the superstition. . . . There is more direct idolatry paid to the rough 
and ill-shapen image, or the flat unrelieved and staring picture — the former actually 
clothed in gaudy and tinsel ornaments, the latter with the crown of gold leaf on the 
head, and real or artificial flowers in the hand — than to the noblest ideal statue, or the 
Holy Family with all the magic of light and shade. They are not the fine paintings 
which work miracles, but the coarse and smoke-darkened boards, on which the dim 
outline of form is hardly to be traced. Thus it may be said that it was the superstition 
which required the images, rather than the images which formed the superstition." 



8o6 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



containing a square table called the throne, which corresponds with the altar 
of the Roman Church ; on this are placed the gospels, a gilt cross 
The altar. ^^^ ^^^ congregation to kiss, the box containing the elements oi 
the Eucharist, and a silk handkerchief containing a very special piece of silk 
or linen about fifteen inches square, having stamped on it a representation 
of the burial of Christ. This emblem is called an antimms, and is essential 
to the existence of the church, being consecrated by the archbishop of the 




CHUBCH OF ST. BASIL, MOSCOW. 



diocese, and conveymglliis blessing to the building. A mmute Portion of 
some holy relic, anointed with consecrated oil, is fixed on that side of the 
antimms which is turned towards the east. The altar coverings are of 
special value and symbolical importance ; one complete linen covering, made 
in the form of a cross, symbolises the linen clothes of the Saviour m His tomb ; 
another very rich one signifies the glory of God. Within the altar there is 
another table, on the Jiorth side, called the altar of sacrifice, on which are 



THE EASTERN CHURCH— RUSSlAIv AND GREEK. 807 

placed the holy vessels, together with a spear, in memory of that which 
pierced the Saviour's side, which is used for cutting small triangular por- 
tions of bread for the sacrament, the spoon for administering the sacrament, 
etc. The priests even put on their canonicals in the altar, and perform most 
of the service standing and moving about in it, little heard by the congrega- 
tion. Infants are baptised and anointed, when the ceremony is not per- 
formed in the parents' house, in front of the central doors of the altar. The 
sacrament is administered at the steps. Confessions are heard, not in an 
enclosed box, but in corners of the building, face to face. Priests are 
ordained in the altar ; marriage and burial services take place in the body 
of the church. The priestly garments include the alb, a kind of frock with 
loose sleeves, laced cuffs, belt, stole, chasuble, and a special square piece 
of brocade worn by older priests, hanging from one shoulder (the 
epigonation). 

The fasts of the Greek Church are numerous, and far more rigorously 
kept than in Western Europe. During the whole of Lent every article of food 
that can be traced to any animal, except fish, is proscribed ; and 
many abstain even from fish. Even milk and butter are not used. 
.In the fourth week of Lent special preparation is made for the communion 
by those who only communicate once or twice a year, and long services, 
confessions, and special fastings are indulged in. All government officials 
are obliged to attend confession and communion at least once a Yearly 
year, and the marriage ceremony cannot be legally performed if co"iniunion. 
either party has failed to attend communion during the preceding year. 
There are many crimes and sins which are punished by exclusion from com- 
munion from one year to twenty years, such as marrying a second time (one 
year's exclusion), marrying a third time (four years), overlaying an infant 
(seven years), fortune-telling (six years), manslaughter (ten years), wilful 
murder (twenty years), etc. Before the administration of the sacrament, 
the communicants have to repeat after the priest a special form of creed, 
which indicates clearly the essential belief of the Greek Church : — 

" I believe, Lord, and confess that Thou indeed art Christ, the Son of the living Grod, 
who earnest into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. I also believe that this 
is indeed Thy most pure body, and this Thy holy blood. I therefore pray Thee to have 
mercy on me, and to forgive me all my sins, voluntary and involuntary, by word, by 
deed, by knowledge or ignorance ; and grant me worthily and blamelessly to partake of 
Thy most pure Sacrament, for the remission of sins and for life everlasting. Beceive 
me this day, Son of God, as a partaker of Thy last supper. For not as a secret enemy, 
I approach, not with the kiss of Judas, but like the thief I confess Thee, ' Lord, remember 
me in Thy kingdom.' And may the communion of Thy holy sacrament be not to my 
judgment and condemnation, but to the healing of my soul and body. Amen." 

The priest then takes a morsel of the consecrated bread in the spoon, with 
a little wine, and puts it in the communicant's mouth, with the words, " The 
servant of God (So-and-so) communicates in the name of the Father," etc. ; 
while the choir sings, " E,eceive ye the body of Christ ; taste ye the fount 
of everlasting life." The deacon holds a handkerchief under the chin of the 



8o8 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



communicant to catch any stray drop, and wipes his mouth afterwards. 
The communicant kisses the edge of the cup, and then goes to a side table 
and takes a little warm wine and water as a rinsing, giving an offering 
according to his means ; he then goes to private devotion till all have com- 
municated. The second general communion is during the Assumption Fast, 
which extends from August 1st to 13th. There are two other fasts : one, the 
Petroffsky, from Trinity Monday to St. Peter's Day, 29th of June ; the other, 
the Christmas or Philip Past, from 15th November (St. Philip's Day) to 
Christmas Day. Wednesdays and Fridays almost throughout the year are 
also fast days. 




PALM SUNDAY IN ST. PETEKSBUKG. 



The sacrament of extreme unction is administered to adults, followed 
by confession and communion. It should be performed by seven priests. 
Extreme t)ut One priest may perform it where there are not seven to be 
unction, found. It may be performed in church, when a person suffers 
from an incurable disease which does not prevent his leaving the house. 
The service is very long ; the oil (mixed with wine, in remembrance of the 
Grood Samaritan) is specially blessed, and the sick person is anointed, with 
the sign of the cross, on forehead, nostrils, cheeks, lips, breast, and hands, 
while a prayer for his recovery is read. This ceremony is gone through 
seven times, each time by a fresh priest if seven are present, or by turns if 



THE EASTERN CHURCH— RUSSIAN AND GREEK. 809 

there are two or more ; the epistles and gospels read differ for each occasion. 
Mercifully, after so long a service, the confession and communion services 
which follow are greatly shortened. Later there may be said a unique 
service termed " A form of prayer to our Lord Jesus Christ and to the most 
pure Mother of our Lord, at the separation of the soul and body of every 
orthodox believer." It largely consists of short psalms or their first verses, 
and other texts of Scripture, with a commendatory prayer in which, how- 
ever, the Virgin Mary is not mentioned. When the patient is very near 
death, a saint's picture is placed behind his pillow ^ and a lighted taper at 
the head of the bed. Yiolent sobbing and weeping, by both men and 
women, follow death. 

Many interesting details accompany preparation for burial. A crucifix 
and tall candlesticks are fetched from the church, and priest and deacon 
perform a requiem twice a day, and a reader with an assistant . 

reads prayers incessantly over the corpse till the day of burial. 
Visits of condolence are very numerous ; alms are distributed to beggars 
by the well-to-do. The shallow coffin, broad at the head, narrows to the 
other end, and stands on four little feet. A final requiem is performed in the 
house on the morning of the funeral, and the body is often put into the coffin 
then, by the nearest relatives, not by the undertaker or servants. Every 
friend and member of the family attends the funeral. The relatives kiss and 
take leave of the deceased at home ; the coffi.n lid is not yet put on, for it is 
carried in the funeral procession next behind the cross. The priests, singers, 
etc., precede the cofBn, all males bare-headed in the severest frosts. The 
coffin is taken to church, and mass is said, followed by a very long service, 
at the end of which the priest places in the deceased's hand a printed prayer, 
a sort of absolution, in Slavonic, after having read it aloud. Then again 
mourners, friends, priests, etc., in turn kiss the deceased for the last time. 
The coffin is carried to the grave, and only then is the lid fixed on the 
coffin, generally by two pegs. The priest, taking a handful of earth, throws 
it on the coffin, with the words, " The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness 
thereof, and the wide world, and they that dwell therein." After a very 
short chant, and a blessing, all is concluded by each member of the family 
throwing a handful of earth on the coffin. 

Persons of means have evensong, matins and mass performed every day 
for forty days after a death, and there are special requiems on the ninth, 
twentieth, and fortieth days at the grave. On the last occasion the funeral 

^ Dean Stanley thus describes the influence of sacred pictures in Russia : " Every- 
where, in public and in private, the sacred picture is the consecrating element. In the 
corner of every room, at the corner of evei-y street, over gateways, in offices, in steamers, 
in stations, in taverns, is the picture hung, with the lamp burning before it. In domestic 
life it plays the part of the family Bible, of the wedding gift, of the birthday present, of 
the ancestral portraits In the national life it is the watchword, the flag which has sup- 
ported the courage of generals and roused the patriotism of troops. . . . Enter within 
any church such as those at Moscow, which best represent the national feeling. There 
the veneration has reached a pitch which gives an aspect to the whole building unlike 
any European church. From top to bottom, from side to side, walls and roof and screen 
and columns are a mass of gilded pictures ; not one of any artistic value, but all cast in 
the same ancient mould." 



8io THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

proceedings are almost entirely repeated. E-equiems are again performed 
on the name-day and anniversary of the death ; but requiems are not per- 
formed at all for little children before the age for confession. As a fee to 
priests, deacons, etc., accompanies each of the celebrations, which are only 
a type of many more, it will be seen how interested they must be in keeping 
up the formal ceremonies of the Church, and how full their lives are of 
professional routine. 

In Russia the Czar is the real head of the Church, and his personality 
is most sacred. At his coronation, preceded by fasting and seclusion, 
The Czar's ^^ fii'st recites the confession of the faith of the Church, then 
position, offers up the prayer of intercession for the empire, places the 
crown on his own head, and then enters the sanctuary and himself takes 
from the altar the sacred elements, and communicates with bishops and 
clergy. This takes place in the patriarchal cathedral, the church of the 
Assumption or Repose of the Virgin, crowded with the most sacred pictures 
in Russia, the burial-place of the primates (see p. 801). 

Yet in Russia there are millions of dissenters from the Orthodox Church.* 
These Raskolinks, or Separatists, to some extent date from earlier times, 
but were most largely reinforced in the time of JSTicon, by an- 
tagonism to all his innovations. The most numerous body of 
them, the Staroviertz, or Old Believers, regard themselves as the really 
orthodox, who follow the Bible and acknowledge only the early councils. 
The Old They re-baptise their converts from the State Church, which they 
Believers, regard as the Babylon of the Revelation ; and it is essential that 
they should repudiate the heresies of Nicon, especially his form of benedic- 
tion with three fingers instead of two. They restore the word " holy " in 
the Kicene Creed, before the description of the " Lord and Giver of life," 
and maintain the unauthentic expression, " one baptism hy fire for the 
remission of sins." They reverence the patriarchal cathedral at Moscow, 
which contains the icon of no saint later than Nicon, and once a year many 
of them come to gaze on it at Easter. Many of them still receive ordained 
priests from the State Church, while otherwise excluding all innovations. 
The greater number of the conservative dissenters live along the Volga and 
the Don. The total number of the Staroviertz may be several millions, and 
they far outnumber all the other sects, who may be counted by hundreds. 

Some sects of dissenters have no ordained priests, and their members 

only conduct services so far as they can be carried without an altar and a 

oth s t P^^®^^- They still possess a few drops of ancient consecrated oil 

' and eucharistic elements. It is disputed whether they should be 

regarded as the extreme wing of the Old Believers ; but they themselves 

reject the latter, as well as the Orthodox Church, as Antichrist. A number 

of the sects are extremely ascetic. One is known as the Skopzi, or Eunuchs, 

who believe that Christ took the form of the Czar Peter III., was a member 

of their sect, and has never died, but will one day return and will reign over 

them. They disbelieve in the resurrection of the body, meet secretly on 

^ See " The Sects of the Russian Church," North British Bevieic, vol. liii. 



THE EASTERN CHURCH— RUSSIAN AND GREEK. 8ii 

Saturday nights, and keep Easter as their only festival, by eating bread con- 
secrated by having been buried in the grave of one of their apostles. They 
believe that God has revealed Himself in Christ, who was not Himself Grod, 
and that He also reveals Himself continually as the Holy Grhost in them- 
selves, who are the true Christians. One peculiar sect, the Dumb, become 
speechless on conversion, but retain their other habits, though they refuse the 
sacraments. There are other sects named Flagellants and Self-Burners. 

The spiritual or spiritualistic sects are also numerous. Many conform 
outwardly to the orthodox worship, but really care nothing for its forms and 
ceremonies. The Sabbatniki, who keep Saturday instead of The 
Sunday, regard the Mosaic law as the sole Divine revelation, Sabbatmki. 
consider Christ as only a divinely inspired prophet, and look for a Messiah to 
come. The Duchoborzi and Molokani sprang from a common stock, but 
are now at variance. The name Duchoborzi means warriors for the light 
or Spirit ; that of the Molokani signifies milk-consumers, from The 
their taking milk on fast days. ''The Molokani," says Sir D. Molokani. 
Mackenzie "Wallace, in his " E-ussia," " take as their model the early 
Apostolic Church, as depicted in the New Testament, and uncompromisingly 
reject all later authorities. They have no hierarchy, and no paid clergy, 
but choose from among themselves a presbyter and two assistants, men 
well known among the brethren for their exemplary life and their knowledge 
of the Scriptures, whose duty it is to watch over the religious and moral 
welfare of the flock. On Sundays they hold meetings in private houses, and 
spend two or three hours in psalm-singing, prayer, reading the Scriptures, 
and friendly conversation on religious subjects." Severe moral supervision, 
is exercised over the members, who, however, mutually assist one another in 
a most praiseworthy manner. They baptise their children, but only as a 
symbolical cleansing, have no confirmation, and although they celebrate the 
communion in memory of Christ, do not require participation in it. Penance, 
marriage, and extreme unction are not counted sacraments. The Duchoborzi 
have tenets much more speculative and mystic than the Molokani, The 
which we have not space to detail. They recognise neither i>uchohorzi. 
priesthood nor sacraments, keep neither Sundays nor festivals, but meet 
on fixed days for very simple prayer and worship. They have a strong 
tendency towards socialism, and are reputed to be very moral, and admirable 
in their family relations. 

There are other sects in which nervous excitement is the main pheno- 
menon of religion ; but as these add very little to our ideas about religion 
beyond showing how in advanced communities we may meet with the cha- 
racteristics of lower religious grades, we do not detail their practices. Some 
other sects, such as the Mennonites, who are widely distributed in other 
countries besides Russia, are truly Protestants, and we therefore do not 
mention them here. 

We have already referred to the monasteries and black clergy of Russia. 
Those of G-reece follow the same rule, that of St. Basil, the monks 
performing all the chief occupations between them. The most 



8l2 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



celebrated monasteries of the Eastern Churcli are, however, those of Mount 
Athos, or the Holy Mountain, some o£ which were founded in the time of 
Constantine. Each nation professing the orthodox faith is represented by 
one or more monasteries of its own, twenty in all, and to it come pilgrims 
from all " orthodox " Eastern Churches. The mountain is almost self- 
governed, by twenty deputies, one from each convent, and four presidents, 
changed every year. Only a small number of the monks are in holy orders, 
the rest being lay monks. Ten of the monasteries are coenobite^ all members 
living in common. Nearly half the days in the year are fast days, on which 
only one meal is taken, of bread, vegetables, and water. The abbot, chosen 
for life, governs the ccsnobites ; but the other monasteries are administered 
by two or three wardens elected annually, and each member adds to the 
common fare what he can afford to buy. There are also many places of 
ascetic retirement on the mountain, every nook being either occupied by a 
hermitage or a small chapel. The services in the convent churches last six 
or seven hours a day, while on great festivals and fasts they occupy twelve 
hours or more. The entire number of monks on Mount Athos is about 3000. 




ST. MABK'S, VENICE. 
{M.ainl[i Byzantine in style.) 




POPE GKEGORY VII. (hILDEBBAND). 

OHAPTEE IX. 
Che iSoman Cburcb in tbe iffliiiirle ^^t^. 

Hildebrand— Leo IX.— The College of Cardinals— Hildebrand made Pope Gregory VII,— The Dictate- 
Henry IV. at Canossa— Concordat of Worms— First Lateran Council— Lanfranc and Anselm— 
Second and Third Lateran Councils— Pope Innocent III.— Fourth Lateran Council— Transubstantia- 
tion and Confession— Saint Louis— Second Council of Lyons— Pope Boniface VIII.— The Bull " Unam 
Sanctam "—The Babylonian Captivity at Avignon— Heresy of John XXIL— The "beatific vision"— 
Eival Popes— John Gerson- Council of Pisa— Dawn of the Reformation— The dispensing power- 
Papal legates— Power of the keys— Penance— Indulgences— Supererogation— Relics as charms— 
Pilgrimages— Miracles— Mariolatry— The " real presence "—Elevation and adoration of the Host- 
Noble Christian works— Scholastic Theology— Abelard— Thomas Aquinas— Duns Scotus— Roger 
Bacon— William Durand— William of Occam— Degeneracy of Monasticism— Cluniac congregation- 
Carthusians and Cistercians— Hospitallers— Brethren of St. John— The Templars— Carmelites — 
Mathurins— Order of Mercy— St. Dominic— The Dominicans— St. Francis of Assisi— St. Clara— 
The Franciscans or Minorites— The Sacred Stigmata— Bonaventura— Corruptions— The Spirituals 
—Millennial Prophecy— The Fraticelli— Conventuals and Observants— The Minims— Beguines and 
Beghards. 

FROM the tenth, century onward there were many important events in 
Church history, but they were largely of a political nature, concerned 
with the control the Church sought to exercise over princes and States. The 



8i4 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

first great name is that of Hildebrand (afterwards Pope Gregory VII.), born 
in Italy ea^ly in tlie eleventh, century, becoming a monk of 
' Clugny, in France, and thence developing the policy of the sub- 
serviency of the State to the Church. He was at first the chief minister of 
Pope Leo IX., who held a council of French bishops in 1049, at 
* E-heims, which acknowledged him as apostolic pontiff and primate 
of the whole Church, and accepted the false Isidorian decretals as Church 
law. Leo carried his assertion of Church power and rights very far ; but 
Hildebrand, as the active spirit under several succeeding Popes, in 1061 
greatly reduced the Emperor's influence in the choice of a Pope by the 
establishment of the elective body at Rome, afterwards so well known as 
i^iQCollege of Cardinals. The cardinals, or chief bishops and clergy, 
of had been so named, even in Grregory the G-reat's time ; and in 
Cardinals, j^q^^ ^^^^ ^j^^]^ ^^^^ applied to the priests of the parish churches. 
They were the cardinal priests, to whom were added the cardinal bishops 
(seven) of the Pope's own province, who assisted at St. Peter's. The cardinal 
bishops were appointed to consult together about an election, and then con- 
sult the cardinal priests ; and the Emperor's right of confirming the election 
was recognised in a very qualified manner, as a grant given him personally 
by the Apostolic See. 

Hildebrand became Pope in 1073, and at once asserted boldly the Church's 

independence of all outside control, her sovereignty over all worldly powers, 

HUdebrand ^^ ^^^^ ^^ ^^^ ^^^® ^^ ^^^ Papacy over the whole Church. In the 

made Pope '^ Dictate " which represents his attitude, it is affirmed that '^ the 

regory . j^q^^^^^ pontiff alone is universal bishop. To him alone it belongs 

to depose or to reconcile bishops ; and he may depose them in their absence, 

and without the concurrence of a synod. He alone is entitled to frame new 

m„ ^- . . ^^ws for the Church — to divide or unite bishoprics, or translate 
The Dictate. , . , . n 

bishops. He alone may use the msignia of empire ; all princes 

are bound to kiss his feet ; he has the right to depose Emperors, and to 

absolve subjects from their allegiance. His power supersedes the diocesan 

authority of bishops. He may revise all judgments, and from his sentence 

there is no appeal. All appeals to him must be respected, and to him the 

greater causes of every Church must be referred. No Council may be styled 

General without his command. The Roman Church never has erred, and 

as Scripture testifies, never will err. The Pope is above all judgment, and 

by the merits of St. Peter, is undoubtedly rendered holy." 

Gregory exerted himself vigorously to put down simony and enforce 

celibacy among the clergy. He was successful in putting down the Emperor's 

Henry IV. at right to confer investiture on bishops ; and he had the triumph 

canossa. ^f seeing the Emperor Henry IV. at Canossa, waiting three days, 

barefooted, in an open court, in winter (Jan. 1077), to tender his submission 

to him. Gregory died (1085) after excommunicating the Emperor and the 

anti-pope Clement III., whom he had set up. The next Popes made the 

Crusades turn to their advantage in enforcing their high claims ; and the 

clergy generally gained renewed hold on nobles and people by the vows 



THE ROMAN CHURCH IN THE MIDDLE AGES. 



8^5 



and penances laid on them. Tlie Concordat of Worms (112'2), between 
Pope Calixtus II. and the Emperor Henry V., was a compromise concordat of 
which gave the real victory to the Papacy, while allowing pre- Worms, 
lates to receive their temporalities from the Emperor. The pact First Lateran 
was confirmed by the first Lateran Council (ninth oecumenical Council, 
of the Romans), 1123. 

In England Lanfranc supported "William I. in his resistance to Roman 
encroachment ; but Anselm, an Italian like Lanfranc, who succeeded him 
as Abbot of Bee, in Normandy, and afterwards as Archbishop of Lanfranc and 
Canterbury (1093), maintained and secured the full Papal claims, Anseim. 
although he had to leave to Henry I. his power of nominating bishops and 




HENEY IV. IN THE COUBTYARD AT CANOSSA. 



his feudal rights over the clergy. In power of thought Anselm was almost 
a second Augustine, and has been termed the founder of natural theology. 
He held that belief must precede knowledge, and that the truth concerning 
God is the foundation and end of all knowledge. His " Proslogion," with 
the motto, " Faith seeking Understanding," sought to demonstrate the exist- 
ence of God from the following thesis : " God is that than which none 
greater can be conceived ; and he who well understands this will understand 
that the Divine Being exists in such a manner that His non-existence can- 
not even be conceived." His " Cur Deus Homo ? " is a treatise of funda- 
mental importance on the question of the Incarnation. His " Meditations " 



8t6 the WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

and " Letters " show sympathy, fervour, and humble faith. He died in 
1109. He is by some termed the founder of Scholastic Theology, by others 
the founder of modern Systematic Theology. 

We must only briefly note some of the further stages in the progress 
and decline of the Papal supremacy. The Second Lateran Council (1139), 
among other acts, condemned Arnold of Brescia, who preached 
Lateran in favour of a spiritual Church, maintained only by spiritual 
councn. j^eg^yj^g^ 2,-^^ hence advocated the confiscation of the wealth of the 
Church. Pope Alexander III. (1159-1181), in rivalry with successive anti- 
popes, showed great art and patience in carrying out the views which Hil- 
debrand had enforced more violently. In alliance with him, Thomas Becket 
subdued Henry II., of England, to the Roman claims. The third Lateran 
Tiiird Lateran Council (1179) settled that the election of Popes was to be entirely 
Councu. ^^ ^-j^Q hands of the cardinals, to whom were added certain 
officials among the Roman clergy. Two-thirds of the votes were required 
for an election. This council was the first which sanctioned crusades 
against heretics, the Albigenses, and others. (See next chapter.) 

Pope Innocent III., elected in 1198, carried the Papal power to its 
highest elevation. He was extraordinarily skilful in adapting or quoting 
Pope Innocent Scripture to support any of his pretensions. In his books " On the 
"^- Sacred Mystery of the Altar" he took the highest ground as to the 
superiority of St. Peter and his successors at Rome over all the Apostles 
and bishops. Privately he was bountiful, magnanimous, hot-tempered, 
but easily appeased, a lover of poetry and music; publicly, though he 
affected extravagant humility, he upheld the sternest and proudest claims 
ever put forward in the Papacy. Over the rulers as well as Churches of Grer- 
many, England, France, Spain, and other countries he successfully asserted 
unlimited supremacy. Even the Armenian Church entered into communica- 
tion with Rome, and its patriarch accepted a bull from Innocent, and agreed 
to take part in Papal councils. The fifth crusade (1199) led to the capture of 
Constantinople, and setting up of a Latin Empire there, which, however, only 
increased the hostility between the Greek and Roman Churches. He encour- 
aged the military orders, which added to the dominions of Christianity, the 
crusade against heretics, and the foundation of the mendicant orders. He 
not only endorsed the putting down of heresy by persecution and even death, 
but was so illiberal as to forbid the use of vernacular translations of the 
Scriptures by the laity, and to order them to be burnt. It had been found 
that the people, when they read the plain teaching of the Bible, readily 
pointed it against the pretensions, the luxury, and the corruption of the 
clergy, and hence such reading was found dangerous. 

In 1215 Innocent held the fourth Lateran Council, which included in 

_, its 2283 members the (nominal) Patriarch of Jerusalem and claim- 

Lateran ants of the (Latin) patriarchate of Constantinople. This council, 

°^^^ ■ besides supporting the highest Papal claims, formally declared 

Transubstan- the doctrine of Transubstantiation, affirming that the bodv and 
tiation and ^ ^ t p ^^ . , . , . , *^ 

Confession, blood 01 Christ are truly contained m the sacrament under the 



THE ROMAN CHURCH IN THE MIDDLE AGES. 



817 



outward appearance of bread and wine, their very substance being changed 
by the power of God through the instrumentality of a priest duly ordained. 
The Council also fully sanctioned auricular confession, and made it obligatory 
on every Catholic to confess to his own parish priest at least once a year. 
Innocent died in 1216. 




ST. LOUIS DEPOSITING IN THE b IML CI tLLE i Vlllb lUIii KELICS BBOUGHT FROM THE EAST. 

Gregory IX. (1227-1241) and Boniface YIII. (1294-1303) were great 
popes who, with varying success, upheld the ideal of Innocent ; but Louis 
IX. of France (1226-1270), who, though a layman, was canonised, and has 
received from Voltaire the testimony, " It is not given to man to carry virtue 

3 G 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



to a higher point," successfully asserted the liberties of the Gallic Church, 
„ . ^ , . and that 'Hhe kins: of France holdeth of no one save Grod and him- 

oEtint Louis. . 

self." His famous "Pragmatic^ Sanction" (1269) forbad exactions 
by the pope, unless sanctioned by the king and the Gallic Church, and 
asserted the rights of Churches to elect their own bishops, and of patrons 
to exercise their patronage, without papal interference. He drove out the 
Jews and forbade usury, but did not confiscate their property. Though he 
believed heresy should be put down by the sword, he had no part in the 
cruelties practised in Languedoc. Gregory X., pope from 1271 to 1276, 
Second endeavoured to unite the Eastern and Western Churches at the 
Councu of Second Council of Lyons (1274), which was attended by ambas- 
sadors from Michael Paleologus, the Greek Emperor then seated 
at Constantinople. They agreed on his behalf to the Eoman doctrines and 
ceremonies, accepted the primacy of the pope, and chanted the Nicene 
Creed with the " Filioque " article ; bub all this was fruitless in producing 
a formal or real union. The Council also established a fixed rule for the 
papal election by the assembly of cardinals, who were to be shut up in one 
room {conclave.^ a room under lock and key), each with one attendant, and 
confined until the election was made. 

Benedict Gaetani, who as pope took the title Boniface VIII., was a 
learned but arrogant and passionate prelate, who by a succession of " Bulls " 
reasserted the highest claims of the papacy. His famous Bull, 
VIII. entitled, from its first words, "Unam Sanctam," asserted the unity 
The Bull ^^ ^^® Church under one head, the Yicar of Christ, wielding the 
"Unam ^^ '' two swords " which Christ declared to be " enough," namely the 
spiritual and the temporal ; and that the temporal power is to be 
subject to the spiritual. The Bull concluded with the declaration that " it 
is absolutely necessarj^ to salvation for every human creature to be subject 
to the Eoman pontiff! " This extreme straining of the papal power was the 
precursor of its declension, and of the long "Babylonian captivity" which 
The«Babyion-^°^^^^®^ (1304-1378), during which the popes were seated, not 
ian Captivity "at Rome, but at Avignon, and the. papal court was practically in 
vignon. s^]3JQQ^^Qj^ ^^ France. One of the popes of this time, John XXII. 
(1316-1334), incurred a charge of heresy on a new ground in our subject, 
Heresy of the doctrine of the intermediate state between death and the 
John XXII. resurrection. He held with several early Fathers, that the souls 
of the righteous do not see God or attain perfect bliss till after the resur- 
rection of the body ; and he was reported to have said that the Virgin Mary 
could only behold the humanity, not the divinity, of her Son, until the end 
of this dispensation. The Paris theological faculty gave a decision on this 
point which stated that the souls of the faithful dead (on their release from 
purgatory, if they needed purgation) are caught up to the " beatific vision " 
The "Beatific of the Trinity, and perfectly enjoy the Blessed Deity. While this 
Vision." ^g^g i^eing discussed, the pope died, at the age of 90 (1334). The 

^ The term " pragmatic " signified an edict issued after consultation {pragma) with 
the king's counsellors. 



THE ROMAN CHURCH IN THE MIDDLE AGES. 819 

return of the pope to E-ome in 1377, at the entreaty of St. Catherine of 

Siena, was followed by the great papal schism (1378-1417), during which 

rival popes at Rome and Avignon divided the allegiance of the 

faithful. Grross evils increased in the papacy and hierarchy, and 

already the Reformation was dawning in the persons of Wyclif, Jerome of 

Prague, and John Huss. The famous John G-erson in 1404-9 , ^ ^ 

• 1 1 1-1 -1 Jolm Gerson. 

contributed to settle the schism by suggesting that when there 

were rival popes, the Church, by the cardinals or even by faithful laymen, 

might resume the power to call a general Council to settle the difficulty ; and 

he greatly lowered the papal claims. The council, which met at Pisa in 1409, 

deposed both popes, and thus struck vitally at the papal authority council of 

by asserting that a general Council was superior to the papacy. ^^^^• 

But while the two deposed popes continued to act, the new pope, Alexander 

v., lavished offices on the Franciscans, and gave the mendicant orders the 

right to hear confessions and administer the sacraments independently of 

bishops and parish priests. The accession of John XXIIl. in Dawn of the 

1410, followed by the Council of Constance in 1414, at which ^^^°^^^*^^^v 

John Huss was condemned, brings in the period of the Reformation. 

We have sufficiently indicated the growth of the papal and priestly 

claims, together with the wealth of the Church, Perhaps the most injurious 

action of the papacy in reference to the welfare of mankind, was ^^^ 

in its assumption of the " dispensing power," as it was termed, dispensing 

by which the pope not only granted indemnity for past offences, 

but even for future ones. The marriage laws and the sacredness of oaths 

were thus placed at the mercy of a man who too often showed himself 

venal. And when the papal legates in various countries usurped the papal 

functions, and acted as autocrats wherever they went, it is not wonderful 

that the people revolted. In the letters of St. Bernard we find such 

pictures as these : " Your legate has passed from nation to papai 

nation, everywhere leaving foul and horrible traces among us. legates. 

. . . He is reported everywhere to have committed disgraceful deeds, to 

have carried off the spoils of the Church, to have advanced pretty little 

boys to ecclesiastical honours. . . . Many have bought themselves off, 

that he might not come to them ; those whom he could not visit, he taxed 

and squeezed by his messengers." The Roman court became full of rich 

prelates and priests, whose worldliness and evil practices were worse than the 

worst things recorded of the Pharisees. The superstition of the people, 

especially the rich, led them to give or bequeath their property to the 

Church, either in remorse for their misdeeds, or to secure benefits in the 

world to come. The crusades, about which we cannot speak in detail, 

ministered to this increase of wealth ; for the Church often bought lands 

at a low price from crusaders in want of money. Tithes on land were 

paid for Church purposes from the eighth century onwards, and were also 

largely paid on the earnings of trades and professions. Pluralities became 

frequent, and the holders lived in state at courts ; and there were many 

clergy occupied as the chaplains of great men, who rejected the discipline 



8^o THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

of bishops, and contribnted to bring the Churcb. into ill repute. The people 
came to despise the regular clergy for the most part, and to accept only the 
ministrations of the monks, and later of the mendicant orders. The Scrip- 
tures were little studied, though copies were highly valued, and the people 
knew more of the lives of the saints than of the Bible. One of the chief 
sources of popular religious knowledge was the performance of Miracle-pla3^s 
or Mysteries. 

Sacramentalism of the mechanical sort became a substitute for heart- 
felt religion. The prescription of auricular confession, at least once a year, 
Power of the threw enormous power into the priests' hands. Previously to the 
Keys, thirteenth century, the form of absolution had been in the form 
of a prayer, which marked that the power of forgiveness belonged to God 
alone ; but the change from " May God grant thee absolution and remis- 
sion," to " I absolve thee," made all the difference in the influence of the 
priest on the mind of the person confessing ; and this was further increased 
by the doctrine that remission was given, in spite of any evil in the 
priest. The power of imposing penances as satisfaction for sin, in addition 
to the merits of Christ, and the Church's absolution, gave rise 
to vast abuses. Penalties, beneficial, burdensome, or trivial, were 
imposed at the will of the priest, and correspondingly relieved the mind of 
the sinner. Pilgrimages, gifts, the founding of churches and monasteries, 
fasts, flagellation, and various forms of self-mortification, were among the 
penalties thus imposed. But perhaps the worst form which the priestly 
power took was the granting of indulgences, at first for specific 
" offences, but afterwards for all sins, in consideration of special 
services or gifts to the Church. Gregory YIT. in 1080 promised plenary 
indulgence for all sins to those who supported Henry IV.'s rival, Eudolf ; 
and Urban II., in 1095, granted the same to all who should join the First 
Crusade. The idea that priests could remit penalties, not only in this world, 
but in the world to come, grew apace, and brought back or condoned a 
state of things which began to rival the worst state of heathen Rome. And 
beyond even the granting of indulgences, there grew up a theory that the 
Church could grant to deserving penitents some of the merits accumulated 
by the sufferings and good deeds of the faithful, and of Christ Himself. 
The scholastic divines, of whom we shall presently speak, elaborated this 
Super- i^to the " Treasury of Supererogation," on which the Church 
erogation. could draw, in virtue of the power of the keys, not only for 
the benefit of the living, but also of the dead in purgatory ; though they 
laid most stress on the merits of Christ Himself as availing in this respect. 
As to purgatory (or the state of those who die imperfect Christians), the 
sufferings of the departed therein were held to be mitigable by the faith and 
the prayers of their living friends and of the Church ; and the prayers of 
the latter were largely secured by payments and works of charity or of 
value to the Church. Indulgences were granted for limited periods and on 
very slight proof of penitence by many monks and mendicant friars, and 
the Dominicans introduced the use of the rosary, a string of beads for count- 



THE ROMAN CHURCH IN THE MIDDLE AGES. 821 



mg the number of prayers, the recitation of a fixed number sufficing to 
procure an indulgence. The open sale of indulgences, followed by the 
increase of impostors who assumed the garb of mendicant friars, and offered 
the pardon of all sins for the merest trifle, while by their clever talking they 
deceived the ignorant, at length proved to be one of the most powerful 
influences which started the Reformation. The sale of relics, often supposed 




AMIENS CATHEDRAL (1220). 

to be brought back from the Holy Land, attained large proportions, and 
supplied the masses with charms supposed to ward off or cure »,„,,„ 
diseases and protect from other evils. Pilgrimages, not merely o^S.t 
to Palestine, but to Rome, or to famous shrines, such as that of PUgrimages. 
bt. James at Compostella in Spain, were a common mode of atoning for 
crimes, or obtaining plenary indulgences ; but not infrequently these vows 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



made in danger or illness, were commuted, for money payments, in favour 
of less onerous ones. At the shrines of the saints, many miracles were 
reported and believed to be performed on the sick who waited and praj^ed. 
It would be fruitless to detail the long list of marvellous phe- 
nomena reported to have been displayed by sacred pictures and 
statues, miraculous appearances, and phenomena of bleeding wounds, stig- 
mata, etc., produced on believers. Mental impressions, hysterical imagin- 
ings, credulity, and deceit, all combined to render the belief in such 
phenomena almost universal. Thus it was natural that the worship before 
such pictures and statues as were reputed miraculous, should in many cases 
become indistinguishable from worship of the pictures and statues them- 
selves ; and that the saints represented by them, or the patron saints of 
churches and places, should be regarded almost as divine. 

Every exaltation of the saints was reflected in a further exaltation of 
the honour paid to the Virgin Mary. The use of the term " Mother of God " 

. ^ (see pp. 769, 781) powerfully promoted the tendency to pray to her 
* as a female mediator, and festivals in her honour were multiplied. 
The "Annunciation" festival, popularly "Lady Day," was established 
probably in the fifth century ; then followed the Nativity of the Virgin 
(Sept. 8). Instead of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple, Mary's 
" Purification " was celebrated, and still later her imagined " Presentation," 
or dedication to the Temple service, was kept as a festival. It was con- 
jectured in the fourth and fifth centuries that she had never died ; and in 
813, at the Council of Mainz, the " Assumption " of the Virgin was instituted 
as a festival. One order after another of monks took her for their patron 
saint. Preachers vied with one another in extolling her merits, and exciting 
the people to worship her. She was described as " the Queen of Heaven," 
and the language of the Song of Solomon was freely applied to her. The 
scheme of creation and redemption by Christ was brought about " through 
her, and in her, and of her, and with her," so that " as without Him nothing 
was made, so without her nothing should be made." The Assumption 
is described as " that sublime day on which the royal Virgin was carried 
to the throne of God the Father, and enthroned on the very seat of 
the Trinity." Her mediation was represented as all-powerful, and even 
authoritative. " Thou approachest to that golden altar of man's recon- 
ciliation, not only asking, but commanding." So preached Peter Damiani, 
the great friend of Pope Gregory VII. And St. Bernard says that " God 
has willed that we should have all things through Mary. . . . Have 
recourse to Mary. He will hear her as a son his mother, and the Father 
will hear the Son; " and a new technical term was invented to signify the 
adoration that might be paid to her. The monasteries and the churches 
generally adopted special forms of service in her honour, and to pray for her 
intercession and help, known as the "Office of St. Mary." Saturday was a 
special day for masses in her honour ; and in 1095 Urban II., at the Council 
of Clermont appointed her " Hours " to be said daily, and her " Office " on 
Saturdaj^s. The Salutation of the angel to her, " Ave Maria," was repeated 



THE ROMAN CHURCH IN THE MIDDLE AGES. 823 

continually, and was gradually expanded in later centuries to its present 
form. The Dominicans brought in the use of the rosary, for counting by 
means of beads the number of " aves " recited with prayers for the Virgin's 
intercession in the hour of death. The rosary of 150 beads was divided into 
sets of ten ; each bead passed signified an " ave " recited, and after every 
ten " aves " the Lord's Prayer (" Pater Noster ") was said : the whole con- 
cluded with the Creed ("Credo"). The thirteenth century produced the 
" Marian Psalter," lesser and greater, in which the Psalms and Scriptures 
generally were adapted to express the perfection of the Virgin. Thus, 
" The Lord said to our Lady, Sit, Mother, on My right hand . . . thou 
shalt reign with Me for ever." As early as the sixth century she had been 
regarded as free from actual sin, though not from *' original sin." About 
the end of the thirteenth century it was proposed to establish a festival of 
her " Conception " as being holy and sinless ; but St. Bernard strongly 
censured this, though he says that " beyond all doubt the Mother of the 
Lord was holy before she was born." The University of Paris declared 
the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin a probable opinion in 1387 ; but 
it was reserved for the present centur^T- to see this elevated into an article 
of faith, when in 1854 Pope Pius IX. declared dogmatically that the Virgin 
had been conceived immaculately, and was absolutely exempt from both 
original and actual sin, and that to contradict this is heresy. 

We have already noted the enunciation of the doctrine of the "real 
presence " and of " transubstantiation " in the Eucharist, and cannot here 
note all the stages and forms which the discussion assumed, es- The "Real 
pecially in connection with Berengarius of Tours, in the eleventh Presence." 
century, and his followers. When the doctrine had been finally settled by 
Thomas Aquinas in its materialistic form, greater sanctity attached to the 
elements of the Eucharist. Infant communion became less frequent, and 
was at last discontinued. Special precautions were taken against spilling or 
profaning in any way the wine changed into the very blood of Christ ; and 
in the twelfth century the withholding of the cup entirely from the laity 
began, justified by such a principle as that of Anselm, " that the whole 
Christ is taken in either kind," and gradually this became the rule. In the 

eleventh century the elevation of the consecrated bread as the „ 

♦^ . . Elevation and 

"Host," after consecration, was introduced; and after the Lateran adoration 
decree, in 1215, this act was the signal for " adoration " of the 
present Christ, and all persons were bidden to kneel before it, whether in 
church or when it was carried to sick persons through the streets. Finally 
a special festival in honour of the Consecrated Host (Corpus Christi) was 
instituted, in 1264. The reverence and mystery attaching to the Sacrament 
caused the laity to communicate less frequently, and it became sufficient to 
communicate once a year ; while masses said by the priests, for money 
payments, were supposed to be efficacious, whether the persons paying- 
were present or not. 

Yet we must do justice to the piety that lived in these ages, to the 
noble works that many Christians then achieved in the founding of hos- 



824 T^^ WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

pitals, in service to the poor, in the foundation of colleges and schools, and 
in the erection of magnificent monastic and ecclesiastical build- 
Christian ings. To these ages we owe our finest churches, in the succes- 
'^^^^^' sive styles of Gothic architecture — Norman, Early English, 
Decorated, and Perpendicular — which it is the despair of modern architects 
to rival. Art took refuge in the monasteries, and produced statuary and 
carving in profusion, not deeming it profane to decorate churches v/ith 
subjects of a secular nature. Stained glass, illuminated manuscripts, em- 
broidered vestments and altar cloths, testify to the growing appreciation of 
art, zeal in artistic work, and consecration of it to divine service. No one 
should imagine that because some of the forms it took are not such as we 
appreciate, and many Churchmen of the middle ages were corrupt, that 
therefore piety was extinct or less real than in early or later days. Good 
men achieved marvels then as now, in spite of their imperfections and the 
corruption by which they were surrounded. 

The steps by which the Scholastic Theology was developed and con- 
nected with Arabian and Aristotelian learning would demand a lengthy 
Scholastic recital : we can but note that medieval theologians based their 
Tneoiogy. gygtems very largely upon Aristotelian logic. The controversies 
of the Nominahsts and Realists, of the Thomists (disciples of Thomas Aqui- 
nas) and Scotists (followers of Duns Scotus), if of minor interest now, were 
both necessary stages in the evolution of the present, and of great im- 
portance in their time. Somehow a deficiency was felt in the old presen- 
tations of doctrine, and it was sought to re-dress theology in a scientific 
logical form, granting the authority of Scripture and of the general councils. 
Peter Abelard (1079-1142), whose renown did much to promote 
the growth of the University of Paris, was the first great ration- 
alist theologian, teaching " that nothing could be believed unless it was 
first understood, and that it was ridiculous for any one to preach to others 
that which neither he himself, nor those whom he taught, comprehended." 
His " Introduction to Theology " caused him to be denounced as a tritheist, 
and he had to stand alone against varied types of holy men, such as E-os- 
cellin, Norbert, and Bernard of Clairvaux. All through his theological 
teaching he called in question received opinions, without desiring to be 
unorthodox. He made a collection of 158 controverted questions, with the 
varied opinions of theologians contrasted and set opposite one another 
under the headings Sic et non. As a destructive critic his tendencies were 
rightly censured by the Church from its own point of view; but his teaching 
had considerable germinal influence, though overlaid by the more powerful 
orthodoxy of Thomas Aquinas. 

The Schoolmen, properly so called, were the unflinching advocates of 
orthodox faith, and at the same time devoted to its reconcilement with or 
explanation by reasoning. Briefly noting the priors of the abbey of St. 
Victor, outside Paris, in the twelfth century, with their mottoes, " We can 
only know God by loving Him," and "You have just as much power as 
you have grace"; John of Salisbury; Peter Lombard (died 1164), author of 



THE ROMAN CHURCH IN THE MIDDLE AGES. 



S25 



Four Books of " Sentences," containing tlie teachings of the Latin Fathers, 
arranged so as to support the dogmas of the Church, which became a 
text-book of theology for three centuries; Alexander Hales (died 1'245), 
surnamed ''the Irrefragable Doctor," author of a complete Summary of Theo- 
logy ; and Albertus Magnus (1193-1280), "the Universal Doctor," who 
wrote 21 folio volumes which survive, besides many that are lost, Thomas 
and taught a kind of eclectic philosophy; we come to Thomas Muinas. 
Aquinas (1226-1274), the prince of scholastics, whose teaching has by 




ST. ELIZABATH OF HUNGAUY WASHING THE LEPERS. 



Pope Leo XIII. been declared to represent most perfectly the mind of the 
Church, and is still mastered by all who pretend to theological learning in 
the Roman communion. He was a son of a count of Aquino in Apulia, 
Italy, and at the age of sixteen, having already shown extraordinary ability, 
entered the Dominican order. After pupilage under Albert the G-reat, he 
was, in his twenty- third year, appointed second professor in the Dominican 
school at Cologne, and in 1257 was inducted into a theological chair at 
Paris; afterwards, at the pope's command, lecturing through several univer- 
sities of Italy, advising the pope on difficult questions, and writing con- 
tinually, at last settling at Naples, dying early of his asceticism and immense 



826 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



intellectual activity. His " Summa Theologica " is an encyclopaedia of 
divinity, discussing tlie arguments for the existence of God, the Divine 
nature and attributes, the Trinity, the end and nature of man, virtues and 
vices, the Incarnation of Christ, the Sacraments, etc. Its plan is to present 
for discussion some question or proposition, to state as strongly as possible 
the arguments urged for a wrong solution, and then to give the orthodox 
decision and the authorities or reasons for it, from the Bible, the Fathers, 
Aristotle, etc. Every imaginable discussion is gone through concerning all 
the terms, such as essence, spirit, personality, substance, etc ; and the whole 
is an astonishing feat of logic. In fact, it sums up all the knowledge and 
thought about the universe which had then been attained. He also wrote 
voluminous commentaries on Aristotle, on large portions of the Bible, 

treatises against all kinds of errors and 
heresies, and against the Greek Church, 
tracts in favour of the monastic life, etc. 
He was known as " the Angelic Doctor," 
and was canonised by John XXII. in 
1323. 

Yet there were many who dissented 
from Aquinas on numerous points, and 
the Franciscans in particular 
* followed Duns Scotus, the 
" Subtle Doctor," a British member of 
their order (1274-1308), many of whose 
works were written in answer to Aquinas. 
He taught at Oxford, Paris, and Cologne, 
where he died. He followed Plato in 
many points, was accused of being a 
semi-Pelagian, and was a supporter of 
the growing dogma of the Immaculate 
Conception of the Virgin. He has been 
termed " the acutest and most penetrat- 
ing spirit of the middle ages." Milman 
calls him " an Aristotelian beyond Aristotle, a Platonist beyond Plato ; at 
the same time the most orthodox of theologians." 

How insufficient the systems of the Schoolmen were to settle every- 
thing upon heaven and earth had already been discovered by the great 
Franciscan, Roger Bacon (1214-1294), who besides his wonderful 
researches in physical science was no mean theologian, and in 
1292 wrote a compendium of theology, in which he exposed the prevalent 
lack of study of the Scriptures, and the too great use of philosophy in dis- 
cussing theology, and the neglect of practical studies, such as languages, 
mathematics, and physical sciences, most calculated to aid theological 
studies. He discouraged the high methods of scholastic theology, while he 
pointed out that many things most conducive to salvation were easy to be 




ST. THOMAS AQUINAS. 



Roger Bacon. 



understood, and that a simple friar who had not heard a hundred lectures on 



THE ROMAN CHURCH IN THE MIDDLE AGES. 



827 



theology, and had not cared for them if he had, yet preached incomparably 
better than the greatest masters of theology. 

A man of a different type was a Dominican, William Durand, a pro- 
fessor at Paris and Avignon early in the fourteenth century, who boldly 
settled any question, and not infrequently tended to heresy, wuiiam 
Thus he showed that it was an early opinion that the sacraments i^^^and. 
have no inherent power of giving grace ; but that the recipient receives 
grace from God, unless he interposes an obstacle. William of Occam, or 
Ockham, in Surrey, a Franciscan and a pupil of Duns Scotus, wiiiiamof 
took the novel side for an ecclesiastic, of supporting the rights of Occam, 
kings against the pope, to whom he denied any authority in secular affairs, 
after the example of Christ. In discussing the central doctrines of the 
Church, he guarded his orthodoxy care- 
fully, as in the case of transubstantiation, 
in which he pronounced for one theory 
as "most reasonable, had not the Church 
determined the contrary." In these dis- 
cussions, however much the Schoolmen 
stuck by the Church's doctrine, the fact 
of the discussion was gradually accustom- 
ing men's minds to regard questions as 
open which later were to be the subject 
of striking new developments. A dawn 
of more exact study is to be seen in the 
labours of Nicolaus de Lyra, to whose 
commentaries on the sacred text Luther 
was much indebted, and of Raymond 
LuUy, who travelled widely, acquiring 
various languages, and in 1311 securing 
the establishment of chairs of Hebrew, 
Chaldee, and Arabic in the universities 
of Paris, Bologna, Oxford, and Sala- 
manca ^^* CATHERINE OF SIENA (p. 819). 

In the ninth and tenth centuries monasteries had grown numerous and 

rich, and sometimes corrupt. With the evil came the reaction, and younger 

and more saintly men founded new monasteries or sought to ^ 

/•IT mi 11, Degeneracy 

reform old ones. Ihe monks kept themselves distinct from the ofmonas- 

secular clergy, calling themselves specially " religious," as if re- *^*^^^"^* 

ligion could be most really pursued in retirement from " the world." Each 

monastery usually elected its own head or abbot, and professed allegiance 

specially to the pope, as far as possible rejecting episcopal control. Indeed, in 

most cases the popes expressly exempted them from it, and granted the abbots 

the right to wear the episcopal ring and other insignia, exemption from 

tithes, and from interdicts and from sentences of excommunication except 

by themselves. 

Early in the tenth century a reformed society was founded at Clugny 




828 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

in Burgundy, which was destined to have a wide influence. Its strict 
ciuniac con- ^^^® ^^^ good administration made it so famous that most of the 
gregation. French monasteries adopted its rule and placed themselves in 
connection with it, forming the Ciuniac congregation, which in the middle 
of the twelfth century numbered 2,000 cloisters. The abbey grew wealthy 
and powerful ; its vast basilica, built between 1089 and 1131, was the largest 
in Christendom till the construction of St. Peter's at Rome. The foundation 
was finally suppressed in 1790. Pope Gregory YII. (Hildebrand) was a monk 
of Clugny, and received from the Ciuniac order most important support. 

Among numerous minor reforming congregations, such as those of 
Hirschau in the Black Forest (1069), and Grammont (1074), the Carthusian 
and Cistercian orders became pre-eminent. The Carthusians took their name 
„ . from the monastery of the Grande Chartreuse (1084), founded by 

and cister- Bruno of Cologne. This order, while very ascetic, devoted itself 
to literature and art, and .is said " never to have needed a reforma- 
tion." The Cistercians were founded at Citeaux (Cistercium), near Dijon, by 
Robert of Champagne (1098), and were distinguished by their white garb, 
simpler services, and more ascetic liie, from the Cluniacs. In 11 ] 5 the famous 
Bernard founded the affiliated monastery of Clairvaux,and by 1151 there were 
500 monasteries in association, and the order became the most popular of all, 
until the rise of the Mendicants. But with the growth of their wealth the 
Cistercians gradually sank into insignificance, and many of their monasteries 
did not last till the Reformation. 

Several orders v.ere founded for the relief of disease and suffering. In 
1095 the Hospitallers of St. Anthony were founded in consequence of an 
H s -tall epidemic of St. Anthony's fire (erysipelas) ; in 1178 the Brethren 
* of the Hospital were founded at Montpellier by Guido ; and these 
were followed in the beginning of the twelfth century by the Hospital Breth- 
Brethren of ren of St. John, started in connection with the service of sick 
St. John. ^^^ destitute pilgrims at Jerusalem. The brethren were vowed to 
poverty, obedience, and chastity, and begged for the poor. They became 
rich, and in 1118 undertook the defence of the Holy Sepulchre, their knights 
becoming the rivals of the Knights Templars. They took Rhodes in 1319, 
gained a large part of the property of the Templars when these were sup- 
pressed in 1312, held Rhodes till 1522, when they retired to Crete, and after- 
wards to Sicily. In 1533 they were transferred to Malta, and in recent years 
they have rendered important aid to the sick and wounded in 

emp ars.^^^^ rj-j^^ Templars themselves, though from the first (1118) en- 
gaged in military service for the protection of pilgrims to the Holy Land, 
took a vow of monastic discipline on the model of St. Augustine. Later a 
more strict rule was imposed (1127), and the slaying of the unbeliever was 
laid down as their foremost duty. St. Bernard drew up a code, subjecting 
everything to the Grand Master of the order. Their purity was to be guarded 
by avoiding the kisses even of mother and sisters ; they were to receive no 
letters or presents, and have no locked trunks, etc. Innocent VII. relieved 
them from submission to bishops, and Gregory X. exempted them from all 



THE ROMAN CHURCH IN THE MIDDLE AGES. 



^29 



contributions to the Holy "War, and from tithes also. But by 1180 they had 
greatly degenerated, and in the next century they were noted for their bad 
morals, character, and habits ; and at last they formed an imperium in im- 
perio too troublesome to be endured, and the order was formally suppressed 
by the council of Vienna (1312). Other military orders with more or less 
monastic organisation were the Teutonic Knights, who conquered the 
Pomeranians ; the orders of Calatrava, Alcantara, the knights of Evora, etc., 
protected Christians from the Moors, whose lands they constantly laid waste ; 
the order of St. James was founded 1161 to protect pilgrims to Compostella 




ST. DOMINIC. 



The Carmelite order grew out of a small society of hermits, founded by 
Berthold, a Crusader, in 1156, on Mo ant CarI^el, which they quitted xj^e carmei- 
on the expulsion of the Latins from the Holy Land (1238). Each "®s- 
hermit at first lived in a cell by himself ; fasting was imposed from Septem- 
ber till Easter ; the possession of property was forbidden ; and manual 
labour and silence were recommended. On settling in Europe they adopted 
community of life, and mitigated their rules ; and Innocent IV. in 1 247 con- 
firmed the order by the title of " The Eriars of Our Lady of Mount Carmel." 



830 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



They adopted a brown habit, with a white cloak and shoulder covering 
(scapular), and hence were known as White Friars, a name preserved by 
the site of their London monastery. During the papal schism they were 
divided ; in the fifteenth century relaxations of discipline were allowed, 
those who adopted the latter being known as the Shod or Conventual 
Friars, while the stricter members were called Barefooted Friars, or Obser- 
vantines. Their numerous English monasteries were dissolved at the 
Reformation. In Spain, Carmelite monasteries were founded in the 
fifteenth century ; St. Teresa, a nun of Avila, reformed her convent in the 
face of much opposition, and successfully carried her reforms into the friars' 
houses. 

The Trinitarians, or Mathurins, in 1198 systematically undertook the 

ransom of Christian captives in Bar- 



Mathurins. 



bary, at least one third of 
their revenue being set 
apart for this work. They at one time 
had 250 houses ; and in the seven- 
teenth century it was computed that 
they had rescued more than 30,000 
captives. The military order of Our 
Order of Lady of Mercy was formed 
Mercy, ^t Barcelona in 1218, with 
the same general objects, and later 
it devoted itself to mission work in 
America. 

The fourth Lateran Council 
(1215), as we have seen, forbade the 
further multiplication of monastic 
orders ; but at that very time two 
orders, not so completely separate from 
the world as the other societies, were 
arising, which soon obtained recogni- 
tion and gained enormous influence in 
the later middle ages : these were the Dominicans and the Franciscans. 
The Dominicans, founded by Domingo Guzman of Old Castile (St. 
' Dominic) aimed at popular preaching and instruction, and the 
combat of heresy ; while the Franciscans, founded by St. Francis of Assisi, 
sought to revive spiritual life among the people by their preaching ; and 
both aimed at making evident by their poverty and self-sacrifice the ideals 
which the cloistered monks too often failed to attain. Dominic, born in 
1170, studied theology at the university of Palencia (afterwards transferred 
to Salamanca), sold his clothes and books to feed the poor during a famine, 
and flogged himself nightly with an iron chain, but was unflinching against 
heretics. In 1205, with Diego, bishop of Osma, he combated the Albigensian 
and other heresies in Languedoc. In 1215 he obtained Pope Innocent III.'s 
consent to the foundation of his order, despite the Lateran Council, by 




ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI. 



St. Dominic. 



THE ROMAN CHURCH IN THE MIDDLE AGES. 



adopting the Augustinian rule, w:itli vows of perpetual silence, except by 
permission of the superior, abstinence from meat, almost incessant ^1^3 Domin- 
fasts, woollen garments, strict poverty, etc. At first they wore i^^^^- 
a black cassock, but soon adopted the black mantle over a white habit and 
scapular (Black Friars). In 1216 the order was confirmed by Honorius III., 
under the title of " Preaching Friars," the right of preaching and hearing 
<3onfessions everywhere being at the same time granted. The order spread 
everywhere. It soon relaxed its vows of poverty, accepting land and mon- 
asteries. Dominicans became confessors to great men and counsellors of 
princes. They administered the Inquisition, and thus wielded a terrible 
power ; and their antagonism to the Franciscans, both in policy and in 
theological argument, 
often furnished material 
for history. The famous 
Dominicans, Albert the 
Great and Thomas Aqui- 
nas, as we have seen, 
ultimately fixed the tone 
and text of the Roman 
Catholic system, in one 
point only falling short 
of the Franciscans in re- 
jecting the Immaculate 
Conception of the Virgin, 
which the Franciscans 
strongly supported. In 
the fourteenth century 
the mystic John Tauler 
was a Dominican ; at the 
end of the fifteenth the 
bright light of Savo- 
narola illuminated the 
order ; but it furnished 
the strongest antagonists 
to the Reformation. 

The Franciscan order was founded by Francis, son of Peter Bernardini, 
born at Assisi in Umbria, Italy, in 1182. After a pleasure-loving youth, he 
voluntarily took a vow of poverty and mendicancy, attending to gt Francis of 
lepers and discharging other menial offices. Renouncing pro- Assist 
perty of every kind but the coarsest vestment, he gathered a band of twelve 
disciples in 1212, and boldly set forth to convert the world. Innocent III. 
(1215) and Honorius III. (1223) gave the brethren authority to preach every- 
where. A church at Assisi, and later a grand conventual church of St. 
Francis at Assisi, became the centre of the order. The dramatic and senti- 
mental preaching of the founder were most effective ; and one of his 
converts, Clara Sciffi, became the foundress of the rigid sisterhood of Poor 




ST. TERESA. 



832 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

Clares. St. Francis preached without success to the Mohammedans in 
Egypt, while other brethren went to Germany, Italy, and Spain. 
St. Clara, fjij^^ humility of the order was signified by their title " Fratres 
The Minores,'' whence they were often called Iklinorites. The order, 
o^^mnorues. ^^^^ ^^® Dominican, owed obedience directly to the Pope ; but it 
was governed by a " General Minister," appointed by a general 
chapter every third year. Although the strictest poverty was enjoined 
by St. Francis, he was so far sociable that he conformed to ordinary customs 
when in society, and he discouraged extreme asceticism, as promoting 
spiritual pride, and because the body needed sustenance and care in order 
to be capable of full devotion. Cheerful himself, he maintained that cheer- 
fulness was a duty, and a great defence against the devil. In many of his 
acts and expressions he showed a singular Christian spirit and great 
judgment, so that it was not difficult for his disciples after liis death to 
elevate him almost to a level with Christ, especially in consequence of the 
marks which appeared in 1224 on his hands, feet, and side, resembling 
The Sacred Christ's wounds, and known as the " Sacred Stigmata of St. 
stigmata. Francis." It is said that he tried to conceal them, but that 
many miracles were wrought by their power. He died in 1226, having 
witnessed the addition to the two orders of monks and nuns, of a third, 
consisting of lay members known as ' Tertiaries, who everywhere fulfilled 
the functions of the lay adherents in Buddhism, supporting the friars and 
living a religious life in the world. Dean Milman terms St. Francis " the 
most blameless and gentle of all saints," " emphatically the saint of the 
people." " The lowest of the low," he says, " might find consolation in 
the self-abasement of St. Francis even beneath the meanest." His poetry 
is worthy of note ; it is " one long passionate ejaculation of love to the 
Redeemer in rude metre." But his ordinary speech is more poetical than 
his poetry. " In his peculiar language he addresses all animate, even in- 
animate creatures, as his brothers. ... In one of his Italian hymns he 
speaks of his brother the sun, his sister the moon, etc. . . . "When he 
died, he said with exquisite simplicity, ' Welcome, Sister Death.' . . . 
His life might seem a religious trance." 

Men following in the footsteps of such a master were well adapted to 
win the people. Their numbers increased, and they became rich and 
powerful by the gifts, buildings, and endowments forced upon them. From 
acting under bishops, they acted independently, despised the secular clergy, 
administered sacraments, and heard confessions. The " General " of the 
order who succeeded St. Francis, Elias of Cortona, mitigated many rules, 
and, being ambitious, favoured the growth of large monasteries. Again 
and again attempts were made to reform the order. John of Parma, the 
seventh General Minister (1247), was hailed as a second St. Francis; John 

of Fidanza, eighth General (1256-1274), famous under the name 
Bonaventura. 7 <=» v n 

of Bonaventura, the " Seraphic " Doctor, was as learned as he 
was blameless, and steadfastly sought to amend the corruptions of self- 
indulgence, importunate begging, assumption of undue clerical functions, 



THE ROMAN CHURCH IN THE MIDDLE AGES. 833 

€ind extravagant biiildings, in addition to moral scandals, which were mak- 
ing the friars a b^^word. The indulgences promised to all who corruptions 
visited the church of the Portiuncula at Assisi on August 1st, of the order. 
-and the sure salvation to all who died in the garb of the order, even though 
■only assumed just before death, were but specimens of the evils which 
•arose. Fierce rivalry arose between Dominicans and Franciscans, and also 
between the " Spirituals " and the less spiritual among the latter. Ti^e 
Following the prophecies and millennial outlook of Joachim, a spirituals. 
Oistercian abbot (1145-1202), who foretold that the millennium would begin 
in 1260, the " Spirituals " put forward about 1254 an " Introduction to the 
Everlasting Gospel," developing these ideas, which was con- Millennial 
<lemned by the University of Paris and by Pope Alexander IV. prophecy. 
It was written by a Franciscan named Gerard ; and after his condemnation 
and imprisonment the Spiritualists called themselves Fraticelli 
(Little Brothers), instead of Fratres, separated themselves 
markedly from the rest, and found a new leader in Peter John of Olivi, 
author of a famous Apocalyptic work, " Post ilia in Apocalypsiny Pope 
Oelestine V. in 1294 formed the Fraticelli into a new order, the Celestine- 
Eremites, together with his own hermits ; but the next pope dissolved the 
■order, and banished them in 1302 to a Greek island. Renouncing the papal 
authority, they elected a pope of their own, and spread themselves in 
Greece, Sicily, and other countries, everywhere working against the papacy. 
In the time of Pope John XXII. a new point was given to the denunciations 
■of papal luxury and apostasy by the Spirituals ; the pope retaliated with 
vigour, and, aided by the genera^l of the order, held an Inquisition, which 
burned, degraded, and imprisoned many. In this case the Franciscans 
aided the evil work of the Dominican Inquisition, of which it was said by 
one of its victims in 1319 that if St. Peter and St. Paul were to return to 
earth, the Inquisition would lay hands on them as damnable heretics. So 
far did intolerance proceed, that a Begliarcl (see p. 834) was tried for asserting 
the poverty of Christ and His disciples, and Berenger of Talon, who main- 
tained the contrary, was arrested ; the Dominicans eagerly condemned the 
Franciscans who took his side, and the University of Paris elaborately con- 
demned the Franciscan teaching. The schism among the Franciscans 
widened, and by the end of the fourteenth century the Franciscan conventuals 
Conventuals were distinct from the Observants^ who still kept the and obser- 
founder's rule. In the fourteenth century the Franciscans estab- 
lished missions in Bulgaria and Georgia, in the fifteenth in the Canaiy 
Islands and on the Congo, in the fifteenth and sixteenth in South America 
and Mexico. Francis, of Paola in Calabria, late in the fifteenth century, 
founded " the Hermits of St. Francis of Assisi," better known as . 

the " Minims," from their title of " Fratres Minimi." They were 
noted for their adoption of a perpetual Lenten rule ; viz., to abstain alwa^-s 
from animal food. The Augustinian Eremites (or Austin Friars), formed 
into a society in 1256 under the rule of St. Augustine, numbered 30,000 at 
the time of the Reformation. Another mendicant order was that of the 

3 H 



834 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



Servites (the slaves of the Virgin Mary), founded in 1233. Tlie Beguines 
were societies founded in Flanders about 1180, to attend to the sick and 
poor while working at their ordinary employments ; and they have lasted 
till the present day. The members are widows and single women, living^ 
Beguines and ^^ot in convents, but in a group of small houses surrounded by a 
Beghards. t^^]]^ ^nd known as a " Beguinage.'" The Beghards were asso- 
ciations of men founded with a similar object : but their character de- 
generated, and the name became synonymous with mendicancy and heresy, 
and they were placed under the authority of the Franciscans by Pope Inno- 
cent X. In such varied forms the monastic spirit tried to keep alive true 
Christianity, but proved extremely liable to corruption and corrupt use. 
The reign of monasticism. as once understood and submitted to, passed away 
with the Reformation. 




CATHEIJBAL OF BULGOS, SPAIN (13tH TO 15tH CENTURIES). 




:\tAl;XlN LUTIlKi;. 



CHAPTEE X. 

i^tligioug ^prrcenitton^ anli tljt Beformatron. 

Intolerance and persecution— Maniclisean sects— Paulicians—Petrobrusians—Cathari—Albig-enses— 
Their tenets— Waldo— The Waldenses — The Inquisition— Torquemada—Ximenes— The mystics— 
Nicolas of Basle— Tauler— Thomas a Kempis— Brethren of the Common Life— Wyclif— The Lollards 
— John Huss —The Council of Constance— Huss and Jerome burnt— Religious War— The United 
(Moravian) Brethren— Council of Basle— The Greek Church— The Renaissance— Savonarola— 
Luther— His ninety-five theses— Papal Bull against him— Diet of Worms— Luther translates 
Bible— Zwingli— His sixty-five theses— The Reformation in Zurich— Anabaptists— Conference of 
Marburg— Diet of Spires— Protest of Lutheran princes— The Augsburg- Confession— The Theses 
of Berne— Zwingli's distinctive doctrines— Confessions of Basle. 

DIFFERENCES of opinion and of interpretation were never lacking, from 
the earliest ages of the Church, as we have seen. They changed their 
ground from age to age ; often they reverted to former opinions, sometimes 
in a new dress. Bat the human mind, naturally believing intolerance 
that of two seeming contradictions, both cannot be true, tends and persecu- 
to set up one set of opinions or form of doctrine as certainly true, 
aud to denounce any other as evil, and consequently to be suppressed ; 
never imagining that there may be other truths which would reconcile 
seeming contradictions, or that the whole truth may be something greater 
than, and inclusive of, all the partial truths already known. The idea of 
tolerating diversit}^ of opinion on matters incapable of. direct proof, or of 



836 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. - 

tolerating free thouglit, has been exceedingly slow of growth and accept- 
ance. Forgetting that Christ presented His gospel to different persons in 
very diverse aspects, and did not demand of each follower the understand- 
ing and acceptance of all that He tanght, theologians gradually evolved 
from their reading of Scripture a creed, or series of creeds and explanations 
of those creeds, which, together with the sacraments and sacramental 
doctrine and their system of Church government, they held to be entirely 
true and divine, and forced indiscriminately upon all who came under their 
power, as absolutely necessary to salvation, and rejection of which deserved 
punishment in this world and hereafter. It was inevitable in these circum- 
stances that " heresies " should arise again and again. Human nature could 
not be forcibly deprived of its inherent tendency to " vary in every di- 
rection," to produce new forms of thought and speculation, to be tested, to 
be stamped out, or to survive by dint of the value they had, or perchance 
by the insidiousness and attractiveness of the evil they contained. 

Manichseism, though apparently crushed in earlier centuries, survived 
in later heresies, such as that of the Paulicians, who originated in Armenia 
Manichsean in the seventh century. They selected St. Paul's teaching as 
sects. their special guide, rejecting St. Peter as Christ's betrayer, re- 
taining at the same time some Manichsean principles. They were persecuted 

by successive emperors, but lasted long in various quarters. 

Some of them settled in Thrace in the middle of the eighth 
century ; and in the tenth they were reinforced by another settlement, and 
occupied considerable tracts in Thrace and Macedonia. They appear to 
have had some influence, through the intercourse arising during the 
Crusades, upon sects which spread in France, Northern Italy, and in Ger- 
many during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and were often marked 
by fanaticism. Peter of Bruis, founder of the Petrobrusians in 

' Dauphiny, in the beginning of the twelfth century, taught that 

only believers (not infants) should be baptised, and rejected the use of 

churches and crosses, the efficacy of the Eucharist, prayers and oblations 

for the dead, and the singing of hymns. He was burnt to death by the 

people of St. Grilles in Provence, after twenty years' successful preaching. 

He was succeeded by Henry of Lausanne, whose adherents were named 

Henricians. St. Bernard undertook a very successful mission against them 

in 1147, and the leader was given up in chains to the bishop of Toulouse. 

^ ^, . The so-called Manichseans were chieflv known as Cathari (or 
Cathari. -r\ • • r^ 

Puritans) m Germany, and as Publicani in France, until thej' 

were generally termed Albigenses (from Albi). Even in the twelfth cen- 
tury the popular feeling was strongly excited against them, and many were 
burnt, though not with the sanction of such men as St. Bernard. 

It was in Languedoc and around Toulouse that the heretical sects 

spread most vigorously, holding a council of their own in 1167 of bishops 

and representatives under a so-called Pope Niquinta, who taught 

that all Churches should be independent of each other. Thej^ 

became so formidable that the third Lateran Council, in 1179, called on all 



THE ALBIGENSES AND WALDENSES. 837 

tlie faithful to protect Cliristian people against them by arms. We cannot 
go into the details of the crusades which followed (1198-1229), and which 
crushed the power of Eaymond, Count of Toulouse. We will briefly glance 
at some of the principles of the Albigensian sects. 

They held certain Manichasan tenets, such as the antagonism between 
spirit and matter, the creation of the material world by the evil principle, 
together with a disbelief in the righteousness of the Old Testa- Albigensian 
ment dispensation. Christ they regarded as the highest angel, tenets, 
and His bodily appearance and actions were explained as spiritual only. 
The- Avhole world was to be saved by an escape from bodily imprisonment 
into spirit life. They considered marriage as at best a necessary evil, 
rejected the entire sacramental system, and destroyed churches and their 
apparatus. They had a priesthood and bishops of their own, with a sacra- 
ment called " Consolation," by which the Paraclete or Comforter was be- 
stowed, by any one who had received it: by this the heavenly soul, lost at 
the Fall, was restored to the believer. Those who had received this were 
the Elect or Perfect, and had to live a completely ascetic life, unmarried, 
and to labour only to propagate the truth, renouncing all property. Their 
other sacraments were the blessing of bread at meals (thus making all meals 
eucharistic), penance, and ordination. There are very diverse reports about 
the actual lives of the Albigenses, their rigidly pure lives, according to some, 
securing them great influence, and inducing many nobles to entrust their 
children to them for education ; while their enemies charge them with many 
crimes, loose living, and want of charity. No doubt, as in most other sects, 
there were black sheep among them, with many of the better sort. What 
is certain is, that they were indiscriminately persecuted and cruelly treated^ 
and that in many cases they retaliated on their persecutors. 

Often confused with the Albigensian sects, the Waldenses are quite 
distinct, being in no way infected with Manichaeism, and owing their 
name to Waldo, a wealthy merchant of Lyons in the latter part 
of the twelfth century, who employed two priests to translate 
many books of the Bible and selections from the Fathers into the Romance 
vernacular. Selling all his property and giving it to the poor, he aimed at 
a life of Christian perfection, and began preaching throughout the towns 
and villages ; and his followers did the same, under the name of Humiliati, 
or poor men of Lyons. Waldo was excommunicated, not for heresy, but for 
unauthorised preaching, and anathematised by Pope Lucius III. and the 
Council of Verona. By their simple, earnest, scriptural preaching Waldo 
and his followers made many converts in Southern France, Northern Italy, 
and Spain, In manj^ ways they showed themselves true evangelists fiie 
and helpers of the people, and taught a primitive Christianity, waidenses. 
gradually rejecting prayers for the dead, priestly powers, penances, pur- 
gatory, and the ecclesiastical miracles. Their high character is attested 
even by their enemies — their moderation, sobriety, and hard work in their 
employments, their truth-speaking and avoidance of oaths. During the 
Dominican Inquisition which oppressed the Albigenses, the Waldenses also 



THE WOBLD'S RELIGIONS. 



suffered severely ; and they gradually took refuge in Alpine valleys in 
Piedmont, giving to the district the name of Yaudois, where they long- 
remained safe from attack. In 1487 Pope Innocent VIII. ordered their 
extermination ; and the consequent attacks made upon them greatly reduced 
their strength. In 1530 deputies from the Yaudois in Dauphiny and Pro- 
vence met the German and Swiss Reformers, and the result was the adop- 
tion of some of the distinctive tenets of the latter, and a complete break 
with the Eoman Church. In 1655 they were barbarously treated by an 
army authorised by the Roman Congregation for the Propagation of the 
Faith, which roused Protestant indignation against the persecutors. In 
1685 a new era of persecution followed the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. 
A remnant of them now form a separate Protestant Church^ in Italy, 
largely supported by contributions from Protestant countries. 

It had always been a function of the bishops to inquire into the preva- 
lence of erroneous teaching and to stamp it out, largely by the aid of " the 
The secular power '' of obedient princes. In 1163 the Council of 
Inquisition. Tours first used the title of Inquisitor in reference to inquiries 
into orthodoxy ; and in 1184 the Council of Yerona directed the bishops to 
put down the Cathari and the Poor Men of Lyons (\Yaldenses), cursing all 
heretics and those who sheltered them. The Inquisition, properly so called, 
was, however, started by Pope Gregory IX., who in 1232 constituted the 
Dominicans inquisitors into heresy in Toulouse, with appeal only to the 
Pope. " The suspicion of heresy was sufficient cause for imprisonment ; 
accomplices and criminals were deemed competent witnesses ; the accused 
was never informed of his accusers, nor confronted with them ; confession 
was often extorted by torture." Of course it would have been impossible 
to carry out the cruel system of punisliments devised, but for the aid of 
the secular power ; but this was usualty granted readily, either through 
fear or willingly. Often the populace rose against the Inquisition; and in 
some places, as at Toulouse, it was suppressed. We have not space to 
recount the deeds of the Inquisition in France and Italy in the thirteenth 
century, and in German}^ in the fourteenth. From 1232 onward it was 
active in Spain, often with every kind of tyranny and cruelty. In 1480 
it was more elaborately organised ; and before the end of 1481 298 per-- 
sons had been burnt in Seville alone. In 1483 the Dominican Thomas of 
Torquemada was appointed Inquisitor-general for Castile and Leon ; and 
Torque- ^J l^is rigid and cruel system the Jews, Moors, and Moriscoes were 
mada. tortured, killed, or banished from Spain. On the death of 
Torquemada, in 1498, Cardinal Ximenes succeeded him as Inquisitor-general. 
He utterly opposed the translation of the Bible into the vernacular, as a 
profanation, and also refused publicity to the proceedings of the Inquisition, 
or any alleviation of their harshness. Yet he is famous in scholar- 
ship for his publication of the Complutensian Polyglott Bible. 
The Inquisition was established in Portugal and in all the Spanish and 
Portuguese colonies. After the beginning of the seventeenth century its 
^ See Gilly, Ejccursion to the Valleys of Piedmont, and Researches on the Waldenses. 



BAJViV OF THE REFORMATION. 839 



activity diminished ; in the eighteenth century torture was abandoned. 
Down to 1809 it is said that 31,912 persons had been burnt alive in Spain. 
Napoleon put it down wherever he gained power ; but it lingered later, 
and a Jew was burnt and a Quaker schoolmaster hanged in Spain in 1826. 
The Inquisition was active in Italy up to the time of the consolidation of 
the kingdom in 1859-60 ; and the central agency of the Inquisition is still 
in existence at Rome, and many Romanists hope for its re-establishment 
in full activity. It was never established in England. 

Before referring to the more active uprisings which preceded the 
Reformation, we must notice certain religious writers and teachers whose 
influence certainly prepared the way for it. Henry Eckart, a The 
Saxon, Dominican vicar-general in Bohemia in 1307, was strikingly Mystics, 
mystic and even pantheistic in his teaching. Nicolas of Basle (1308-1393) 
the chief leader of the •' Friends of God," having completely renounced the 
world and his own will, and attained inward intercourse with Nicolas of 
God, devoted himself to leading others into the same state. He Basie. 
never received ordination, but did not deny any doctrine of the Church. 
He was thus the first great Quietist, believing in a resignation to the 
Divine will only parallel to the Mohammedan's. Their direct '' inspiration" 
from God rendered the mystics independent of the Church, which con- 
sequently was hostile to them. Several of the leaders were burnt, Nicolas 
in 1393, at Vienne. John Tauler^ (1290-1361) was a follower of Eckart on 
the speculative side, and of Nicolas on the mystic, and one of the 
most influential preachers of his time. He asserted that '' he who 
confesses the true faith of Christ, and sins only against the person of the 
Pope, is no heretic." Suso, Ruysbroek, Gerson, Gerard Groot, and Thomas 
a Kempis, in different ways carried on the inward religious life Thomas a ' 
and speculation, producing works remarkable for their spirituality, Kempis. 
and also taking part in noble philanthropic movements. In exalting per- 
sonal communion with God through faith, they developed a form of religious 
life which has had enormous influence. Gerard Groot, in particular, by 
founding the self-supporting society of " Brethren of the Common grgfj^j. 
Life," at Deventer, for spiritual profit and evangelisation, set the the common 
mendicant friars an example which they greatly resented. Groot 
Avas loyal to the Church, enjoining the daily hearing of mass, but studied 
chiefly the Gospel and the writings of the Fathers. His follower, Florentius 
Radewin, completed the organisation, which was approved by some popes. 
It was ultimately absorbed by the Reformation. 

John Wyclif (1324-1381) is honourably distinguished as the most original 
and influential Reformer of the Church in the fourteenth century. He was 
an Oxford scholastic theologian of the highest ability, and largely 
in accord with Roger Bacon : a strong supporter of England ^^ ^ ' 
against Rome, and of the temporal against spiritual power. His great works 
on Divine and Civil Dominion maintained that God had given no supreme 
authority to any vicar on earth, whether priest or king, but to each his own 
' See Life and Sennotis of John 7 aider. Translated by C. Winkwortli, 1857. 



840 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS, 



province; while all God's people must obey Him rather than man. Thus- 
he supplied arguments against all excessive papal and spiritual claims. He^ 
founded an order of poor preachers, without mendicanc}^ who went through 
the diocese of Lincoln and elsewhere preaching the gospel. Their followers- 
became known and persecuted as Lollards, and connected with people 
similar^ termed in the Low Countries and Western Grermany. About 1380 
Wyclif commenced and largely carried out an English translation of the 
Bible from the Vulgate. Li 1B81 he enunciated the doctrine of consub- 
stantiation, as against the transubstantiation of the Church, in a form 
similar to that of Berengar of Tours, asserting that the bread and wine 
remain in the sacrament after its consecration. His teaching was con- 
demned by the University of Oxford, and by a council in London. Wyclif 
continued to work and write with great vigour, and died in 1384 when 

under citation to appear before Ur- 
ban lY. at Rome, to whom he re- 
plied that he ought not to follow 
the pope, except so far as he himself 
followed Christ. The Council of 
Constance (1414-8) impotently sen- 
tenced him to death ; and in 1428 
Pope Martin Y. had his bones burnt 
and the ashes thrown into the river 
^ Swift. The Lollards were 
"fiercely persecuted, and 
many were burnt, but some re- 
mained to join in the later E^eforma- 
tio.i. 

In distant Bohemia a movement 
for purifying the Church and study- 
ing the Scriptures at first hand was 
making headway. The University 
of Prague, founded in 1348, aided 
this. Mathias of Janow was one of 
the most notable forerunners of Huss. While loyal to the Church, he paid 
more regard to the study of the manuscripts of the Bible than to the 
teaching of the Fathers. John Huss (1369-1415), who had read 
John Huss. ^^^^ ^^.pitings of Wyclif for many years, became Eector of the 
University of Prague in 1403. His eloquent friend, Jerome of Prague 
(1379-1416), a greater theologian, did much to make Wyclif 's works known 
in Bohemia. Huss maintained the doctrine of transubstantiation : but 
asserted the supreme authority of Scripture, the spiritual nature of the 
Church, whose head was Christ, and the supremacy of the believer's con- 
science. He exposed pretended miracles and corruptions in the Church. 
The Papal party tried to prevent Huss from preaching, charging him with 
heresy, and burnt AVyclif's books. Huss appealed to John XXIIL, then 
(1410) made pope after a long career of tyranny and misconduct. John 




The Lollards. 



JOHN WYCLIF. 



RELIGIOUS PERSECUTIONS AND 7 HE REFORMATION 841 



(1412) oifered large indulgences to all who aided a crusade against 
Ladislaus, King of Naples. Huss preaclied against it, but had to leave 
Prague to save it from the papal interdict of all religious functions (1413). 
He then wrote his great work De Ecdesia, defining the Church as the 
whole body of believers, past, present, and future, predestined to life, Avith 
Christ as'its Head, and the pope as His Yicar, if he follows the example of 
St. Peter. His powerful tracts in the Bohemian language formed complete 
expositions of Christianity, as consisting in faith and belief in the truth, 
obedience to the Divine law, and prayer to God. Many false charges of 
heresy and other offences were made against Huss, and he was summoned ^ 
with a guarantee of safe return from the Emperor Sigismund, to The Councu 
the Council of Constance in 1414 fthe sixteenth oecumenical, o^ ^o^^*^^*^®- 
according to the Eoman reckoning). At this, demands for a reformation 
of the papacy was made by such 

men as Peter d'Ailly, Archbishop of ^ - - — — .,^ 

Cambray, and John Gerson, Chan- 
cellor of the University of Paris, who 
yet were most rancorous in their op- 
position to Huss. He denied the false 
charges made against him, and re- 
fused to abjure what he had never 
held or taught. The Emperor's safe 
conduct was not respected ; he was 
told that his power could not save a 
heretic from the punishment due to 
his errors, and that his pledge could 
not bind the council, which was 
greater than the Emperor ; and that 
the Doctors of the Church had taught 
that no faith should be kept with 
heretics. The trial was a farce ; no 
witnesses were heard on behalf of 
Huss ; his condemnation was a fore- 
gone conclusion. He was burnt on July 6, 1415, and in the next year the 
same fate awaited Jerome of Prague, although from fear and phj^- huss and 
sical weakness he recanted and renounced "Wyclif s doctrines and'^®^°"^®S^^™*- 
acknowledged the justice of Huss's condemnation. Yet afterwards he recanted 
his recantation, though declaring that he held all the articles of the Christian 
faith. A fierce religious war followed in Bohemia. In 1420 a Reiig-ious 
compact with the Hussites granted freedom of preaching, the '^^^• 
administration of the Eucharist in both kinds, and reform of the Church ; 
but this was accepted only by the more moderate or calixtine party (from 
caliXj the cuj)). They received further concessions from the Council of 
Basle (1433) ; but the more radical Hussites (Taborites) held out, formed 
the Bohemian Brethren (1450-1627), and ultimately were absorbed in the 
Moravian Brethren (Unitas Fratrum, United Brethren), revived by Count. 




JOHN HUSS. 



S42 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



Zinzendorf early in the eighteenth century. They professed obedience to 

, the Scriptures and the law of love, res'arded the Eucharist as 
Ttie Unitsd. 

Moravian simply commemorative, and rejected the Real Presence, Towns 
Brethren. ^^^^ founded in Moravia and elsewhere in Germany for exclusive 
occupation of the brethren ; and missions were established through Europe 
and in North America, which attained great fame and success. By them the 
later movement of John Wesley in England was largely influenced. They 
retain government by bishops, who are not diocesan but universal in their 
scope ; they ordain presbyters and deacons. Their worship is simple, 
liturgical, and primitive, and they use a rich hymnology, largely composed 
by their own leaders. 

The deposition of Pope John XXIII. for heresy followed the burning of 
Huss. His successor, Martin V. (1417-1431), did little in the way of reform, 
and revived the highest claims of his predecessors. The Council of Basle, 

in 1432, renewed the declaration of Con- 
counciiof stance that a general council 
Basle, ^.g^g above the pope, elected its 
own president, passed many decrees for 
reforming the Church and the papac}^, 
and deposed Pope Eugenius IV. in 1439. 
A counter-council at Ferrara (1438) ex- 
communicated those who attended at 
Basle and annulled its acts ; it was after- 
wards removed to Florence, and is now 
recognised by the Eoman Church as the 
seventeenth oecumenical. At this council a 
last fruitless effort was made to reunite the 
The Greek Grreek and the Eoman Churches, 
Church, "by the (Greek) Emperor, John 
\ Paleologus 11. ; but the accommodation 
which was devised, and which granted the 
supremacy of the pope, was repudiated by 
the people, and finally by himself ; and a little later the Greek Empire fell 
before the victorious Turks, by whose favour alone the Greek Church con- 
tinued to exist in Moslem territory. Eugenius IV. retained power as pope 
in Sipite of the Council of Basle, and before his death, in 1447, had arranged 
terms with the Emperor Frederick III. and the German electors ; and the 
Oouncil of Basle ended in 1449 in failure. 

The Renaissance of Art and Letters was now influencing Italy and the 
Universities ; and several popes so far yielded to its influence as to become 
The Renais- classical rather than Christian, while some were conspicuous for 
sance. their vices and crimes. Pope Pius II. (^neas Sylvius Piccolomini) 
issued from the Congress of Mantua the Bull Execrabilts^ declaring that an 
appeal from the Pope to a general Council was punishable by excommunica- 
tion, in direct opposition to the side he had formerly taken. The greater part 
of the Vatican and the Sistine Chapel are among the works due to the popes 




MELANCHTHOX. 



LUTHER AND THE REFORMATION. 843 

of the latter part of the fifteenth century. The criniinaHty of the pa23a.l 
government at this time was thrown into relief by the appearance 
of the striking figure of Savonarola (1452-1498), a Dominican, 
who, without bringing forward any heretical doctrine, powerfully preached 
against the corruptions of the age, and denounced God's vengeance on the 
Church. In Florence he effected a striking Puritan reform, as also in his 
own monastery. In 1497 a great "sacrifice of vanities" was made under his 
influence ; but the infamous Pope Alexander YI. (Borgia) excommunicated 
him, and on May 30, 1498, he was hanged and burnt. 

While the popes in the early part of the sixteenth century were 
quarrelling with the French king, and while Leo X. (1513-1521) was 
revelling in the culture and art of the Renaissance, Martin 
Luther (1483-1546), the man who was to upset much of the work 
of the papacy, the son of a Saxon miner, was a devout Augustinian friar, 
working out for himself the problem of personal religion, and studying 
St. Augustine's writings more than any of the Fathers. A visit to Home in 
1510 showed him something of the prevailing corruptions. He had studied 
Tauler and the German mystics deeply ; but an external event, the 
extremely mercenary sale of indulgences, for the benefit of the building of ' 
St. Peter's at Rome, by John Tetzel, a Dominican, in the neighbourhood of 
Wittenberg, where Luther was teaching theology, led to the opening of his 
active warfare for religious reform. On October 31, 1517, he nailed on 
the door of the Castle church at Wittenberg ninety-five theses His ninety- 
denying the power of the Pope to remove the gailt of the smallest ^^® tiieses. 
transgression, and asserting that the obtaining of grace was a matter of 
immediate relation between God and the soul. The theses went through 
Germany instantly. Luther wrote several tracts and sermons on the subject, 
still maintaining that the pope could not know of the false doctrines that 
were being taught. In November, 1518, Pope Leo X. condemned the 
attacks on indulgences, and claimed full power of releasing sinners from 
punishment. Luther appealed to a general Council, denying the supremacy- 
of the Pope, and asserting that the power of the keys resided, not in him, 
but in the Church collectively, and also that the Council of Constance had 
condemned as heretical things entirely Christian. His fame as a teacher 
drew crowds of students, among them Melanchthon. In his book on the 
Babylonish Captivity of the Church (1520) he demanded the total abolition 
of indulgences and the giving of the cup to the laity, and expressed his 
doctrine of '• cojisubstantiation," viz., that the bread and wine of the sacra- 
ment remain bread and wine, though, after the consecration they truly con- 
tain the flesh and blood of Christ in union with them. In September 1520, 
a papal Bull was published in Germany condemning forty-one PapaiBuu 
heretical propositions from Luther's writings, ordering his works against Mm. 
to be burnt, and himself to retract his errors within sixty days. Luther, 
in response, publicly burnt the papal Bull, togetlier with the decretals 
and the whole Roman canon law, on December 10, 1520. He was speedily 
excommunicated and summoned to a Diet at Worms before the Emperor 



844 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS, 



and Electors of Germany. Here he defended himself boldly, claimed free- 
Diet of do^ of conscience, denied the right of the clergy to control 
Worms, men's religions convictions, and withdrew from none of hi& 
positions. He was outlawed on May 25, 1521. He retired to the castle 
Luther trans- of Wartburg, where he translated the New Testament into 
lates Bible. Q-erman, a translation which made German a literary language 
and powerfully aided the Reformation. During his absence his rival 
Carlstadt had celebrated the Communion with the omission of all the dis- 
tinctive Roman features, giving it to all in both kinds ; and he was 
proposing other violent changes. Luther, on returning to Wittenberg, in 
1522, pursued a more moderate course, but gave up monastic and ascetic- 
life in 1524, and married in 1525. 

Meanwhile another great reformer had arisen in Switzerland, Ulrich 
Zwingli (1484-1531) pastor of Glarus from 1506-1516, a learned man who 

had become disgusted with the corruptions of the Church and 
Zwinffli. ... . . 

especially with the indulgences granted to pilgrims. In 1519 he 

became preacher in Zurich cathedral, taking as his first subject the life of 
Christ as he interpreted it, apart from human authority. In 1521 he began 
to be called a heretic, and preached on 1 Tim. iv. 1-5, to the effect that it 
was no sin to eat flesh on a fast day, but a great sin to sell human flesh for 
slaughtering (alluding to the hiring of Swiss mercenary soldiers then 
prevalent). In 1522 he published tracts on reform which caused the 
local authorities to arrange a public disputation in Zurich with the vicar of 
His sixty-five t^® bisliop of Constance (January 29, 1523). Zwingli presented 
theses, sixty-five theses, asserting that Christ is the only way to sal- 
vation, independent of the papacy, mass, absolution, indulgences, inter- 
cession of the saints, etc. ; that Scripture is the only authoritative guide, 
and the Eoman s}- stem a dangerous delusion ; that the congregation, not 
the priesthood, properly constitutes and rules the Church, subject to the 
State ; but if the State authorities go beyond Christ's teaching, they must 
be deposed. His demonstration was so powerful that he was completely 
The Refo victorious, and the council of Zurich reformed public worship in 
mation in accordance with the Reformer's teaching. Convents were closed ; 
the cathedral chapter was converted into a theological students^ 
college. Zwingli and other priests married, images were given up as un- 
lawful, the mass was declared to be not a sacrifice, the relics and the organ 
disappeared from the cathedral, various festivals, processions, and other 
ceremonies were discontinued, and at Easter 1525 the Communion was 
celebrated as the Lord's Supper, with the table spread with a white cloth^ 
and the cup was given to the laity. 

Meanwhile the Anabaptists had appeared in Saxony and in several 
other parts of Germany, declaring especially against infant baptism, on the 
Anabaptists §^^^"^^^^ ^^ ^^ incapacity of infants to exercise faith, and en- 
* forcing adult baptism. In Zurich they appeared in 1523, 
demanding the formation of a holy congregation, from which all should be 
excluded who were not rebaptised and truly holy. About the same time 




THE NINETY-FIVE THESES AT WITTENBERG. 
(Luther descending the steiis after affixing them 



846 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



Zwingli began to write against the doctrine of Lntlier on consnbstantiation ; 
and their views were found to diverge so much, that in September 1529 a 
Conference of conference was held at Marburg between Luther, Melanchthon, 
Marburg. Zwingli, 0Ecolami3adius, Osiander, and other Reformers, to 
endeavour to come to an agreement ; but after three days this was found 
to be impossible, Zwingli protesting his desire for union, but Luther prov- 
ing unyielding. Zwingli's doctrines had gained largely in Switzerland, at 
the same time exciting the bitter hostility of the Eomanist cantons, when 
he was killed on October 11, 1531, while acting as chaplain to the arm}' of 
Zurich, defeated on that da}^ at Cappel. 

Before the death of Zwingli, however, the decisive establishment of 
the Lutheran Church in Germany had taken place. The Diet held at Spires 
Diet of ill 1526 had resolved in favour of tolerance in religious matters ; 
Spires, -j^^i- ^^ adhesion of the Bavarian dukes had by 1529 restored 
the majority to the Roman side ; and the Diet of Spires in that year for- 
bade the preaching of Zwingli's doctrine about the Eucharist, and that 
of the Anabaptists, and ordered that the reformers should teach nothing 
in their sermons contrary to the received doctrine of the Church. The 
Lutheran princes, headed by John, Elector of Saxony, then handed 
Lutheran in their celebrated Protest, from which the term Protestant is 
princes, (jej-^yed. They declared themselves ready to obey the Emperor 
and the Diet in all reasonable matters ; but they appealed from all past, pre- 
sent, or future vexatious measures to the Emperor, and to a free and uni- 
versal council. They maintained the supreme authority of the Bible, which 
was to be explained by itself, and not by tradition. The conference of 
Marburg, already spoken of, followed, and if it did not produce entire union, 
its fourteen articles of united belief were of the greatest service in mani- 
festing essential unity as against Rome. But henceforth the history of 
Protestantism became markedly national. 

The principal document of Lutheranism, the Augsburg Confession, w^as 
drawn up by Philip Melanchthon (1497-1560), the learned and gentle com- 
The Augsburgpanion of Luther, and his helper in the translation of the Bible 
confession, -j^^-q Qerman. The Emperor Charles Y., at the Diet of Augsburg, 
commanded the Lutheran princes to draw up a statement of their faith ; and 
Melanchthon wrote it, basing it on Luther's teaching, but with studious 
moderation. This Confession may be taken as establishing the Lutheran 
Church. It affirms the ancient doctrines of the Church as laid down in the 
oecumenical creeds, and repudiates Unitarianism, Arianism, and all the 
heresies denounced by the early councils. It maintains the Augustinian 
doctrine of original sin, and condemns Pelagianism ; teaching that men are 
justified freely for Christ's sake through faith, when they believe that they 
are received into favour ; and their sins are forgiven for Christ's sake, '' who 
by His death hath satisfied for our sins." The Church is defined as the con- 
gregation of saints or assembly of all believers, in which the gospel is purely 
X^reached and the sacraments administered according to the gospel ; and it is 
sufficient for the true unity of the Church to agree concerning the doctrine 



ZWINGLT AND THE REFORMATION. 847 

of the gospel and the administration of the sacraments ; nor is it necessary 
that human traditions, rites, or ceremonies should be everywhere alike. 
Baptism as necessary to salvation, and that of infants, is held, as well as 
communion in both kinds. Luther's doctrine of consubstantiation is 
declared, but the Communion only avails when joined with faith in the 
recipient. Saints are not to be invoked or prayed to, for Christ is the sole 
Mediator. Good works are not discountenanced, but are necessary, though 
not the means of salvation. Various Romish errors are repudiated, such as 
Communion in one kind, celibacy of the clergy, masses celebrated for money, 
and the mass as a sacrifice, the enumeration of sins at confession, special 
mortifications and peculiarities of abstinence, rigidity and special merits of 
monastic vows, and jurisdiction of bishops beyond what is plainly taught by 
the gospel. Luther's remaining years were devoted to the settlement of 
the G-erman Churches, too often in an exclusive and masterful spirit ; but 
we cannot here detail his labours. He died on Feb. 18, 1546. 

"We must now briefly sum up the position taken by Zwingli so far as 
distinctive, and as definitely characterising the earliest Swiss Reformed 
Churches; leaving Calvin's work and the Reformation in England, ^pj^g -meses 
for later chapters. Next to Zwingli's sixty-five articles (p. 844) of Berne, 
stand his ten Theses of Berne, 1528, which rejected tradition, accepted 
the Scriptures as the only authority and Christ as the sole redemption and 
satisfaction for the sins of the world, rejected the corporeal presence of the 
body and blood of Christ in the Eucharist as incapable of proof from 
Scripture, the mass as a sacrifice, and all mediation except that of Christ, 
together with purgatory, masses and prayers for the dead, image worship, 
and celibacy of the clergy. He more fully elaborated his doctrine in a con- 
fession sent to the Diet of Augsburg in 1530. In July, 1531, he wrote a 
further exposition to Francis I. of France, begging him to give the gospel 
freedom in his kingdom and to judge the Reformed faith by its . 
fruits when established. In these confessions he taught the un- distinctive 
conditional election or predestination of those who are to be saved, °° ^"^®^' 
faith being the means by which it is appropriated. Those who hear the 
Gospel and reject it are fore- ordained to eternal punishment. God by His 
X^rovidence controls and disposes all events ; the fall of man with its conse- 
quences happened under His foreknowledge and fore-ordination. It is this 
doctrine especially which was more fully developed by Calvin. 

As to the Lord's Supper, Zwingli holds that it is the visible sign of an 
invisible grace, there being a clear distinction between the sign and the 
thing signified. Communion with Christ is not confined to the sacrament, 
nor do all who partake of it really commune with Christ. The priestly act 
is of no avail, the faith of the recipient being the only means of its efficacy. 
The sacraments aid and strengthen faith, and are public testimonies of it. 
The Lord's Supper is a commemoration, not a repetition of Christ's sacrifice ; 
the bread and wine represent, but are not really, the body and blood of 
Christ, who is present only to the eye of faith : His human body, which is 
in heaven, cannot be everywhere at the same time ; and the eating and 



S4S 



l^HE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



drinking of the sacrament is a spiritual partaking (m\.^\ He shows that 
the figurative interpretation of Christ's words of institution is hke a great 
number of His other expressions, which cannot be literally true. Zwingli 
further went beyond Homans and Lutherans in his doctrine of the salvation 
of children dying unbaptised, by the merits of Christ. He also believed in 
the salvation of many adult heathen. 

The First Confession of Basle (1634) was first drawn up by John (Ecolam- 
padius, the principal reformer of Basle, before his death in 1531, and put 
Confessions i^^^o its present shape by his successor, Oswald Myconius. It 
of Basle, asserts briefly the main Zwingiian doctrines, terming Christ the 
food of the soul to everlasting life, and repudiates the views of the Anabap- 
tists. The Second Confession of Basle (1536) is also termed the First Helvetic 
Confession, from its having been drawn up by a conference of the leading 
Swiss divines, and intended to be laid before the general council of the 
Church. It chiefly differs from the Zwingiian Confessions in laying more 
stress on the significance of the sacramental signs and the real spiritual 
presence of Christ. The Reformed doctrines had by this time received 
their remarkable Calvinistic development in the publication by Calvin, in 
1534, of his Instltutlo ClirlstiancB Religlonis^ generally known as Calvin's 
Institutes. The Council of Trent, however, by its decisions entirely pre- 
cluded any hope of accommodation with the Reformers. 





POPE SIXTUS THE FIFTH (1585-90). 



CHAPTER XI. 
CI)e Council of Crntt anli iWoiern 3^omani£fm* 

The Coxmoil of Trent -The Creeds and the Bible— Original si a and Baptism— Justification— Penance 
— The seven sacraments— The " Real Presence" — Transuhstantiation and the adoration of tte 
Host— Confession— Long intermission of the Council— The Mass— Orders— Marriage and divorce — 
Purgatory— Prayers to saints — Relics and images — Tridentine profession and Roman Catechism — 
BeUarmine—Bossuet-Mohler—Perrone— Ignatius Loyola— Faher and Xavier-The Jesuit Order— 
— Jansen's " Augustinus "—Arnauld— Pascal — Quesnel—Jansenists— Causes of Jesuit succssses— ^ 
Moral defects— Recent history— " The Immaculate Conception" — Vatican Council, 1870— Papal 
infallibility— Number of Roman Catholics — The Roman Congregations— Roman servic3 books — 
The Old Catholics— Theses of Union Conference — Swiss Old Catholics. 

THE Council of Trent, the most important modern Council of the Roman 
Catholic Church, was distinguished by the protracted length and 
interruption of its sittings, and by the extent and variety of its The council 
pronouncements. It was first summoned for 1537, by Pope Paul °^ Trent. 
III., but various causes led to its postponement ; and it at last met at Trent 
(Tridentiun), in the Italian Tyrol (under Austrian rule), on Dec. 13, 1545. Its 
avowed objects were the extirpation of heresy, the re-establishment of 
ecclesiastical discipline, the reformation of morals, and the restoration of 

849 3 I 



850 THE WOULD' S RELIGIONS. 



peace and unity. To it were invited tlie princes and divines who supported 
the Reform movement ; but they declined to attend, as they were not even 
to discuss controverted questions. They said that the Council would be 
neither free, nor Christian, nor oecumenical, nor ruled by the word of God, 
and that it would only confirm the authority of the Pope. 

After several preliminaries, in February, 1546, the Nicene Creed was 
adopted, and Luther's exclusive adhesion to the Scriptures was rejected, it 
The Creeds being added, that saving truth of equal authority with the Scrip- 
and the Bible, tures was also contained in the traditions of the Church, handed 
down from Christ or the Apostles through the Fathers. It was also decided 
that all the canonical books, including the Apocrypha, were authentic and 
to be received. The Latin Vulgate version, regarded by the Reformers as 
full of errors, Avas declared authentic. In opposition to the right of private 
judgment, it was ordered that no one should presume to interpret the Scrip- 
tures in senses contrary to that of holy mother Church, whose function it 
was to judge of their true sense and interpretation. 

In June, 1546, the doctrine of '"'' original sin," transmitted to all mankind 
through Adam, was affirmed, and also its remedy and removal by the merit 
Original sin of Jesus Christ, applied both to adults and to infants by baptism, 
and Baptism. j.ig}^J3ly administered in the form of the Church. Infants, even 
newly born, need baptism for the remission of sins, that they may be 
cleansed from the taint of original sin ; after baptism original sin is taken 
away, and they are made innocent, immaculate, pure, and liarrii ess. The 
question as to the immaculate conception of the Virgin, who is mentioned 
as " the blessed and immaculate Virgin Mary, the Mother of God," was left 
open, though the Franciscans strongly desired that she should be declared 
free from the taint of original sin. 

In January, 1547, decrees were passed relating to justification by the 
redemption of Christ — first, through the prevenient grace of God, disposing 
men to consent to and co-operate with the grace of God, they being 
* able to reject grace, while not able, without the grace of God, to 
turn to righteousness. Justification is declared to be, not merely remission 
of sins, but also the sanctification and renewal of the inward man ; the 
efficient cause being the mercy of God, the meritorious cause the suffering 
of Christ upon the cross, whereby He made satisfaction for us to God the 
Father, the instrumental cause the sacrament of baptism, and the formal 
cause the justice of God, the communication of the merits of Christ's passion 
justifying men and infusing into them faith, hope, and charity. Men are 
justified by faith, because it is the beginning and root of all justification, 
and freely, because nothing done before justification merits it ; but this 
justification cannot be possessed, for a certainty, by those who simply settle 
within themselves that they are justified (as the heretics and schismatics 
do). Faith, co-operating with good works, increases justification, but no one 
is exempt from keeping all the commandments ; but it is heretical to say 
that the just man sins in all his good works, venially at least. No man can 
be absolutely certain that he is predestinate to salvation, or that he shall 



THE COUNCIL OF TRENT. 851 

finally persevere. Those avIio have fallen after justification may be restored 
throiigli the sacrament of penance, including sacramental con- 
fession of sins, and sacerdotal absolution, and satisfaction by fasts, 
alms, prayers, and other pious exercises, for the temporal punishment due 
for the sins. Thirty-three canons were appended to these declarations, 
censuring and anathematising the doctrines of justification by works, the 
Pelagian teaching on the power of man's free will, the beliefs that man's 
free will is lost, that God works any evil, that a man can be justified with- 
out the merits of Christ, that when once justified he cannot fall from grace, 
or that if he sins he was never really justified, that there is no mortal sin 
but infidelity, that he who sins after baptism cannot regain grace, or that 
he can regain it by faith alone, without the sacrament of penance, that after 
justification there is no receiving punishment, to be discharged either in this 
world or in purgatory, that a man cannot by good works merit and gain 
increase of grace and glory, and the converse of other doctrines enunciated 
above. 

In March, 1547, thirty canons on the sacraments were adopted, anathe- 
matising those who maintain that the seven sacraments were not all insti- 
tuted by Christ, or that any is superfluous ; that one sacrament is The seven 
of more value than another ; that the sacraments do not confer sacraments, 
grace through the act performed io^iis opevatum) ; that baptism, orders, and 
confirmation do not imprint an indelible character ; that all Christians may 
preach and administer the sacraments ; that the sin of the minister makes 
the sacrament invalid, or that the minister may change or omit sacramental 
rites at pleasure. On the question of baptism, among the fourteen canons, 
one asserts the validity of baptism by heretics in the name of the Trinity, 
and when intending 'to do what the Church does. It is asserted that baptism 
is essential to salvation, that the baptised may lose grace, that they are 
required to observe the whole law of Christ and of the Church, and that it 
need not be repeated after lapse into heresy and repentance. Confirmation 
has a speciah virtue, and is to be administered by bishops only. 

In the middle of March, 1547, the Council was ordered to meet at 
Bologna, as contagious disease had broken out at Trent ; but in consequence 
of a quarrel between the Pope and the Emperor it was suspended The " Real 
for four years, during which Pope Paul III. died (1549) and Presence." 
Julius III. succeeded him. The Council was reopened in 1551, and in 
October a most important decree concerning the Eucharist was adopted. It 
was declared that after the consecration of the bread and wine, " our Lord 
Jesus Christ, true God and man, is truly, really, and substantially contained 
under the appearance of these sensible objects," and that His presence thus 
can be conceived by faith, in a mode of existence which can scarcely be 
T'xpressed by words. It is the spiritual food of souls, and a pledge of glory 
to come. Each kind contains both the body and blood of Christ, Transub- 
in the smallest particle, as well as His divinity ; and in anotherg^^^^^Q^^J^^j^ 
article it is stated that the whole substance of the bread is con- o^ t^e Host, 
verted into the body of Christ, and the whole substance of the wine into 



852 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



the blood of Christ. Wherefore the adoration of Jafria (worship) which 
is due to God, is due to the sacrament ; and it should be specially adored 
on a yearly festival (Corpus Christi), and borne reverently through streets- 
and public places, and also reserved in the sanctuary and carried to the sick. 
Preparation for its reception is to be by sacramental confession and penance 
in the case of any one conscious of mortal sin. A series of canons condemns- 
all who hold opposite opinions. 

In November 1551 decrees on penance and extreme unction were passed. 
It was declared that Christ instituted penance, principally when He pro- 
nounced the words, " Whose sins ye shall forgive, they are forgiven them,, 
etc," for the reconciling of those who fall after baptism ; and that the priest 
in the sacrament of penance exercises the office of a judge. The form of 
the sacrament is in the words of the priest, " Ego te absolvo," I absolve 
thee, while the penitential acts are contrition, confession, and satisfaction ; 
and penance does not confer grace without any good motive on the part of 
those who receive it. Confession should be made once a year at 
least, preferably in Lent Unworthy priests can still minister 
this sacrament by virtue of their ordination. Certain atrocious crimes ought 
to be reserved for popes and bishops to deal with ; though there may be 
no reservation when the sinner is at the point of death. Without derogation 
from the efficacy of Christ's merit, the. voluntary penances, or those imposed 
by the priest, as well as the patient bearing of temporal scourges inflicted 
by Grod, do make a satisfaction for our sins. Extreme unction is said to- 
have been instituted by Christ, but only promulgated by the apostle James 
(James v. 14, 15). The oil blessed by a bishop is its agency ; and its effect 
is to cleanse away the remains of sin and comfort the soul of the sick. The 
canons on these subjects anathematise those who repudiate confession to a 
priest alone secretly, or the judicial or the absolving function of the priest^ 
or the efficacy of penance, or who reject extreme unction as a sacrament. 

A long discussion about questions of episcopal jurisdiction and about 

holy orders followed ; but the Council was prorogued early in 1552, in conse- 

Long- inter- ^"^^^^e of disputes between the Emperor's ambassadors and the 

mission of papal legates. The suspension lasted nearty ten years, and in the 

'meantime Pope Pius IV. had succeeded to Julius III. in 1555, 

When the Council again reassembled, in 1562, ambassadors from the French 

king proposed that the decisions of the Council should not be reserved for 

the Pope's approval, but that the Pope should be compelled to submit to the 

decision of the Council ; that the Council should begin with reforming the 

Church in its head and in its members; that archbishops and bishops should 

be compelled to reside in their sees, that bishops should onty ordain priests 

to definite charges, etc. Little attention was paid to these demands. 

In July, 1562, it was resolved that laymen, as well as priests when 

not celebrating, are not bound to receive the sacrament in both kinds, and 

^^ „, communion in either is sufficient ; nor are little children bound 
The Mass. ' 

to receive the sacrament. In September, 1562, it was declared 

that the mass is a propitiatory sacrifice, continuous with that of Christ on ' 



THE COUNCIL OF TRENT, 



853 



the cross, and may not only be offered for the sins of the faithful who are 
living, but also for the faithful who are dead but not yet fully purified. 
Masses are to be said in honour of the saints, not as sacrifices to them, but 
to implore their patronage, '' that they may intercede for us in heaven." 
The rites and ceremonies, lights and incense, vestments, etc., used in the 




mass are derived from apostolical tradition, and both honour the majesty of 
the sacrifice and excite the minds of the faithful to the contemplation of the 
sublimities hidden in the sacrifice. The mass is not usually to be celebrated 
in the vulgar tongue, but it is frequently to be explained in sermons. The 
contraries of these doctrines were anathematised in nine canoas. 

Seven orders, besides bishops, were recognised by the Council in 1563 : 



854 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

viz , priests, deacons, subdeacons, acolytes, exorcists, readers, and doorkeepers. 

Orders are indelible, and tbe priesthood cannot be possessed by all 

Christians. No consent of the civil power is requisite for orders, 

or their conferment, or for the authority of the bishops. Marriage was 

affirmed as a sacrament ; but the Church asserted its power to- 

^^;^J|^g^°*^dispense with certain limits of the Levitical law, and to create 

others. Divorce is forbidden, even for adultery. The marriage 

of priests is illegal, and celibacy is extolled as better than marriage. 

In December, 1563, the doctrine of purgatory was affirmed, and that the 
soLils there detained are helped by the praj^ers of the faithful, by masses on 
their behalf, and by alms. It was declared that the saints in 
heaven offer up prayer to God for men, through Christ. The 
bodies of martyrs, and their relics, ought to be venerated, honoured, and 
visited. Images of Christ, the Virgin, and the saints are to be 
^^Sints*° retained and honoured, though no worship is to be paid to them ; 
but the honour shown to them, when they are kissed, or otherwise 
honoured, is referred to their prototype. A strong desire was expressed to put 
down abuse;g connected with images, and all superstition, lascivi- 
^fmage?* ousness, or revellings in connection with them. No unusual image, 
no new miracles, no new relics were to be honoured, unless after 
full consideration of bishops, and reference of doubtful cases to the pope. 
Indulgences are still authorised, with moderation and correction of all abuses. 
The final act of the Council was to pronounce a curse upon all heretics. The 
decrees were signed by 255 bishops and others, and confirmed by a Bull of 
Pius IV. on the 20th January, 1564, reserving the exclusive right of expla- 
nation to the pope. 

The Council undoubtedly felt and yielded considerably to the prevalent 
demand for reforms, and passed many decrees, such as those forbidding the 
non-residence of bishops, and a number of irregularities in the conduct and 
education of bishops and priests, which have been very beneficial. 

Its decrees were acknowledged in Italy, Spain, Portugal, France, the 
Netherlands, the Roman Catholic German States, and Poland ; the royal 
prerogatives being usually reserved. They were never formally accepted 
in France, and they were never introduced in England or Scotland. 

A brief summary of the Tridentine decrees was prepared by order of 

Pius IV. in 1564, as a profession of faith to be taken by all Catholic digni- 

Tridentine taries and teachers, including an acknowledgment that "The Holy 

andRoman Catholic Ajiostolic Eoman Church is the mother and mistress of 

Catechism, all Churches." The decrees of Trent were further arranged in a 

popular form as the Roman Catechism, issued in 1566, subsequently charged 

with heresy by prominent Jesuits, who framed catechisms of their own. 

"We may here briefly refer to a few of the great theologians of the Romish 

Church since the Council of Trent. Cardinal Bellarmine (1542 -1621) became 

a Jesuit in 1560, and librarian of the Vatican in 1605. His great 

Beuarmine. ^^^^ " On the Controversies of the Christian Faith" (1587-90) is a 

storehouse of Protestant doctrines, which he gives in full from the original 



THE COUNCIL OF TRENT. 



855 



authorities, and of Roman refutation. It was at first proscribed by Pope 
Sixtus v., from a fear that by giving the teaching of the Reformers in their 
own words, the infection might spread in the Roman Church. Bellarmine 
allowed only an indirect control by the pope over temporal 3^33^3^ 
matters. In the seventeenth century, the eloquent French prelate 
Bossuet (1627-1704) wrote two great theological books— (1) An •• Expo- 




IGNATIUS LOYOLA. 



SLtion of the Catholic Church Doctrine on Matters of Controversy," in which 
he presents the dogmas in their most plausible form, and conciliates Pro- 
testants as much as possible ; and (2) "A History of the Variations of the 
Protestant Churches." He did not support papal infallibility, nor supreme 
Roman control of foreign States. He was genuinely desirous of reunion 
with Protestants, and proposed to Leibnitz a suspension of the Triden- 
tine anathemas, and the summoning of a general council in which Protest- 



S56 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS, 

ants should havevotes. Adam Mohler, the greatest GermaH Catholic divine 
(1796-1838), wrote a book entitled '' Symbolics," which both de- 
fended Romanism and attacked Protestantism, giving an ideal 
and spiritual portraiture of the former, and making great use of Luther's 
private and unguarded utterances. He deplored the corruptions of the 
Church, acknowledged the sinfulness of many popes and priests, and ignored , 
the question of papal infallibility. John Perrone (born in 1794 in 
Piedmont, and for many years professor of theology in the Jesuit 
college at E,ome) wrote a large work on dogmatic theology, which is very 
widely used in the Eoman Church, and which includes the later develop- 
ments of Romanism. The Romish doctrines and discipline are described in 
an intelligible and moderate way in the '' Catholic Dictionary " of W. E. 
Addis and Thomas Arnold, 1884. 

To properly understand the pronouncements of the popes against the 
Jansenists, we must first review the remarkable organisation and work of 
Ignatius "the Jesuits, founded by Don Inigo or Ignatius de Loyola, a 
Loyola. Spanish nobleman, born in 1491. He took religious vows as a 
Benedictine in 1521, and made the first draft of his famous " Spiritual 
Exercises." He conceived the idea of founding an order which should 
support the papacy against the German heretics, and spread the gospel 
among the heathen. He was twice imprisoned in Spain on suspicion of 
heresy ; but from 1528 to 1534 he studied at Paris, and in the latter year 
Faberand ^^ founded his society, with Peter Faber, a priest, and Francis 
xavier. Xavier, afterwards the celebrated missionary to India, in 1537 
taking the title of " The Company of Jesus," whence they were afterwards 
The Jesuit termed ''Jesuits" by Calvin. In 1540, after much opposition. 
Order. \)^q j-^^^^ Order was confirmed by papal bull. The employments 
assigned were to be preaching, spiritual exercises, works of charity, teaching 
the catechism, and hearing confessions ; but the work to be done by any 
member was to be chosen by the general, and a long probation was pre- 
scribed before full admission. Francis Xavier and Rodriguez were sent to 
ihe King of Portugal to act as missionaries in his possessions. In 1541 
Loyola was chosen superior or general, and immediately sent out his 
adherents on various special missions — two to Ireland to encourage the people 
in their resistance to Henry VIII., one to the Diet at Worms. A college 
Avas founded in 1542, to supply preachers for the Indian mission founded by 
Xavier. The Jesuits had much success both in Spain and Grermany, where 
they proved themselves able opponents of the Protestants. Privileges and 
gifts flowed in upon them ; but Loyola wisely stipulated that his members 
should not be compelled to take outside dignities and offices or become 
monastic confessors. They were also placed completely at the general's 
disposal, and the final vows were made unchangeable. Loyola would not 
have his members wear a special habit, designing that they should mix freely 
with the world. Candidates had to renounce their own will, their family, 
and all that they held most dear. In 1546 free day schools were established 
in connection with all the Jesuit colleges. During the sittings of the 



THE JESUITS AND MODERN ROMANISM. 



857' 



Council of Trent, three members of the Order were strong advocates for 
the papal power, viz., Laynez, Faber, and Salmeron, and had considerable 
influence in framing its decrees. When Loyola died, in 1556, the society 




included over 2,000 members in twelve provinces, and more than a hundred 
colleges and houses. Laynez, the next general, added to the great powers 
of his office. Pope Pius V. granted still more extended privileges, and made 



858 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

them irrevocable at any future time. In tlie latter part of the sixteenth 
century the Jesuits had great success in counteracting the Reform move- 
ment, though they were expelled from England, France, and Antwerp. 

In 1640 was published the celebrated Aiigiisthnis of Cornelius Jansen 

(1585-1638), Bishop of Ypres, who had taught against the Jesuits' influence 

jansen's ^^ Louvain. A large part of this book is devoted to an exposi- 

Augrustinus. ^^^^ q£ 1^^ Pelagian errors and of the Augustinian doctrine of 

Divine grace, in a sense approaching the teaching of Calvin; but its 

epilogue by imphcation compared the errors of the Jesuits to those of the 

early semi-Pelagians, and drew down their violent antagonism. The 

Inquisition prohibited it, followed by a Papal bull to the same effect in 

1643. Arnauld, a famous French theologian, wrote two Apologies 

for Jansen, and many Catholic theologians supported the 

Angusthms. Finally the Jesuits succeeded in getting a papal condemnation 

of several teachings of Jansen as heretical, which proceeding called forth 

the celebrated Provincial Letters of Blaise Pascal, which dealt 

P£liSC£Ll 

severe blows at the Jesuits. Arnauld, however, was expelled from 
the Sorbonne, and the Jesuits for years carried on a bitter persecution of 

the Jansenists, especially in France, in the latter part of the 

seventeenth and first half of the eighteenth centuries. QuesneFs 
"Moral Reflections on the New Testament" being a popular work, was 
especially obnoxious to the Jesuits as containing Jansenist views. In Holland 
a considerable section, with the deprived Archbishop of Utrecht, stuck to the 
Jansenist teaching, and succeeded in maintaining a separatist Church, with 
•Janse " t ^ succession of bishops, which still exists at Utrecht, Deventer, and 

Haarlem, though its members do not exceed six thousand. They 
claim still to be members of the Catholic Church under the pope, though 
denying his infallibility. 

What were the main elements of the success of the Jesuits, and the 

causes of the opposition they aroused ? ^ In the first place, the vow of indis- 

Causes of criminating obedience to orders from headquarters, and the extent 

Jesuit to which that obedience has been rendered. Secondly, their con- 

tinual intercourse with society, mobility, and adaptability to local 
circumstances. This has gone to the extent that multitudes have met with 
and been influenced by Jesuits without the slightest suspicion of their 
ldentit3^ Thirdly, the subjugation of will, understanding, and even moral 
judgment, to the superior and to what is considered to be the good of the 
Order or the Church. Fourthly, a complete system of checks, not to say 
spies, and a spirit of resistance to the papacy when not in accord with the 
Order. Many popes have condemned their actions fruitlessly ; for instance, 
although nine popes condemned their adoption of Chinese heathen methods 
and rites in their Chinese missions, they maintained their course success- 
fully. Their missions, their colleges, spread almost throughout the world ; 
and their influence successfully hindered the spread of Protestantism in 
many countries and provinces. The personal and private character of the 
^ See Quarterly Revieiv for October. 1874, and January, 1875. 



THE JESUITS AND MODERN ROMANISM. 



859 



Jesuits has in general been remarkably pure and free from ill-repute. Yet 
both the doctrines and the acts attributed to the Jesuits have caused them 
to be widely suspected and disliked. The motto of the order, '' Ad majorem 
Dei gloriam," " To the greater glory of God/' was interpreted Moj-ai 
in a sense which more or less overpowered moral distinctions ; defects, 
and three principles — (1 ) that of probabilism, or that probable opinions may 




MILAN CATHEDRAI. 



be lawfully followed, even if they conflict with the agent's opinion ; (2) that 
of mental reservation ; and (3) that the end justifies the means — have been 
with more or less justice identified with the spirit of Jesuitry. In a fully 
authorised and widely diffused " Compendium of Moral Theology," by 
Father Grury, we have such Jesuitical principles as these : " Temptation, 
when greatly protracted, need not be positively withstood continuously"; 



S6o THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

'■'■ The Pope can dispense from God's precepts for a just cause in cases where 
Divine law comes into action through human will, as in vows or oaths." 
As to the necessity of belief in the Trinity and Incarnation before absolu- 
tion, one can be " validly absolved if only he be living in invincible ignor- 
ance." This might be used to cover the case of so-called converts in China, 
accepted without any belief in the distinctive doctrines of Christianity. 
■' For grave reasons " it is declared lawful at times to use latent reservations 
and equivocal terms ; and this is illustrated by cases which practically 
justify many kinds of deceit. Clandestine conversions with postponed 
professions are permitted. The maxim that the end justifies the means has 
been again and again expressed by Jewish theologians. All kinds of objects 
and proceedings have been justified by these maxims. 

The failures and mistakes of the Jesuits in the early part of the 

eighteenth century led to the dissolution of the Order by Pope Clement 

Their XIV. in 1773 ; but some members continued their society in 

recent Prussia and Russia, and in 1801 Pope Pius YII. recognised the 

IS ory. Qj^,(^g^, ^^ Russia ; in 1804 it was restored in Naples and Sicily, and 

in 1811 it was completely re-established by the same pope. But the Jesuits' 

reception was not unanimously favourable. From Russia they were finally 

expelled in 1820. They were expelled from Portugal in 1834 ; from Spain 

in 1835. They did not succeed in getting legally acknowledged in France, 

though tolerated and by turns favoured and expelled. They regained 

very great influence in Belgium, and considerable strength in Prussia and 

Oermany. In 1872 the Jesuits were banished from G-ermany, and in 1880 

from France. We cannot wonder that States have very generally seen in 

the laxity of moral principle so often exhibited by the Order a very real 

danger. 

We need only briefly note the terms in which Pope Pius IX., on 

December 8th, 1854, formally proclaimed the doctrine of the Immaculate 

. Conception of the Virgin Mary. It was " that the most blessed 

Immaculate Virgin Mary, in the first moment of her conception, by special 

oncep ion. ^^^^ ^^^ privilege of Almighty God, in virtue of the merits of 

Christ, was preserved immaculate from all stain of original sin." This is to 

be believed by all the faithful on pain of excommunication. A new mass 

and a new office for the festival of her conception were promulgated 

in 1863. 

The Vatican Council of 1870, to which the Eastern patriarchs and 
Protestant leaders were invited, in terms which none of them could accept, 
Vatican ^^^ attended by 764 cardinals, archbishops, prelates, abbots, and 
Councu, 1870. generals of monastic orders, 541 belonging to Europe (276 to 
Italy), 83 to Asia, 14 to Africa, 113 to America, and 13 to Oceania. On 
April 24th, 1870, the Council adopted a revised '^ Dogmatic Constitution of 
the Catholic Faith," in which the position of the Council of Trent was 
substantially afflrmed in more modern language. It forbids all interpre- 
tation of the Bible that does not agree with the Vulgate version, the 
Roman traditions, and the imaginary '' unanimous consent of the Fathers." 



PAPAL INFALLIBILITY. 



86i 



All modern results of science which, appear to conilicfc w-th this, all 
rationalism, materialism, and pantheism, were condemned, thus endorsing 
the previous condemnation 
they had received in the 
Papal Syllabus of Errors, 
1864. Modern rationalism 
and infidelity are said to be 
the evil results of Protestant- 
ism. 

On July 18th, 1870, the 
most important decree of 
the Council was papal 
passed, declaring i^faUibUity. 
the apostolic primacy of St. 
Peter, the continuance of his 
primacy in the pope, his 
episcopal supremacy over all 
bishops, and his supreme ju- 
dicial authority, from which 
there is no appeal. Finally 
it was declared that " the 
Roman Pontiff, when he 
speaks ex cathedra^ that is, 
when, in discharge of the 
office of pastor and doctor of 
all Christians, he defines a 
doctrine regarding faith or 
morals, is possessed of infalli- 
bility ; and that therefore 
such definitions are irreform- 
able (irreversible) of them- 
selves, and not from the con- 
sent of the Church." 

It would be unprofitable 
to attempt to describe Roman 
ceremonies or the religious 
life of a Roman Catholic. 
The ceremonies can be seen 
in almost any town, the re- 
ligious life can be judged to 
a certain extent by that of 
persons known to most 
readers. As a general rule, 
iu may be said that religion 
suffers in the Roman Church by the use of prayers in a dead language as 
regards the mass of the people, although translations are used by many ; 




STRASBUEG CATHEDRAL. 



S62 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



repetitions and mechanical services count for too miicli ; and the devotion 

of the unlearned to the Virgin Mary and to the saints verges on practical 

polytheism, or at any rate on belief in a multiplicity of spirits more or less 

powerful. The idea of the repeated sacrifice of the mass, the peculiarities 

of priestly absolution, the Papal Syllabus and infallibility, the granting of 

indulgences, and the discord between Romanism and the great movements 

of the age are among the points in which it is most open to criticism, and, 

according to Protestants, to reprobation. 

It has been estimated that there are 155 millions of Eoman Catholics 

in Europe, eight millions in Asia., two-and-a-half millions in Africa, 52 

millions in America, and half a million in Australia and Oceania ; in all 218 

millions. But in this estimate 35 millions are assigned to France, a large 

estimate, considering the antagon- 

, ism to the Church on the 
Number ot t7» i 

Roman part ot SO many J^ rencli- 

Over 21 millions 




Catholics. 



men. 
are put down to Spain and Portu- 
gal, 20 millions to Austria Hun- 
gary, 16 millions to Germany, and 
26 millions to Italy. 

The main administrative func- 
tions of the papacy are discharged 

„, « by groups or committees 

The Roman i ^. ^ o 
congrega- 01 cardmals, lormmg con- 
tions. gi'egations, with prelates 
and other distinguished ecclesi- 
astics and officials appointed by 
the pope. That of the Consistory 
supervises affairs of church build- 
ings, bishops, etc. ; that of the Holy 
Office of the Inquisition endeavours 
to extirpate heresies, to put down 
ST. VINCENT DE PAUL, PiiiLANTHKopisT (Io76-1GOO). i3iasphemies, aud many other 

crimes, and in theory claims universal jurisdiction ; that of Bishops and 
Regulars looks after the government of monasteries and their differences 
with bishops ; that of the Index examines newly-published books reported 
to be contrary to faith or morals, and publishes at intervals a list of 
prohibited books ; that of the Propaganda, more correctly Be Projpaganda 
Fide^ manages foreign missions, and supervises a college at Rome for 
training missionaries. The total number of Roman bishoprics is nearly 
1,100. 

The Missal is the most important Roman service book. Including 

traditional matter derived from the early Church and early popes, especially 

Roman ser- Grregory I., it was thoroughly revised after the Council of Trent, 

vice books. ^^^ issued in 1570 ; it has since been revised more than once. 

It includes (1) the Mass services for Sundays, and (2) the Masses for saints' 



THE OLD CATHOLICS AND MODEKN ROMANISM. 



863 



days and festivals. The Breviary, issued in a revised form in 1568 and 
bronght into its present shape in 1631, contains prayers, psalms, hymns, 
Scripture lessons and comments by the Fathers, for every day of the year, 
together with narratives about the saints and martyrs, thus forming a 
complete manual of devotion. There are appropriate services for each 
" Hour " proper for service, there being matins, lauds (3 a.m.). Prime 
(6 a.m.), tierce (9 a.m.), sext (noon), nones (3 p.m.), vespers (6 p.m.), and 
compline (midnight). Of great importance also are the Roman Ritual^ or 
book of priests' rites, and corresponding books for bishops and for papal 
ceremonies. 

The " Old Catholic " movement began in a revulsion from the dogma of 
Papal Infallibility. Being called upon Iw the Archbishoi3 of Munich to 
submit to this dogma, Dr. ^he old 
Ignatius von DoUinger, catholics. 
one of the most learned men of this 
century, rector of the University 
of Munich in 1871-72, declined, 
on the ground that the Vatican 
decrees were inconsistent with the 
spirit of the gospel and the clear 
teaching of Christ and the Apostles, 
and contradict the genuine tradi- 
tions .of the Church. He was ex- 
communicated on AjDril 17th, 1871, 
and the same sentence was passed 
on his colleagues Friedrich and 
others. They were followed in 
their dissent by one hundred con- 
gregations in the German Empire, 
centring in Munich and Bonn. In 
1873 they formed a separate Church 
with legal status, and Professor 
Joseph Reinkens was elected bishop 
by clergy and people, and was consecrated by the Jansenist bishop Heykamp 
of Deventer. At a congress at Constance, a synodal and parochial system 
Avas adopted, in which the laity are represented equally with the clergy. 
At first taking their stand on the Tridentine standards, they have somewhat 
progressed towards Protestantism. Bishop Reinkens, in his address to the 
Old Catholic Council at Constance, inculcated the reading of the Bible as 
the means of the most intimate communion with God. In a letter addressed 
to a Protestant assembly they strongly asserted their desire to establish a 
union of all Christians by means of a really oecumenical council. 

T1I6S6S of 

A Conference was held at Bonn in 1874 between leading Old Union 
Catholics, orthodox Russians and Greeks, English and American ^°^^®^®^<^®- 
Episcopalians, and various Lutherans and Protestants, which agreed to 
iburteen theses advocating the reading of the Bible and the Liturgy in the 




ST. I'KAXCIS BE SALES, PREACHER (1567-1022). 



864 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS, 

vernacular, asserting that salvation is not gained by merit, but by faith 
working by love, and that the doctrine of works of supererogation is un- 
tenable, that the number of seven sacraments was first fixed in the twelfth 
century, allowing the authoritative value of the tradition of the undivided 
Church, and the unbroken episcopal succession of the Anglican Church, 
rejecting the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin, and that 
of the sacrifice of the Mass, acknowledging the Eucharist only as the per- 
manent representation and presentation on earth of Christ's sacrifice, allow- 
ing confession and absolution and prayers for the dead, but limiting the 
granting of indulgences to penalties imposed by the Church. A fourth 
conference in 1875 adopted a form of agreement on the Filioque clause, 
granting much to the Greek Church, and agreeing that " the Holy Spirit 
proceeds from the Father through the Son." Pope Pius IX. meanwhile 
had excommunicated all these ''sons of perdition," and their so-called bishop? 
and termed Bishop Eeinkens' address " impious and most impudent." 

A distinct Swiss Synod of Old Catholics has been formed, and Edward 
Herzog was elected first bishop, and consecrated by Bishop Reinkens in 
Swiss Old 1876. The Old Catholics of Switzerland are more radical and 
Cathoucs. anti-papal than those of Germany. 

We cannot but note that the Roman Church has been greatly influenced 
by Protestantism, in spite of itself. This can only be properly estimated by 
comparing the Church as it was in the time of Wyclif and Huss with its 
present state. The abuses and evils then existing have to a large extent 
disappeared, many doctrines are more simply taught, the poor are far better 
looked after, and great skill is displayed in adapting the Church to the local 
circumstances of each country. To a large extent the Roman Catholic 
clergy are in the van of social and philanthropic movements. But the doc- 
trines of papal infallibility and of Mariolatry must place a permanent barrier 
between the Roman Church and those who are in touch with Protestantism 
or with modern science. 





CHAPTER XII. 
Cbe 2Lutl)finn, ^eformeJi, antr prtsbpteriau Cbmtfte**. 

Lutheran Churcli — Melanchtlion's Apology— Luther's Catecliisins— Articles of Smalcald — The Philip- 
pists— Form of Concord— Lutheran Church organisation— Calvin— His " Institutes "—Teaching 
on Predestination and the Lord's Supper— Calvin's Church government— Calvin and Servetus— 
Second Helvetic Confession — The Helvetic Consensus — The Swiss Reformed Churches — The 
Heidelherg Catechism— John Knox— The Scotch Reformation— Scotch Confession— The National 
Covenant— The Westminster Assembly— The Westminster Confession— The Westminster Cate- 
chisms—Patronage—The Cameronians— Reformed Presbyterians— United Presbyterian Church 
—Free Church of Scotland— Presbyterian Worship— Government— Dutch Reformed Church— The 
Belgic Confession— Arminius— Synod of Dort— Reformation in France— Gallican Confession — 
Edict of Nantes— Revocation of Edict— Modem French Protestantism— The Reformed Churches 
of Hungary. 

THE Lutheran Church, more properly the Protestant Evangelical Church 
of the Augsburg Confession, due to the labours of Luther, his com- 
rades and followers, is predominant in Prussia, Wurtemberg, Saxony, and 
many German principalities, in Denmark, Norway and Sweden, Lutheran, 
in Finland, Livonia, and some other Russian provinces; while the church. 
Lutherans are numerous in the United States, in Hungary and France. 
They are estimated at more than forty millions. 

The Augsburg Confession of 1530 is the basis of the Lutheran Church 
(p. 846). In 1530-31 Melanchthon wrote a much, longer and very Meianchthon's 
learned " Apology " in answer to the Roman Catholic " Refuta- -^poio^y- 
tion," accepted in 1530 by the Emperor and the Diet ; it has high value 

865 3 ^ 



866 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

as the interpretation of the Augsburg Confession by its author, and was em- 
bodied in the Book of Concord, 1580. In 1540 Melanchthon published, with 
an improved edition of the Apology, a modified form of the Augsburg Con- 
fession, known as the Altered or Variata edition, containing modified views 
on absolute predestination, and on the E-eal Presence, tending towards the 
views of the Swiss Reformers, and laying more stress on the necessity 
of repentance and good works. It was adopted by several Lutheran con- 
ferences, and taught in many Lutheran Churches and schools ; but after 
1560 it was attacked by strict Lutherans, while the followers of Melanchthon 
approached nearer to the Calvinists. This is but one of many controversies 
in the Lutheran Church about the middle of the sixteenth century. Luther's 
Luther's views remained predominant, especially as given in his Longer 

Catechisms. ^^^ Shorter Catechisms of 1539. The latter especially has be- 
come a sort of second Bible for the German Lutherans. In 1531 Luther 
added a section on confession and absolution, to which he attached much 
importance. " True absolution," he says, '^ instituted in the Gospel by 
Christ, affords comfort and support against sin and an evil conscience. 
Confession or absolution shall by no means be abolished in the Church, but 
be retained, especially on account of weak or timid consciences, and also on 
account of untutored youth, in order that the}^ may be examined and in- 
structed in the Christian doctrine. But the enumeration of sins should be 
free to every one, to enumerate or not such as he wishes." He also added 
some short family prayers, a table of duties in Scripture language, and 
marriage and baptismal manuals. 

The next important Lutheran Confession (Articles of Smalcald, 1537) 
was intended as a basis for discussion at the Council which afterwards met 

Articles of at Trent. The articles were prepared by Luther, and couched in 

Smalcald. aggressive terms against the mass, purgatory, the invocation of 
saints, monasticism, and popery. The mass is denounced as " the greatest 
and most horrible abomination " ; purgatory as a " Satanic delusion " ; and 
the Pope as Antichrist, having no conscience, and caring only about gold, 
honour, and power. Melanchthon wrote an appendix, in which he admitted 
that the pope, " if he would admit the Gospel," might be allowed to exercise, 
by human right, his present jurisdiction over bishops ; but at the same 
time refuting powerfully the divine right of the pope over bishops, and his 
right to temporal power. The assembly of Smalcald resolved not to send 
any delegates to the Papal Council. 

The theological differences between Luther and Melanchtnon, which 
grew more marked after this, did not break their friendship, though 
Melanchthon approached the Calvinists very considerably. Luther died in 
1546, Melanchthon in 1560 ; but the latter did not attempt to found a 
Church of his own. The strict Lutherans, after Luther's death, made his 
doctrines more rigid, and tended to make Lutheranism a narrow sect. The 
The followers of Melanchthon, who were termed Philippists (from his 

Phiiippists. Christian name) and Crypto-calvinists, maintained the right ot 
progressive development in theology, and desired to enlarge the basis of 



LUTHERAN, REFORMED, AND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHES. 867 

Lutheranism. The Lutherans exalted Luther almost to apostolic rank. 
In the Preface to the Magdeburg Confession, 1550, Luther is termed " the 
third Elijah," '' the prophet of God," and his doctrine the doctrine of Christ. 
The Philippists had more moderation and reasonableness. Numerous con- 
troversies as to the mode of regarding original sin, man's freedom in relation 
to the converting grace of God, justification by faith, g^ood works, the 
Eucharist, Hades, etc., made Germany a camp of theologians. At last 
Andrese, Professor of Theology at Tubingen, Martin Chemnitz', Melanchthon's 
greatest pupil, and Nicholas Selnecker, also a Melanchthonian, after a long 
series of conferences, secured the adoption of " The Pbrm of Form of 
Concord," 1577, published with the Augsburg and other Lutheran Concord. 
creeds, in the " Book of Concord," 1580. It embodies a series of con- 
cessions of the disputing parties, mainly deferring to Luther's authority, 
and states his doctrines of the total depravity of man and of his will, of 
salvation only by God's grace, with no co-operation of the human will, of 
justification by Christ's imputed righteousness, consubstantiation and the 
ubiquity of Christ's body ; while dropping his view of absolute predestina- 
tion and recognising the universality of the offer of divine grace. It goes 
into and decides many questions utterly beyond the power of man to decide, 
and did not attain anything like. the authority of the Augsburg Confession. 
It was however adopted in most of the German Lutheran States, in 
Sweden, Hungary, and generally in the United States. A number of 
principalities afterwards adhered mainly to the Reformed or Zwinglian 
doctrine. The Form of Concord produced more controversy than it 
settled ; and its doctrines were ably assailed by Cardinal Bellarmine. It is 
now regarded by many as almost dead, or at least not representing what 
would now be unitedly accepted. 

Following the separatist organisation of Germany, the Lutheran Church 
does not form one strong body even in Germany, but consists of separate 
and independent Churches in each principality. These Churches Lutheran 
have one common character — they dispense with episcopacy, and organi- 
are governed by councils (consistories) including both clergy and sation. 
laymen appointed by the civil rulers, with very varied plans of Church 
discipline. The growth of the Reformed Churches, with their antagonism 
to Lutheranism, greatly weakened Protestantism in the seventeenth century. 
Many efforts were made to unite them under one government, and at last 
this was effected in Prussia, Nassau, Baden, and Hesse (1817-1823), thus 
forming a " Church Union," in which each congregation adopts either the 
Augsburg or the Heidelberg Confession. In Prussia a considerable number 
of Lutherans separated from the main Church in consequence of this union, 
and took the title of " Old Lutherans." In Prussia, Wurtemberg, Hesse, 
and Oldenburg the Protestant element prevails, with from 23 to 33 per cent, 
of Roman Catholics. In Saxony and eighteen minor German States the 
people are almost all Protestants. Various movements in recent years 
have been termed "New Lutheranism," partly tending to revive pure 
Lutheranism, partly approximating to the Church of Rome, and to higher 



,868 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



interest in ceremony and its surroundings, partly tending in a rationalistic 
direction. In Norway, Sweden, and Denmark the Lutheran Church is 
governed by bishops. In America there are numerous synods, some of 
which have united to form " Unions " or Conferences ; but not a little 
diversity of opinion or doctrine prevails among them, preventing the union 
of all the (Lutheran Churches. 

The services of the Lutheran Church, while allowing considerable place 
to extemporaneous prayer, are largely in accord with that of the Church of 
England. The singing of psalms and hymns, in which Lutheranism is rich, 
forms a prominent element. Preaching occupies a position of prime import- 



After Zwingli, the greatest name in the Swiss Reformed Church is 
that of John Calvin, a Frenchman born in Picardy in 1509, educated in the 
Universities of Orleans, Bourges, and Paris, and already remark- 
able for his classical and general literary knowledge, when, at 
the age of 23, he wa-s suddenly converted to the evangelical doctrines. So 
powerful was his character, that in a year he had. become the leader of 
the Protestant party in France. But the authorities began to persecute the 
Reformers, twenty-four being burnt in the winter of 1534-5 ; and Calvin had 
to wander from place to place. At Poictiers, in 1534, he with a few friends 
celebrated the Lord's Supper in a cave, known as Calvin's cave, according to 
the evangelical rite. In 1536 he published at Basle the first edition of his 
"Institutes of the Christian Religion," attacking the Romish errors from the 
Reformed standpoint, and setting forth the special doctrines of Calvinism. 
During the same year, while Calvin was passing through Geneva, William 
Farel, a prominent Reformer, detained him, and charged him to undertake 
the work of the Lord in Geneva. Calvin complied with the entreaties of 
Farel and other Reformers, and began preaching and lecturing on divinity ; 
and before the end of 1536 a plan of Church government had been drawn 
up, which was sanctioned by the civic authorities in 1537. The system 
thus introduced proved too stringent, and Calvin and Farel were expelled 
from Geneva (Easter, 1538). Calvin spent the next three years teaching 
and preaching at Strasburg, where he wrote several works which Luther 
valued, and became a most intimate friend of Melanchthon. Their affec- 
tion was most touchingly expressed by Calvin after Melanchthon's death. 
" A hundred times, worn out with fatigue and overwhelmed with care, thou 
didst lay thy head upon my breast and say, ' Would to God that I might 
die here, on thy breast.' And I, a thousand times since then, have earnestly 
desired that it had been granted us to be together." Calvin was recalled 
triumphantly to Geneva in 1541, where he lived ascetically for the remain- 
ing twenty-three years of his life, the head of the Church and Republic of 
Geneva. His labours in writing, teaching, interviews, councils, etc., w^ere 
enormous. At his death, his able successor was Theodore Beza. 

Calvin, whom Renan characterises as " the most Christian man of his 
generation," had a more powerful influence than Zwingli in moulding the 



LUTHERAN, REFORMED, AND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHES. 



final form of the Eeformed Churches. His '' Institutes " is both a literary 
and a theological masterpiece. Its first section deals with the- caivins 
ology (the knowledge of God), the second with Christology, the institutes, 
third with soteriology (the salvation of man through the work of the Holy 
Spirit), the fourth with the Church and the sacraments-: It is most original 
on the doctrines of predestination and the Lord's Supper. His teaching on 
the former is, that part of the human race, without any merit of: their own, 
are elfected to holiness and salvation, and part are doomed to predastin- 
eternal death for sin. "Adam fell, God's providence having sO' ^tion. 
ordained it ; yet he fell by his own guilt ;" and although Calvin felt this to be 
a horrible doctrine, yet he believed it was so clearly supported, by Scripture 
that he had no choice but to believe it, although.it involved the damnation 
of multitudes of little children. 
Much of Calvin's argument 
was based on the ninth chap- 
ter of St. Paul's epistle to the 
Romans. One of his great ob- 
jects was the uprooting of all 
human pride in free will or 
in voluntary efforts, and the 
strengthening of gratitude and 
courage in "the elect." The 
Calvinistic doctrine was car- 
ried by Beza and others into 
a " supralapsarian " extreme, 
making every particular man 
before the fall, or before crea- 
tion, the object of election,, 
either to salvation or damna- 
tion ; but the " infralapsarian " 
view has been incorporated 
in all Calvinistic confessions, 
namely, that man fell and be- 
came condemned by his own voluntary sin, rejecting the view that God 
has decreed the existence of sin. This is essentially the view adopted in 
the Swiss, the French, the Scotch, the Dutch, a^nd the Westminster Con- 
fessions ; while the English Thirty-nine Articles, the Heidelberg Catechism, 
and the other German Reformed confessions expound only the positive 
side of the doctrine, namely, the fore-election of all who believe, without 
asserting the damnation by election of unbelievers. 

As to the Lord's Supper, while rejecting, all materiaiistic conceptions of 
the presence of Christ's body and blood, Calvin went beyond Zwingli in 
asserting a spiritual presence and reception of Christ's body and rpiie Lord's 
blood, giving to believers by faith the benefit of Christ's sacrifice supper. 
on the cross and the vivifying influence of His glorified humanity in 
heaven : unbelievers who might partake, he said, received only bread and 




Syo THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

wine. This doctrine was accepted in all the leading Reformed confes- 
sions. 

Calvin's Commentaries on the Bible have furnished a rich store of 
matter to theologians. He was not so rigid in his view of the inspiration of 
Calvin's ^^ Bible as many of his followers have been. His idea of the 
Church Church was a vigorous and living one, but very different from 
* that of Romanism. The Church was to exercise rigid discipline 
over its members, to maintain self-government independently of the State, 
and to be governed largely by lay-representatives. According to him. all 
ministers were equal, though he did not object to the retention of episco- 
pacy in England. In his idea of the independence of the Church, he really 
aimed at the Church and the State being but two branches of Divine order, 
complementary and useful to each other. 

The most unpleasing features in Calvin's character and actions are 
those in which the rigidity of his principles, and his consistency in carry- 
caivin and ^^S them out to their logical conclusion, led him to sanction acts 
servetus. j^ow universally condemned. The case of Servetus is the worst. 
Servetus was a brilliant young physician and man of learning, who had 
anticipated some of Harvey's discoveries about the circulation of the blood ; 
but his intellectual analysis of the Christian faith led him to publish a book 
in 1553, " Christianismi Restitution^'' in which he aimed at restoring it to its 
pristine purity. He regarded the doctrine of the Trinity as involving 
tritheism and leading to atheism ; he believed in a Trinity of manifestation 
only. He was passionately devoted to the person of Christ, was an Ana- 
baptist, and strongly relied on the Bible as his authority. Servetus had 
already been condemned to be burnt in France, but escaped to Geneva, 

I where he was accused, under Calvin's influence, of blasphemy and erro- 

neous teaching. When brought to trial, Servetus used strong expressions 
j against the right of the civil power to decide in matters of faith ; and he 

, I also announced further opinions tending in a pantheistic direction. Calvin 

approved of his being condemned to death, though he wished him not to be 
burnt. But his death by fire took place, to the great discredit of Calvin 
I and G-eneva, on October 27th, 1553. This event, however, is a mark of the 

-' vehemence of belief with which the theology of reform as well as that of 

conservatism was held at that time. It is not fair to judge the Genevese 
Reformers by the more enlightemed views which now prevail. The right 
of private judgment, often claimed as a signal property of Protestantism, 
was but a slowly-evolved product. If the standards adopted by the Church, 
whether Roman or Reformed, were true, every other view was evil, and 
ought to be condemned and suppressed : for was it not right to suppress 
the false, wrong to allow its propagation? So men argued then. 

After Calvin's death, the first important Reformed Creed, or Confession, 

was the " Second Helvetic," published in 1566, drawn up by Henry 

Second BuUinger, Zwingli's successor at Zurich, and adopted or approved 

Helvetic "by nearly all the Reformed Churches on the Continent, as well 

as in England and Scotland. It is very long and theological, but 



LUTHERAN, REFORMED, AND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHES. 871 



well deserves tlie study of theologians. In many points it is more liberal 
in its statements than Calvin or Luther. It rejects priesthood, priest- 
craft, and priestly exclusive control of the Church. Among the duties of 
the civil power it includes punishment of blasphemers and incorrigible 
heretics, if they are really heretics. 

The last general Swiss Confession is that known as the Helvetic Con- 
sensus of 1675, which was abandoned in about half a century, in consequence 
of the criticism caused by its extreme character. It was to coun- The Helvetic 
teract several modifications of teaching introduced by professors ^0^^®^^^^- 
in the theological academy of 
Saumur in France, La Place, 
Cappel, and Amyrant. Cappel 
had taught that the perfect in- 
spiration claimed for every par- 
ticular of the Hebrew scriptures 
could not be held, for the system 
of vowel-points was due to late 
Jewish grammarians ; and that 
the different readings must be 
consulted in order to fully under- 
stand the text. The new Hel- 
vetic Consensus insisted on the 
literal inspiration of the Scrip- 
tures and the traditional Hebrew 
text, vowels as well as consonants. 
This doctrine, held in its extreme 
form by some persons to-day, has 
led to violent reaction, and has 
partly led to the modern study of 
the Scriptures by every method 
of common sense, historical and 
archseological study, and literary 
criticism. Amyrant had taught 
that God foreordained and de- 
sired universal salvation, but 
through faith in Christ as a con- 
dition, foreknowing and foreordaining however that many men would reject 
it. The Helvetic Consensus denied that the call to salvation was ever 
absolutely general, asserting that Christ died only for the elect, and not 
indiscriminately for all men. Man was naturally as well as morally unable 
to believe the gospel of himself. Against La Place of Saumur the Consensus 
affirmed, not only the condemnation of all Adam's posterity as a consequence 
of his sin (mediate imputation) but also the direct or immediate imputation 
of his sin to all his descendants, as if they had themselves committed it. 
It cannot be wondered at that sharp reaction and, rebellion against such 
teaching took place. 




KNOX's PULPIT. 



872 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

For a long time religions divisions, and reaction towards Catholicism, 

were prominent in Swiss religious history. At present the majority (over 

The Swiss ^ million and a half) of the inhabitants belong to the Reformed 

Reformed Church, under the control to a certain extent of the authorities in 
Cnurciies. ' /^ t • 

each canton. Calvin's system of mixed lay and ministerial govern- 
ment is adopted, but every citizen has full liberty of conscience and creed, 
and can incur no penalties for his religious opinions. 

We have only space to notice the most famous product of the Reformed 
Churches of Germany, the Heidelberg Catechism, published in 1663, the 
^j^g joint work of Ursinus (Baar) and Olevianus (Olewig), at the com- 
Heideiberg mand of Frederick III., Elector of the Palatinate. It is acknow- 
ledged as a most able and in many ways attractive production. 
It was translated into many languages, and used by Churches in many lands. 
It is unlike many others in its first question, which is, " "What is thy only 
comfort in life and in death ? " The answer is : " That in soul and body, 
whether I live or die, I am not mine own, but I belong unto my most faith- 
ful Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ : who by His precious blood, most fully 
satisfying for all my sins, hath delivered me from the whole power of the 
devil ; and doth so preserve me, that without the will of my heavenly 
Father, not so much as a hair can fall from my head : yea, all things are 
made to serve for my salvation. Wherefore by His Spirit also. He assuretii 
me of everlasting life, and maketh me ready and prepared, that henceforth 
I may live unto Him." On many points the extreme forms of Calvin's 
doctrines are modified ; and several parts are regarded as gems of theological 
statement. It presents the doctrines of Calvinism in a comforting, not a 
forbidding aspect. 

Travelling further from G-eneva, we find Calvin's teaching carried to 
Scotland by his pupil John Knox ; but already Lutheran students and con- 
verts had been martyred in Scotland when Knox, ordained a 
E-omish priest in 1530, became converted to Reformed doctrines 
by study of the Bible and the writings of Augustine and Jerome. He de- 
nounced the mass as an abominable idolatry and profanation of the Lord's 
Supper, and the pope as the " man of sin " and " Antichrist." After some 
years' work as a reformer in England (1549-1554) where he became one of 
Edward YI.'s chaplains, he spent some years with Calvin at Geneva, which 
he called '' the most perfect school of Christ that ever was since the days of 
the apostles." Knox returned to Scotland in 1559, and largely under his 
The Scotch influence Parliament abolished the Roman Catholic worship and 
Reformation. ]^^ ^^^ ^f ^^ p^p^^ adopted a Confession of Faith drawn up 
mainly by Knox and others, and later adopted a Book of Discipline pre- 
pared b}^ them. 

The Scotch Confession of 1560, in twenty-five articles, is a vigorous 

statement of the reformed doctrines, distinctly Calvinistic in tone, yet 

Scotch with great breadth of view and moderation (for instance, those 

Confession. ^\^q ^^^y note in the articles anything contrary to God's Word 

are begged in the preface to give information of it to the authors, who will 



LUTHERAN, REFORMED, AND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHES. 873 



either prove their case or reform the articles). No particular form of 
Church government or worship is laid down (" not that we think that one 
policy and one order of ceremonies can be appointed for all ages, times, 
and places : for as ceremonies, such as men have devised, are but temporal, 




ST. GILES S CHURCH, EDINBUMGH '. INTERIOR. 



so may and ought they to be changed, when they rather foster superstition 
than edify the Church using the same "). Knox prepared a form of liturgy 
("Book of Common Order"), following the Genevan, which was approved 
by the General Assembly of the Scotch Church, in 1564, and long used. 



874 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

The Scotch aversion to liturgy is of later date, when Laud tried to force 
English episcopacy and liturgy upon Scotland. 

The struggle of the Reformation in Scotland includes many interest- 
ing features. One, which strikingly illustrates the strength of the reaction 
The National against the papacy, is the " National Covenant," drawn up in 
Covenant. 1580 by John Craig, endorsing the Confession of 1560, but 
fiercely repudiating all " Papistry." It especially denounces the " usurped 
tyranny of the Eoman Antichrist upon the Scriptures of G-od, upon the 
Kirk, the civil magistrate, and consciences of men ; all his tyrannous laws 
made upon indifferent things," with much more about the evils censured 
by Protestants. 

The '' Westminster Assembly," which drew up the celebrated " Con- 
fession," was intended by the Long Parliament to frame a code of 
doctrine, worship, and discipline for the three kingdoms. The 
Westminster members were all nominated by Parliament, except those chosen 
Assembly. ^^^ ^^^ General Assembly of the Scotch Church ; and it would 
have included many representatives of the Episcopal Church if they would 
have attended. As a matter of fact, those who actually attended were 
mostly Presbyterians, though nearly all in episcopal orders; but they 
formed two divisions, one regarding Presbyterian government as lawful, 
but based on human right, and liable to change if desirable ; the other 
considering it as based on Divine right, and instituted in the New Testa- 
ment as the only and unchangeable form of Church government. The 
Assembly sat from 1643 to 1649. The "Confession" was completed in 
December, 1646, and adopted by the Scotch G-eneral Assembly in 1647, the 
Scotch Parliament endorsing it in 1649. It follows very considerably the 
lines of the Anglican Articles of Religion, giving them a Calvi- 
Westminster nistic completeness and fuller logical statement. It declares that 
Confession. ^^^^^ -^ -^^ ^^^ jg.^^^ ^ ^^^^ ^^^ intelligible scheme of salvation, 

and that nothing is to be added thereto, whether by new revelations of the 
Spirit or traditions of men. Scripture is only to be interpreted by Scrip- 
ture, and " the Holy Spirit speaking in Scripture " is to settle all religious 
controversies. The Old and New Testaments are declared to be "immediately 
inspired by God, and by His singular care and providence kept pure in all 
ages," and they are therefore " authentical." The chapters on the Trinity 
and on the person of Christ follow closely the lines of the Nicene and Chalce- 
don Councils. As to predestination, it adopts, not the supralapsarian but 
the infralapsarian view, which it states very fully and clearly, the fall being- 
permitted only, and God being declared neither the author nor approver of 
sin. It grants the freedom of the human will in these terms, " God hath 
endued the will of man with that natural liberty that it is neither forced, 
nor by any absolute necessity of nature determined, to good or evil." 
The doctrine of " covenants " made by God with man is introduced : (1) 
of works, made with Adam and his posterity on condition of perfect and 
personal obedience, (2) of grace through Christ, offered under the Law by 
forms and ordinances all typifying Christ, and under the Gospel, by the 



LUTHERAN, REFORMED, AND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHES. 875 

preaching of the word and the administration of the sacraments of Baptism 
and the Lord's Supper. This idea of covenants, developed by various divines, 
was mainly of sixteenth- century growth. Salvation by Christ is clearly 
set forth on evangelical lines ; " the Son of God, the Second Person in the 
Trinity, being very and eternal God, of one substance and equal with the 
Father, did, when the fulness of time was come, take upon Him man's 
nature, with all the essential properties and common infirmities thereof, 
yet without sin ; ... so that two whole, perfect, and distinct natures, the 
Godhead and the manhood, were inseparably joined together in one person, 
without conversion, composition, or confusion." A very sweeping clause is 
found in the chapter on repentance, which has contributed very consider- 
ably to strengthen Scotch severity and austerity. ^' ^4^ there is no sin so 
small hut it deserves damnation^ so there is no sin so great that it can 
bring damnation upon those who truly repent." The great strength of the 
latter clause has sometimes been obscured by the terrors of the former. 

The doctrine of the Sacraments in the Westminster Confession is that 
of the Calvinistic and of the Anglican Churches, at least before modern High 
Church developments. Baptism is declared to be not so inseparable from 
salvation, that no person can be saved without it, or that all baptised persons 
are regenerate. The Lord's Supper is no sacrifice, but a commemoration, 
and there is no change of the substance of the elements. An elaborate 
description is given of what is lawful in public worship, corresponding to 
Presbyterian practice. The proper observation of the " Christian Sabbath " 
is defined as " an holy rest all the day from men's own works, words, and 
thoughts, about their worldly employments and recreations." The whole 
time is to be taken up in public and private worship and in duties of 
necessity and mercy. Another particular in which the Westminster Con- 
fession seems to contravene its own principle of liberty of conscience, is 
when it allows that persons who publish opinions against the civil or the 
ecclesiastical power, or maintain such practices as are contrary to the light 
of nature or the known principles of Christianity, concerning faith, worship, 
or conversation, or destructive of peace and order in the Church, may be 
proceeded against by the censures of the Church or the power of the civil 
magistrate. The latter may see that unity and peace are kept, blasphemies 
and heresies suppressed, corruptions and abuses in worship and discipline 
prevented or reformed, and may call synods and be present at them. These 
synods may determine matters of faith, conscience, and worship ; but all 
synods and councils may err, and many have erred; as also, the purest 
Churches are subject both to mixture and error. 

The Confession acknowledges no intermediate state ; the souls of the 
righteous return to God, into the "highest heavens, where they behold 
the face of God in light and glory, waiting for the full redemption ot 
their bodies ; and the souls of the wicked are cast into hell, where they 
remain in torments and utter darkness, reserved to the judgment of the 
great day." At the day of judgment " all persons that have lived upon 
earth, shall appear before the tribunal of Christ, to give an account of 



876 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

their thoughts, words, and deeds." The righteous will then enter into 
everlasting life ; the wicked into eternal torments. 

In addition to the Confession, the Assembly prepared two Catechisms, 
a Longer and a Shorter, the latter more especially for children, though con- 
taining much matter which many consider unsuitable for the 
Westminster young. The Apostles' Creed is only contained in the shorter 
* form, as an appendix, with a caution that it was not composed 
by the Apostles, nor to be received as though it were canonical scripture. 
The Larger Catechism is especially minute in its specification of what 
is commanded and forbidden in the Ten Commandments. Many regard 
the Shorter Catechism as better than Luther's or the Heidelberg ; and its 
adoption by Presbyterians, Congregationalists, and many Baptists, in Great 
Britain, America, and elsewhere, proves its adaptation to their beliefs. 

Meanwhile the Church of Scotland had been settled, not altogether to 
the liking of Knox and the other reformers, on a basis of lay patronage of 
benefices, and of considerable governmental control. Lay patron- 
age was abolished in 1649, restored in 1660, abolished again in 
1690, restored in 1712, and again abolished in 1874. During the first 130 
years of its history the Scotch Church went through so many mutations 
and trials that it is quite impossible to record them here. From 1662 to 
1689 Presbyterianism only existed in opposition to the Government, which 
re-established Episcopacy. On the accession of William III., it again became 
the national Church, though with much Government control. In the 
eighteenth century a series of schisms began, due chiefly to the ignoring of 
the wishes of congregations in the appointment of ministers. The first 
The separation was that of the Cameronians, really the continuing 
cameroaians. remnant of the Covenanters of 1643, who rejected all interference 
of the State with religion. They organised a Church early in the eighteenth 
century, and in 1743 formed the " Eeformed Presbytery." In 1859 there 
Reformed were six presbyteries, containing 36 ministers. In 1876 they 
Fresbytenans.];^a^(j 7,500 members, and still maintained the binding force of 
the National Covenant. In that year they amalgamated with the Free 
Church of Scotland. There is still a residual body known as ^^ Auld Lichts." 
or Original Seceders, who stick to the Covenants and protest against the 
defections of modern times. 

The United Presbyterian Church of Scotland, formed in 1847, is the 
result of the union of two Churches, the '' United Secession," dating form- 
united ^^^ irom, 1820, but in its elements from 1732, and the "Eelief 
rresbyterian Church," which had been formed after the deposition of Thomas 
^^ ' Gillespie by the Established Church in 1752. The United Pres- 
byterians believe in free communion with other Churches, and Church inde- 
pendence of the State, and reject all compulsory or persecuting or intolerant 
teachings of the Westminster Confession. Ministers of congregations are 
chosen by the members ; but they are ordained by imposition of hands by 
the presbytery. 

The Free Church of Scotland was formed in 1843 as the result of a 



LUTHERAN, REFORMED, AND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHES. 877 

legal decision that the Established Church G-eneral Assembly could not pre- 
vent the intrusion on unwilling congregations of ministers ap- pj-ee Church 
pointed by lay patrons. This, with other interferences of the State of Scotland, 
with the Church, so moved the Scotch people that 474 ministers with a 
great part of their congregations left the Establishment and formed a Free 
Church, abandoning their endowments but no religious tenet. Thus we 



PKESBYTEKIAN CHUKCH, DUNEDIN, NEW ZEALAND. 



have in Scotland the spectacle of three powerful Churches professing almost 
precisely similar tenets ; and since the passing of the Scotch Patronage Act 
in 1874 the original question on which they split has been greatly reduced 
in force. We must only mention that Presbyterianism is strong in the 
United States, Canada, and North Ireland, and has very considerable 
strength in England. 

We need say little, in conclusion, about Presbyterian forms of worship, 



878 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

which are extremely simple, including the reading of portions of Scripture, 
Presbsrterian extemporaneous prayers (often carefully prepared), the singing 
worship, of psalms and hymns, and a sermon, usually long. Of late years 
some Presbyterian Churches have adopted choirs and organs, long strictly 
proscribed and condemned. The minister wears the black Grenevan gown 
and white bands. All signs and symbols which may be supposed to indicate 
superstition are eschewed ; and so far is this carried, that the Lord's Supper 
is received sitting, either in pews or at long tables. The Churches are 
governed by elders, the minister or teaching elder administering 
' "the word" and the sacraments, with a number of '^ ruling elders" 
to assist him in the inspection and government of the congregation, and 
deacons to attend to its financial business. These constitute the " Kirk " or 
church session ; above this is the presbytery of a district, including all the 
ministers and one elder from each Kirk session ; the Synod consists of 
the members of several presbyteries. The General Assembly includes 
representatives of all the presbyteries in the Church. In late years there 
have been numerous movements of liberalism, some tending to rationalism, 
in the Presbyterian Churches, and much more latitude has been allowed in 
the interpretation of the confessions, and in speculation and criticism on 
theological matters. 

The Dutch Reformed Church sprang from early study of the Scriptures 
by professors such as Gansevoort and Agricola, in the fifteenth century, and 
even more from the tyranny and persecution of the Spanish 
Reformed power in league with the Inquisition. Two Augustinian monks. 
Church. jjgj^j.y Yoes and John Esch, were burnt in Brussels in 1523 ; and 
the succeeding martyr-roll in the Netherlands was longer than that of any 
The Beigic ^^^"^ Protestant Church. The Belgic Confession was drawn up in 
Confession. 1561, mainl^^ by Guido de Bres, who in 1567, at the age of twenty- 
seven, was hung for his Protestantism ; it was adopted at a synod at 
Antwerp in 1566, and finally at the famous Synod of Dort in 1619. It 
follows in the main the French Confession of 1559, but is fuller and less 
polemical. 

The most interesting controversy in the Dutch Church was that which 

was decided (though not settled) by the Synod of Dort. James Arminius 

(1560-1609), a student under Beza at Geneva, professor of theology 

at Leyden (1603), saw reason to moderate several of the Calvin- 

istic doctrines ; and his views were adopted by his successor Episcopius, and 

by John van Barneveldt and Hugo Grotius. The Arminians set forth their 

views in five Articles in 1610, under the name of " Remonstrance ; " the 

Calvinists put forward a Counter-Remonstrance. The Synod of 

yno or -j^^^^ ^^g g^jj^Qi^oned to decide between them, and met from Nov. 

13, 1618, to jM]ay 9, 1619. It included, besides a majority of Dutch 

divines, representatives from the Anglican, Swiss, and German Reformed 

Churches. The Remonstrants were in a great minority, and Calvinism 

triumphed, followed by the deposition of about 200 Arminian clergymen, 

and the arrest of Grotius and Barneveldt, and their condemnation by the 



LUTHERAN, REFORMED, AND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHES. 879 

State. The points asserted by the Arminians will be mentioned in the next 
chapter. The defeated party gradually declined in Holland ; but their 
doctrines were renewed by the Methodists, and also widely adopted in the 
Anglican Church. The Canons of Dort represented the victory of a narrow 
orthodoxy and scholasticism ; but a more liberal and even rationalising tone 
gradually spread widely in the Dutch Church. 

The history of the Reformation in France is one of deep interest, with 
many tragic details which we cannot give here. The French Church had 
always maintained a certain independence of E-ome, and the Reformation 
University of Paris had been the nursery of much theological in France, 
development and of demand for reforms in the Church discipline. In 1521 
the first reformed congregation was formed at Meaux, but in the same year 
Luther's doctrines were condemned by the Sorbonne. Martyrdoms began, 
and the Lutherans were generallypersecuted, while Francis I. expressed himself 
in favour of a religious reformation, and entered into communication with 
the German reformers. His sister. Queen Margaret of Navarre, favoured the 
Reformation, but did not separate from the Roman Church. Regular con- 
gregations met for reformed worship in spite of persecution ; and in 1559, a 
general synod, held at Paris, agreed to the French or Grallican Confession of 
faith, drawn up by Calvin, and revised and enlarged by his pupilaaiiican Con- 
Antoine Chaudieu. The French reformers became known as fission. 
Huguenots ; and their subsequent history belongs mainly to general politics. 
The terrible massacre of St. Bartholomew's eve, 1572, marked the beginning 
of an outburst of fanatical cruelty against them, during which over 30,000 
men, women, and children were slain. 

The organisation of the French Protestant Church was strictly Presby- 
terian, with lay elders and provincial and national synods. Deacons, how- 
ever, had a more important sphere than in Scotland, the office being regarded 
as a preparation for the full ministry ; but the congregations had compara- 
tively little influence in Church government. The Reformation in France 
received another severe blow by the " conversion " of Henry lY. to Roman- 
ism in 1593 ; but in 1598, by the Edict of Nantes, he practically granted 
full liberty of conscience to the Presbyterians. They, however. Edict of 
did not concede the same liberty to others ; and in process of time Nantes, 
they became more embittered against the Papal Church, and more austere 
in their own discipline. In 1603 they had 760 churches and 560 ministers. 
By the skilful management of Richelieu, their political influence diminished, 
and they came more and more under royal control. Their privileges were 
gradually restricted ; they entered into close union with other Protestants, 
accepting the decrees of the Synod of Dort, and also holding fellowship with 
the Lutherans. In 1685 the Edict of Nantes was revoked. Horri- Revocation 
ble persecutions and civil wars followed, and it is estimated that of Edict, 
several millions of Protestants left France. In the next century Presby- 
terianis-m was gradually restored by the skill of Antoine Court : persecution 
followed, but later tolerance gained the day. Under the Revolution Presby- 
terianism spread again ; and in 1801-2 Napoleon framed a constitution for 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



the Protestant Churches, under State control, abolishing the national synod, 
and practically checking their progress. After an imperfect but continuous 
existence, in 1871 the consistories were authorised to elect deputies to a 
general synod, which met in Paris in 1872. It was soon evident that the 
Modern Grallican Confession was no longer fully held by the majority; 

Pn)^te3tant- ^^^^ ^^® medium course was adopted of declaring " the sovereign 
ism. authority of the Holy Scriptures in matters of faith, and salvation 
by faith in Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, who died for our 
sins, and was raised again for our justification." The Apostles' Creed, the 
Confession of Sins, and the Order for the Lord's Supper were also emphati- 
cally adopted. A large minority had rationalistic views, and, in the opinion 
of some, deserved to be called Unitarians. They asserted the right of each 
pastor or member to hold whatever creed he might think proper. There is 
also a Free Church, or Union of Evangelical Churches in France, indepen- 
dent of State payment or State control. 

A brief note must suffice for the Lutheran and Reformed Churches of 
Hungary, whose early establishment was due to the Waldenses and 

, ^ , ^Bohemian Brethren who took refuge there. Luther's writings 

The Reformed . • tt t n /-i ^ ■ 

churciies of had great mnuence m Hungary, and the U-erman population 
Hungary, j^^^^q largely remained Lutherans. The Magyars were more 
influenced by Melanchthon and Calvin, and adopted a Calvinistic Confes- 
sion at the Synod of Czenger in 1557 or 1558 ; this was superseded by the 
second Helvetic Confession of 1566, subscribed in Hungary in 1567. A 
Presbyterian organisation was adopted, and at the end of the sixteenth 
century almost all the Magyars, nobility as well as peasants, had accepted 
the Reformation. In the next two centuries the Jesuits and the persecu- 
tions of the Hapsburg princes brought continual disasters upon the 
Reformed Church ; but in 1781 the Edict of Toleration secured liberty of 
conscience and public worship to the Lutheran and Reformed Churches, and 
other restrictions were removed in 1848. The Protestants of Hungary 
number about three millions, two-thirds being of the Reformed Church. 




DRONTHEIM CATHEDRAL, NORWAY. 




TRINITY CHURCH, BOSTON, U.S.A. 



CHAPTER XIII. 
Cbe CburrI) of englanlr antr tbe i^onronformis^te?* 

Early independence of English Church— Resistance to Papacy— The Loll a,rds— Henry VIII. and 
Luther— English break with Rome— Henry excommunicated— Tyndale's Bitle— Later Transla- 
tions—English Prayer-Books— The Thirty-nine Articles— Gradual restriction of English Church 
—Evangelicals— High Church and Ritualist party— Broad Churchmen— The Baptists— Mennonites 
— Puritans— Independents— Emigration to New England— Savoy Conference — Congregational 
Union— Society of Friends— Hicksite Friends— Arminianism— John Wesley— George Whitefield— 
Methodist Episcopacy— Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion— Welsh Calvinistic Methodists — 
Emanuel Swendenborg— New Church— Edward Irving— Catholic Apostolic Church— Unitarians— 
Socinus— Priestley— Channing— Rationalism— Agnosticism. 

CLAIMING a history dating from apostolic or sub-apostolic times, 
Christianity in Great Britain is only partially derived from the papal 
mission of Augustine in 597. Very soon after the organisation of the 

881 3 L 



882 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

Church by the Roman missionaries, a strong spirit of independence of 
Early inde- Rome was found in Britain ; and as early as 747 a synod of Eng- 
^^En^Hsh^^ Hsh bishops ordered that the Creed and the Lord's Prayer should 
Church, be taught to the people in the vulgar tongue. We have already 
referred to many famous British missionaries and theologians; to these 
might be added many more. There was always an extensive practice of 
explaining the Scriptures in the vernacular, and a very moderate statement 
of the presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Anselm introduced a higher 
doctrine of the Eucharist, as well as of the papal power. The power and 
abuses of the monastic orders and celibacy of the clergy, the exactions and 
oppressions of papal legates, and the claims of clerical exemption from 
Resistance to oi'dinary law again and again roused the nation, and there was 
Papacy, seldom a complete subjection of the kingdom to the Papacy, the 
Inquisition never having been introduced. The statute of Mortmain 
(1279) restrained the gifts of lands to monastic orders and the Church ; 
the statutes of Provisors (1351) and Prsemunire (1353), more strongly 
enacted in 1393, forbade the excessive drain of Church and monastic money 
to the pope, and to aliens, and papal appointments to sees and benefices. 
The clergy were compelled to pay taxes to the Crown; and Wyclif, in 
the thirteenth century, both roused the people against the corruptions of 
the Church, and promulgated a teaching which to a considerable extent 
anticipated the Reformation. His translation of the Bible could not, 
however, obtain wide circulation before the era of printing. 

It is worth noting here how, in 1394, the Lollards (followers of Wyclif) 
brought forward a Bill in Parliament, setting forth such advanced views as 
the following : (1) that when the Church of England accepted 
'endowments, faith, hope, and charity began to disappear, and 
pride and mortal sins to prevail ; (2) that the priesthood, as conferred by the 
Church ritual, is a sham ; (3) that the vow of chastity leads to sin ; (4) that 
the pretended miracle of the sacrament leads all men, save a few, into 
idolatry ; (5) that exorcisms and blessings of various things are practices 
of necromancy rather than theology ; (6) prelates and clergy ought not to 
hold secular offices ; (7) the offering of prayers for special dead persons is 
wrong as a foundation for almsgiving ; (8) pilgrimages, prayers, and offerings 
to crosses and images are very near to idolatry ; (9) auricular confession and 
absolution produce many evils. The fastening of this Bill upon the doors of 
St. Paul's and Westminster Abbey in 1394 anticipated by 123 years 
Luther's theses at Wittenberg. After this followed the cruel persecutions 
of the Lollards, beginning with the killing of William Sawtrey in 1401 ; 
but this only intensified the popular dislike and the resistance to papal 
tyranny, which continued active during the weak reign of Henry YL, and 
increased during the Wars of the Roses and reign of Henry VII. 

Early in the sixteenth century, the monks and monasteries were in 

ill repute ; the clergy preached little, and many of them lived immoral 

Henry VIII. lives ; the sale of indulgences made the people scoff at the 

and Luther, (jj^urch ; and a reform was greatly needed, though it came about 



THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND AND THE NONCONFORMISTS. 883 

in a way which brought many evils along with it. At first, antagonism 
to Luther was prominent. Wolsey had Luther's books burnt at St. 
Paul's in 1521 ; and Henry YIII. wrote a book in favour of the seven 
sacraments and abusing Luther, who, responded in a violent tone. The 
king was gratified by receiving from Pope Leo X. the title of Defender of 
the Faith, still retained by the English sovereigns. But the opinions of the 
Continental reformers were widely diffused in England, and prepared the 
way for the reforming Parliament of 1529, in which Henry compelled the 
clergy, besides paying large sums of money in lieu of penalties En^jign 
for breaking the Prsemunire statute, to accept his supremacy break with 
over the English Church, " as far as is permitted by the law of 
Christ," thus practically breaking with Rome. The " submission of the 
clergy" in 1532 granted that no new canons should be made or published 
without the king's consent, and 
that a revision of the old ones 
should take place. In 1533 all ap- 
peals to Rome were forbidden, as 
well as all papal dispensations and 
appointments. In 1536, the sup- 
pression of the smaller monasteries 
was authorised, and in 1539 that 
of the greater monasteries. Thus, 
not without bloodshed, the Church 
was made national, under royal 
supremacy, and its reform was 
made possible and partially accom- 
plished without the introduction of 
any new doctrine beyond orthodox 
Romanism. 

After Cranmer, in May, 1533, 
had pronounced the divorce of 
Catherine from Henry, the pope 
threatened to excommunicate him. 
Cranmer claimed an appeal from the pope to a general council. On March 
23rd, 1534, the pope proclaimed Henry's marriage with Catherine lawful, 
and excommunicated him. But liberal views were not enthroned Henry 
in England if the pope was dethroned. Bishop Fisher and Sir excommuni- 
Thomas More were executed in 1535 for denying the royal 
supremacy ; Anabaptists were also burnt ; and the Real Presence in the 
Eucharist was proclaimed as a vital doctrine. 

Meanwhile Wilham Tyndale had translated and printed on the Conti- 
nent the New Testament (1526), and the Pentateuch (1530). In 1534 and 
1535, he issued revised editions, enlarged. In 1535 he was seized Tyndaie's 
in the Netherlands, and after a year and a half's imprisonment ^ibie. 
was strangled and then burnt, on Oct. 6, 1536, under the decree of the 
Emperor Charles V. 




884 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

In 1536, Henry VIII. obtained the approval of Convocation to Ms 
" Ten Articles," which have been termed '^ popery with the pope left out." 
Later Meanwhile Coverdale's translation of the Bible into English was 
translations. pu]t.lished in 1535. In 1537 ^'Matthew's" Bible appeared, 
edited by John Rogers, mainly from Tyndale ; and a copy was ordered 
to be set up in every church. A revised edition, the "Great" Bible, was 
issued in 1539 ; and thus a beginning was made in the popular diffusion 
of the Scriptures. The injunctions issued by the king's vicar-general in 
1538 enjoin the reading and study of the Bible on every Christian man ; and 
the clergy are bidden to preach, at least once every quarter, a sermon, " in 
which they are to declare, purely and sincerely, the very gospel of Christ, 
and to exhort their hearers to works of mercy and religion, and not to 
trust in works devised by man's fantasies, as in wandering to pilgrimages, 
offering of money, candles, or tapers to images or relics, kissing or licking 
the same, saying over a number of bedes not understanded, or in such-like 
superstitions." But these injunctions mark the high-water mark of the 
Reformation under Henry YIII., who became more bigoted and intolerant 
as he grew older. In 1539 he issued the '^ Six Articles," affirming transub- 
stantiation on penalty of the stake, the necessity of private masses and 
auricular confession, celibacy of the clergy, and the obligation of vows of 
chastity. Many were tried and punished under the Act passed in pur- 
suance of it, and many for denying the royal supremacy in religion. 

Early in Edward VI.'s reign the " Six Articles " were repealed ; and 
Parliament, on the recommendation of the Convocation of the Church, ordered 
that the Communion should be administered to all persons in both kinds. In 
Edward VI.'s 1^48-9 the First Prayer-Book of Edward YI. was issued in English, 
First being really a revised translation of the best of the old Latin 
'service books used in England, with the omission of many things 
strongly objected to by reformers. About the same time the marriage of the 
clergy was permitted by law. Later, it appeared that many were applying 
or adapting parts of the new service-book in a Roman sense, and injunctions 
to the contrary were issued. In reaction Protestant doctrines came more 
into favour among the people. 

The Second Prayer-Book of Edward YI. (1552), which is substantially in 
force at present, was largely influenced by the progress of reforming opinions. 
Edward vi.'s '^^^ Order of Morning and Evening Prayer was changed ; the Sen- 
Second tences. Exhortation, Confession, and Absolution were prefixed to 
' the Lord's Prayer, with which Services had previously begun, 
and prayers were added after the third collect. In the Communion Service 
important alterations were made; the reading of the Commandments was 
introduced, the name of the Yirgin was omitted from special mention, the 
invocation of the Word and the Holy Grhost, the sign of the cross, and the mix- 
ture of water with the wine were omitted ; instead of the long comprehensive 
Prayer of Consecration, three prayers were substituted, those for the Church 
Militant, of Consecration, and the first form of the Prayer after Communion ; 
at the delivery of the elements to the communicants, the second clauses 



THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND AND THE NONCONFORMISTS. 885 

of the present form were substituted for the first clauses. In the rite of 
Baptism the exorcism, anointing, and triple immersion ; in the Service for 




the Visitation of the Sick, the anointing, directions for private confessions, 
and for reserving portions of the elements from the public Communion ; in 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



the Burial Service, prayers for the dead, were omitted. The most important 
change was in the Communion Service, supporting the view that the 
elements had no new virtues imparted in consecration, thus allowing the 
full adhesion of the extreme Reformers. Forty-two Articles of Religion 
were agreed to and promulgated in 1552-3. 

We must pass over the restoration of Romanism under Queen Mary, 
and the persecution and martyrdoms associated with it. In 1559 the Second 

Revised Prayer-Booh of Edward YI. was again restored, with slight alter- 
Prayer-Book. ations, one being that the clauses used in both Prayer-Books ol 
Edward VI. in delivering the elements in the Communion were combined 
as at present in use. Several minor alterations went counter to the 
desires of the Puritans, especially in restoring some ceremonies and vest- 
ments. 

In 1563 the Forty-two Articles of Edward YI. were revised and amended, 
and condensed into Thirty-nine. They have been the subject of an aston- 
ishing variety of interpretation and latitude of subscription, some 
Thirty-nine representing them as mainly Lutheran, others reading into them 

Articles, ^^^^.j^ ^^ ^^ theology of the Council of Trent ; Calvinists finding 
in them substantially their own creed, whilst those possessing a much less 
positive and dogmatic belief than any of these have been content to subscribe 
them. We will briefly state their eifect, mainly following Dr. Schaff's 
analysis as that of a competent outside judge. The Articles are Catholic as 
to the doctrines of the Trinity and the Incarnation, agreeing with all the 
Protestants of the Reform period ; indeed, these are partly given in the words 
of two Lutheran confessions, the Augsburg and the Wurtemberg ; they are 
Augustinian on free-will, sin, and grace, agreeing with the Continental 
Reformers ; they are Protestant and Evangelical, in rejecting the errors and 
abuses of the Roman Church, and teaching the doctrines as to Scripture 
and tradition, justification, faith and good works, and the number of sacra- 
ments, held in common by Luther, Zwingli, and Calvin ; they are moderately 
Calvinistic as to predestination and the Lord's Supper : they are Erastian ^ 
in teaching the close union of Church and State, and the royal supremacy in 
ecclesiastical as well as civil affairs. Article XXX YL, in reference to the 
Prayer-Book and orders, being purely Anglican and Episcopalian, has always 
baen opposed by the Puritans. The Articles have been adopted by the 
American Episcopal Church, with the omission of the Athanasian Creed 
from Article YIIL, and modifications applicable to the separation of Church 
and State. 

The " Bishops' " Bible, issued under Archbishop Parker, in 1568, not 
being entirely satisfactory, a committee of divines was appointed to draw up 

^ Thomas Erastus, 1524-1583, author of a treatise on the power of excommunication, 
advocated the infliction of penalties by the civil magistrate, not by the Church, and 
regarded it as out of place for the Church to excommunicate. But it became the popular 
idea that he maintained the power of the magistrate over the conscience of individuals, 
and the subjection of all religious bodies to State regulation and control. Thus the term 
Erastian is identified with the control of the Church by the State, and with the principle 
of Established Churches. 



THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND AND THE NONCONFORMISTS. 887 

a new translation which was published in 1611, and has ever since been 
recognised as a masterly work. It was revised in 1870-1885, Bishops', 
by a commission containing representatives of Nonconformists andRevfsed 
as well as American divines ; but the revised translation has not Bibles, 
yet been " authorised " for use in churches. 

Without following the stormy history of the English Church in the 
seventeenth century, it may be said that nearly all alterations, though com- 
paratively slight, were in an anti-Puritan direction, with strict Gradual 
State control. The attitude of the Eoyal Grovernment and of the ^o?EnSish 
Church authorities became such, that at successive periods very churcii. 
many who desired to remain in the National Church were excluded, until at the 
present time it is claimed that only one-half of the nation is really attached 
to the Established Church. Towards the end of the last century a number 
of clergymen who had at first sympathised with the Methodist revival 
adopted a strict Calvinism which separated them from Wesley's movement. 
They remained in the Church, and formed the " Evangelical " party, 
remarkable for their earnest spiritual sermons, their philanthropy, 
and their missions. They founded the Church Missionary 
Society, and (with the Baptists, Presbyterians, and Independents) the 
Religious Tract Society, and the British and Foreign Bible Society. As a 
reaction from their moderate statement of the claims of the Church, and 
inattention to form and supposed incompleteness of teaching on sacramental 
subjects, the High Church and Tractarian party arose (1833), and in " Tracts 
for the Times," insisted on the Divine authority and mission of the Church of 
England as a branch of the Church Catholic, possessing continuity High Church 
from apostolic times, unbroken succession of the ministry, and Rituaist 
true episcopacy. They directed fresh attention to the Fathers party, 
and to the traditions and decisions of the undivided Church. As to the 
Papacy, many of them were more inclined to revere than to censure it, and 
the name of Protestant became hateful to them. They endeavoured to 
re-introduce the doctrine of the mass as a sacrifice. The cry arose that 
they were Romanists at heart and wished to betray the English Church to 
Roman Catholicism ; and this appeared to be justified by the secession of 
many prominent Tractarians to Rome. Later, various legal decisions 
have allowed the holding within the Church of England of certain 
sacramental doctrines deemed by the Evangelicals to be contrary to the 
meaning of the Articles, and susceptible of a direct Roman interpretation ; 
and this view appears to be confirmed by the Romanised ceremonial intro- 
duced by the "Ritualists," together with habitual confession, sisterhoods, 
limited communions, gorgeous vestments, etc. The rise of the High Church 
party was almost simultaneous with that of a Broader school of Broad 
thought, which, partly under the influence of German rationalism, diurchmen. 
partly under that of modern science, ascribed a lower place to the authority 
of the Bible than the Reformers, and allowed that its verbal infallibility 
was not necessary to its acceptance as containing all that was essential to 
salvation. While some of them firmly believed in the supernatural aspects 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



of Christianity and the Deity of Christ, others qualified these to a varying 
extent. Some few Broad Churchmen have left the Church' and become 
Unitarians ; but on the whole they retain their positions, giving in some 
cases a special interpretation to the Thirty-nine Articles. 

The Church of England is by some called a bundle of divergent sects ; 
but there is a very large number of members who hold to the distinctive 
dogmas of no one school, but are attached to the plain teaching of the 
Prayer-Book. Next to these the High Churchmen are apparently the most 
numerous and active section. 

The first important body of Nonconformists in England were the 
Baptists, sometimes called Anabaptists (rebaptisers), as requiring those who 
had been baptised in infancy to be baptised again (by immersion) 
'in adult life, on making a voluntary profession of Christianity. 
Their fanaticism on the Continent against all who supported infant baptism, 
as well as against papal errors, led to bitter persecutions by all parties, lead- 
ing to revolts, such as the Peasants' War in Saxony (1534). The earliest con- 
fession of Baptists is given by Zwingli, and includes baptism on profession 
of repentance, belief in, and forgiveness of sins through Christ, accompanied 
with change of life. Those who fall into sin after baptism are to be ex- 
communicated. Their other doctrines agree with the Calvinistic Reformed 
Churches. They appeared in England in Henry VIH.'s reign, and some 
were burnt. In Elizabeth's and James I.'s reign no tolerance was allowed 
to Baptists ; and during the greater part of the seventeenth century, except 
during the Commonwealth time, they were persecuted. It was not till 
after the Eevolution of 1688, and the passing of the Toleration Act in 1689, 
that their worship was free. Their tenets gradually spread ; and as each 
Churcb adopted its creed without control by any organisation, a distinction 
Particular gradually arose between the Particular or Calvinistic Baptists, 
Baptists. ^^^ ^^ General or Arminian Baptists. The former are the 
majority, and are Calvinists in doctrine, while independent in their Church 
organisation. While rejecting infant baptism, they believe in the salvation 
of all children dying before the age of responsibility. In their eyes baptism 
is not a regenerative act, but an outward sign of a grace already conferred. 
They are opposed to all State Churches, and advocate voluntaryism and 
religious freedom. No Church has any power over any other Church. No 
minister has any authority in any Church except that which has called him 
General f^o be its pastor. Deacons are the Church administrators and 
Baptists, pastors' assistants. The General Baptists are those who reject 
unconditional election to salvation, and maintain the freedom of man's will 
and the possibility of falling from grace. Some of the congregations in the 
last century tended towards Socinianism and have joined the Unitarians. 
A number of Particular Baptists have become more moderate in their 
Calvinism, and more liberal in their theology. 

The Mennonites represent the original Anabaptists, collected into a 
peaceful, unobtrusive body in Holland and Western Germany, by Menno 
Simonis, about 1536. The Confession of Waterland, which they for the 



THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND AND THE NONCONFORMISTS. 889 

most part acknowledge, shows their affinity with the Quakers. Agreeing 
with the other Baptists as to adult baptism, they differ in using The 
sprinkling instead of immersion. They admit hereditary sin, but Mennomtes. 
deny the individual's guilt for it. They believe in universal redemption 
and conditional election. Taking oaths and holding secular offices is for- 
bidden, together with lawsuits, revenge, violence, and worldly amusements. 
They have spread very considerably in Eussia and the United States. 

The term " Puritans " sometimes covers all who dissent from the Church 
of England, and adopt a narrow principle of Church government and more 
strictly avoid Soman doctrine and ceremonies ; but it properly 
designates a more definite party in the sixteenth and seventeenth 
centuries. The introduction of Calvin's followers into important positions 
in the latter part of Henry YIII.'s and in Edward VI.'s reign, had much in- 
fluence in spreading the doctrines of the Swiss Eeformers ; and during the 
Marian persecutions many English divines went to Geneva and other Pro- 
testant centres, and on their return, in Elizabeth's reign, brought back a 
strong attachment to Genevan simplicity and hatred of Eomish vestments 
and ceremonies. Some of their proposals were accepted, but others, 
especially about vestments, were rejected ; and in 1560, those who refused 
to conform began to be deprived of their cures, but great difficulty occurred 
. in supplying their places. Some of the Puritans chose to remain within the 
Church, conforming as little as might be to the regulations they disliked, 
while others separated themselves, though not supported by Knox, Beza, 
and Bullinger. Thomas Cartwright, a notable Cambridge professor, became 
their chief literary exponent, his "Second Admonition," addressed to Parlia- 
ment in 1572, being a powerful attack upon the Church; and the " Book of 
Discipline" drawn up by him and Travers about 1580, contains a complete 
organisation for Church government on the Genevan model. Several 
Churches with presbyterian discipline were formed from 1572 onwards, but 
soon suppressed, or only carried on in secret. The troubles of those who 
desired to continue Puritans within the Established Church, and of those 
who left it for the sake of Puritan principles, increased during the latter part 
of Elizabeth's and the early Stuart reigns. Many took refuge in America, 
the first ship, the Mayflower^ leaving Plymouth on 6th Sept., 1620. Their 
numbers were greatly increased by Laud's arbitrary discipline in Charles 

I.'s reiffn, and they constituted a powerful basis for the new free „ . 

c> 1 J r Emigration 

reformed Churches of America. Under the Commonwealth the to New 
National Church was largely given up to freedom and irregular ^^^^ • 
proceedings, the surplice being extensively discarded and extemporaneous 
prayer being frequent in the parish churches. The old Puritanism now 
became extinct, and the opponents of the Established Church fell into two 
main groups, the Presbyterians and the Independents. After the passing of 
the Act of Uniformity (1662), the name of Nonconformist was generally 
applied to those clergymen (with their adherents) who refused to conform 
to the Church of England. Nearly 2,000 ministers were then ejected as 
Nonconformists. 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



The origin of the Independents is traced to the reign of Elizabeth, and 
more especially to Robert Browne (1550-1631), who wrote strongly against 
rpjjg the evils of Churches containing evil livers and preachers, and the 
in(iependents.irLterference of the civil power with religion ; but after suffering 
much from persecution and imprisonment, he returned to the ministry of 
the English Church. Many others by private study of the Bible came in 
his time to believe in the separate organisation and equal authority of every 
congregation of believers. They endured much persecution for their opinions, 
and formed many private Churches or assemblies. Many took refuge in 
Holland, and formed Churches at Amsterdam and Leyden. In 1606 Henry 

Jacob returned to Eng- 
land from Leyden and 
formed an Independent 
Church in Southwark, 
having previously de- 
fined his position in a 
petition to King James, 
that every particular 
Church should be al- 
lowed to elect, ordain, 
and deprive her own 
ministers, and to ex- 
ercise all other lawful 
ecclesiastical jurisdic- 
tion. Growing apace, 
though constantly 
drained of their best 
blood by the New Eng- 
land emigration, the 
Independents exercised 
considerable influence 
in the Westminster As- 
sembly. Under the Pro- 
tectorate of Cromwell 
they became the most 
important religious 
body, and in 1668 ministers and delegates of more than 100 congregations 
sa^Qy met at the Savoy and subscribed a " Declaration," which set forth. 
Conference, besides the Westminster Confession in a slightly modified form, a 
"Declaration of the Institution of Churches and the Order appointed in them 
by Jesus Christ." It stated that " a particular Church consists of officers 
and members ; the Lord Christ having given to His called ones, — united in 
Church order, — liberty and power to choose persons fitted by the Holy Ghost 
to be over them in the Lord. The officers appointed by Christ to be chosen 
and set apart by the Church are pastors, teachers, elders, and deacons." The 
call to the ministry by the Church is to be followed by fasting and prayer, 




JOHN WESLEY. 



THE CHURCH 01' ENGLAND AND THE NONCONFORMISTS. 891 

and the imposition of hands by the eldership of the Church. A Church 
furnished with officers has full power to administer all Christ's ordinances. 
Admonition and excommunication are within the power of the Church. 
These Savoy Declarations have no binding power upon any Church, but 
were substantially approved by most Independent Churches. The Indepen- 
dents were fiercely persecuted under the Conventicle Acts of 1663 and 1670, 
and other oppressive regulations. In 1689 they gained toleration, and 
flourished considerably in the 18th century. In 1833 an impulse towards 
united action led to the foundation of the Congregational Union 
of England and Wales, which drew up a moderately Calvinistic congrega- 
declaration. It is not imposed on any Church, and the Union *^°^^^ umon. 
does not assume legislative authority or the functions of a Court of Appeal. 
A number of ministers hold opinions considered to be " liberal " if not 
rationalistic. The term " Congregational " has been adopted by the majority 
of Independent Churches, to emphasise their positive aspect, rather than 
the opposition to establishments, popery, prelacy, parliament, signified by 
the word " Independent." 

The Society of Friends, popularly known as the " Quakers," takes its 
rise from George Fox, son of a weaver, who in 1648 began to preach 
repentance and the universality and sufficiency of the light of society of 
the Holy Spirit. The term Quakers was given to his followers Friends, 
by a magistrate whom Fox had bidden to " tremble at the word of Grod." 
He taught that the gift of preaching came directly from the operation of 
the Holy Spirit in the soul, and needed no other authorisation. Thus every 
one, male or female, might preach when " moved by the Spirit." Fox gave 
up all rites, ceremonies, and forms of worship, holding that silent communion 
with Grod was as acceptable as the utterance of prayer and praise. Naturally 
the Quakers were opposed by men of all parties ; but their principles made 
way against much persecution, notwithstanding many eccentricities and 
extravagances. They have never become a Church imposing by numbers, 
though the character of individual members has had remarkable influence. 
The doctrines of the Friends, other than those already given, are the 
universal love of God to man, revealed to the soul of the heathen as well as 
the Christian ; denial of the lawfulness of war, oaths, amusements ; the use 
of the plainest language and dress. They recognise in a modified way the 
offices of minister, elder, and overseer ; but in their meetings they frequently 
sit silent unless any member is " moved " to speak or pray. All members are 
entitled to watch over one another for good. It is in assigning supremacy 
to the "Inward Light" that they most differ from the Eeformers. In 
America they became very numerous ; and owing to the views put forward 
by Elias Hicks, approaching nearly to Arianism, a large body seceded 
in 1827, and are known as Hicksite Friends. They assert their belief 
in the Divinity of Christ, " the immaculate Son of God," but mcksite 
they do not hold the orthodox doctrine of the Trinity. They ^^lends. 
affirm that " the Scriptures do not teach that we inherit any fault from 
Adam or any of our ancestors ; nor do we feel any compunction for their 



892 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 

sins. The language of our Saviour clearly implies that little children are 
innocent, for, He says, ' of such is the kingdom of heaven.' " 

We will here summarise the leading points of Arminianism (see p. 
878), which have been to a large extent adopted by the Methodists. They 
are, (1) that predestination is conditioned by Grod's foreknow- 
ledge of the faith or unbelief of men. (2) That Christ died 
for all men, and His salvation is intended for all ; but (3) God's grace is not 
irresistible, and only those who accept it by faith are saved. (4) Man can 
only attain saving faith by regeneration by God in Christ. (5) Believers 
are capable of falling from grace. Arminianism was held to a considerable 
extent in the Church of England (and still is), before Wesley adopted it. 

John Wesley (1703-1791), the founder of Methodism, was a learned 
Oxford graduate and Church of England clergyman, who in 1729 formed a 
small society for cultivating personal religion at Oxford, on some- 
*what High Church principles, and nicknamed " Methodists." It 
was not till after he had been on a mission to Georgia, that he realised his 
need of " conversion," and through the teaching of Peter Bohler, a Mora- 
vian, gained a personal trust in Christ and a conscious assurance of his sins 
George being forgiven (1738). Meanwhile, George Whitefield, one of the 

Whitefieid. Qxford Methodists, had become an open-air preacher, and pro- 
duced wonderful effects by his eloquence. The two joined heartily in 
evangelistic work, and formed societies, at first intended solely to be within 
the Church of England. But in numerous cases Wesley's converts were 
repelled from communion by the Anglican clergy, and Wesley was generally 
prohibited from preaching in parish churches. In 1740 Wesley separated 
both from the Moravians and from Whitefield, the latter adopting Cahan- 
istic views. Perhaps the point most insisted on in early Methodism, was 
the necessity of distinct, usually instantaneous, " conversion," after repent- 
ance from sin ; but the possession of a consciousness of forgiveness and of 
the Divine favour (known as " the witness of the Spirit "), justification by 
faith alone, and Christian perfectibility, or the possible attainment of a 
state of sinlessness, or freedom from the power of sin (though not from 
" involuntary transgressions "), are almost equally prominent. Wesley set 
himself " to reform the nation, more particularly the Church, and to spread 
Scriptural holiness over the land." To his " genius for godliness," he added 
a remarkable power of organisation, which, well seconded by his successors, 
has made the Methodist bodies as important and active as any section of 
Protestantism. The doctrinal standard rather than the creed of Methodism 
is contained in fifty- three of Wesley's sermons and his ^' Notes on the New 
Testament." It was not till 1784 that Wesley, though long convinced that 
the office of a bishop was originally the same with that of a presbyter, 
ordained the Rev. Dr. Coke as superintendent or bishop for America, Coke, 

Methodist ^^ ^^^ turn, ordaining Francis Asbury as presbyter and bishop. 

Episcopacy. Asbury was an indefatigable evangelist, and largely instrumental 
in building up the Methodist Episcopal Church in America, whose bishops, 
however, are but chief among the presbyters they superintend. In 1788 



THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND AND THE NONCONFORMISTS. 893 

Wesley ordained a number of his lay preachers to assist him in administer- 
ing the sacraments to his societies; and in 1795 the " Conference" of his 
ministers authorised the administration of the sacraments wherever desired. 
In 1836 the practice of ordination of ministers by imposition of hands of 
senior ministers was adopted. In the present century there has been a 
gradual growth of the power of the laity in Methodism, after several excit- 
ing controversies, attended by considerable secessions and the formation of 
large but minor Methodist bodies. The tendency now is towards reunion. 
Class-meetings of a few members for religious conversation under " leaders," 
lay local preachers, quarterly meetings of leaders and ofSlce-bearers in every 
society, district committees with ministerial chairmen, and annual confer- 
ences of ministers and laymen, constitute some of the special features of 
Methodism. Various minor modifications are found among the Primitive 
Methodists, the United Methodist Free Churches, the " New Connexion," the 
Bible Christians, etc. An (Ecumenical Methodist Conference (without legis- 
lative power) was held in London in 1881. 

Whitefield became closely associated with Selina, Countess of Huntingdon, 
who from 1748 set up chapels under her own management, appointing her 
numerous '' chaplains " to be their ministers. At first desiring to 
remain in connexion with the Church of England, she found it Hunting-don's 
necessary, in 1781, to claim the privileges and status of Dissenters. ^o^^®^io»- 
She adopted Calvinistic views, and her society was known as the Countess 
of Huntingdon's Connexion. In 1791, when she died, it included 64 chapels, 
most of which since her death have become Independent or Congrega- 
tionalist, though retaining a portion of the English Liturgy. 

Welsh Calvinistic Methodism arose about 1735-6 in several counties of 
Wales, Howel Harris, Daniel Rowlands, and Howell Davies being its chief 
leaders, at first in connection with the Church of England. Ex- -y^^gigu 
temporaneous preaching and revivalism became its prominent Calvinistic 
characteristics. The first Calvinistic Methodist Conference was 
held at Waterford, in G-lamorganshire, under Whitefield's presidency, in 
1743. It was not till 1811 that the preachers became pastors and were 
ordained to administer the sacraments, although an Order of Church Govern- 
ment and Rules of Discipline had been adopted in 1801. The present form 
of government is described as " modified Presbyterianism." 

Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772) was a Swede, son of a Lutheran 
bishop, who in 1745 gave up secular pursuits, believing himself called in a 
miraculous manner to a holy office, after having had spiritual Emanuel 
revelations and talk with spirits and angels. He promulgated a Swedenborg. 
series of " revelations," including many dicta on spiritual things which only 
his followers can accept as authoritative. One of his chief doctrines is that 
of " correspondences " between the natural and spiritual worlds, leading him 
to discard much of the Old Testament and all the New except the Gospels 
and the Revelation ; others are, that the last judgment has already taken 
place (in 1757), and that the New Jerusalem has already come down in the 
shape of the '• New Church." His views on the Trinity resembled those of 



894 



THE WORLD'S RE LI G TONS. 



the Sabeilians (p. 747). Rejecting the doctrine of justification by faith only^ 
he said, " To fear God and to work righteousness is to have charity ; and 
whoever has charity, whatever his religious sentiments may be, will be 
saved." In 1787 the " New Church " was first formed in London, 
with an elaborate creed, depending mainly upon the members' dis- 
cernment in the Scriptures of a "spiritual sense heretofore unknown, whence 
it is Divinely inspired and holy in every syllable, as well as a literal sense 



New 
Cliurcli. 




EMANUKL SWEDENBORG. 



which is the basis of its spiritual sense." On the whole, the creed of the 
New Church is an Evangelical Christian one, qualified by its own peculiari- 
ties. The Church is administered by conferences of ministers and laymen. 

The " Irvingites," or Catholic Apostolic Church, arose mainly in con- 
nection with the ministry of Edward Irving, a singularly gifted and earnest 
Edward minister of the Scotch Established Church, in Eegent Square 
Irving. Church, London, who had preached largely on the hope of 
Christ's speedy coming, and the revival of the miraculous gifts of the 



THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND AND THE NONCONFORMISTS. 895 

Spirit manifested in the early Church. In 1830, in his own Church and in 
western Scotland, prophetic utterances and speaking in unknown 
tongues occurred to several members and caused great excite- Apostolic 
ment. Irving was expelled from the ministry of the Church of 
Scotland in 1833, and in 1834 was re-ordained by one of the " apostles " 
of the new system. The main tenets of the New Church are that all the 
gifts of the Apostolic age are revived, and that they have apostles, prophets, 
evangelists, angels or bishops, presbyters, and deacons; all except the deacons 
being " called " by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of its prophets. 
They hope for the speedy coming of Christ. The Church has ritualistic 
worship and an elaborate liturgy, going in several respects beyond the 
Church of England. It believes in baptismal regeneration and the spiritual 
presence of Christ in the Eucharist, which is not only a sacrament, but also 
a sacrifice of thanksgiving, connected with the memory of the dead. In 
many points they agree with the Church of England. They adopt the term 
" Catholic Apostolic," not as an exclusive one, but to signify that they are a 
part of the one Church, adopting the literal teaching of the New Testament. 
The Unitarians claim that their beliefs accord with primitive Christi- 
anity, and have always been held by larger or smaller sections of the 
Church. Their modern origin has been traced to Faustus Socinus 
(1539-1604), an Italian, who in the sixteenth century taught that ^ ^^^^^s- 
Christ did not exist before His birth ; that Grod is One, and that Christ and 
the Holy Spirit are not Grod ; that Christ died for the infirmities of human 
nature, which He had assumed ; and that He did not become 
immortal till His ascension ; that the good will have eternal happi- °°^^^^- 
ness, while the evil will be punished for a limited time. No definite organi- 
sation on this basis was formed in England ; but many Anti-Trinitarians 
suffered for their opinions. Unitarian views were adopted by a number 
of English Churchmen in the eighteenth century ; many of these resigned 
their benefices. Joseph Priestley in the latter part of the last 
century expressed the belief that the Bible was not an inspired ^^^®^*^®y- 
book, that Christ was no more than a man, and that it was idolatry to 
worship Him. It was not till 1813 that the Unitarians were placed by 
law in the same position as other Dissenters, it having been previously 
reckoned blasphemy to speak against the doctrine of the Trinity. Many 
Independent and Presbyterian Churches in England and America became 
more or less Unitarian. William EUery Channing (1780-1842), 
was the great apostle of Unitarianism in the United States. Uni- ^^^^^^S". 
tarians conspicuously advocate free inquiry and criticism of the Bible and 
all religious beliefs, with progressive modifications according to the advance 
of knowledge. They believe in the fatherhood and benevolence of G-od 
who wills the salvation of all who will accept it. Man's nature they 
regard as not essentially corrupt, but imperfect, needing regeneration and 
renewal by that Divine influence called the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ they 
term at once Son of God and Son of Man, man's true Teacher, Leader Life 
and Example. Many shades of belief, with a claim of valid Christianity 



THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 



are included in Unitarianism. Lack of space prevents us from referring to 
such, bodies as the '' Brethren," the Sandemanians, the Mormons, th@ 
Shakers, the Salvation Army, and many others. 

In concluding this survey of religions, we may take note of modern 
rationalism, seeking to explain every feature of religion on natural 
principles, apart from any supernatural manifestation. Its 
growth during the present century, since the laws of nature have 
become better known, has been enormous, both in Germany and in Great 
Britain. Its determination to accept no explanation involving an unknown 
law or cause, when a known law or cause will satisfactorily account for the 
phenomenon, has been carried by some into the extreme of refusing to 
believe in any unknown or " supernatural " cause of religious phenomena. 

Lastly, in reaction from over-credulity, bibliolatry, and papal infalli- 
bility, men have professed themselves "Agnostics" in religion, believing 

^. . that nothing can be truly known beyond facts perceptible by 

Agnosticism. , ^ *^ r r j 

the senses, or prmciples deducible therefrom. The old biblical 

utterance, "Canst thou by searching find out God?" has been converted 
by them into a dogma, that "Man cannot know God," and even into 
an assumption that God cannot reveal Himself to the rational creature 
He has made. Yet in the testimonies they furnish to Christ, we find some 
of the strongest statements as to His teaching. The following quotation 
from one of the most notable recent works against miracles and the super- 
natural in religion contains the following expressions : — 

" The teaching of Jesus carried morality to the sublimest point attained, or even 
attainable, by humanity. . . . Such morality, based upon the intelligent and earnest 
acceptance of Divine law, and perfect recognition of the brotherhood of man, is the highest 
conceivable by humanity ; and although its power and influence must augment with the 
increase of enlightenment, it is itself beyond development, consisting as it does of 
principles unlimited in their range and inexhaustible in their application. ... No 
supernatural halo can heighten its spiritual beauty, and no mysticism deepen its holi- 
ness. In its perfect simplicity it is sublime, and in its profound wisdom it is eternal." 
— Supernatural Religion^ ii. 487-489. 

We may take this as representing the sure and undoubted ground 
that has been reached in religious and moral truth, although very many 
hold far fuller creeds. The ages since Christianity arose are but a small 
portion of the life of the earth, even since man appeared ; and in spite of 
contradictory appearances and movements, we may safely say that human 
progress in all philanthropy has been far greater during these ages than in 
any equal period before. Therefore we may be reasonably certain that the 
same cause, the same Divine Cause, will in future ages bring about still 
further progress and enlightenment. 



INDEX. 



Aaron, 621. 

Abadites, 575. 

Abbaside caliphs, 540. 

Abelard, 824. 

Abeokuta, 59. 

Ablutions, Mahometan, 550. 

Abraham, 592, 593. 

Absorption in Deity, 216. 

Abu Bekr, 514, 523, 542, 525, 527. 

Abu, Mount, 340. 

Abyssinian Church, 773. 

Acaba, Pledge of, 511, 512. 

Actions, Book of, 154, 155. 

Acts of the Apostles, 712. 

The Apocryphal, 713. 
Adam, Descendants of, 589. 
Adar, 486. 
Aditi, 179, 187. 
Adonis, 497. 
Adoptionism, 792. 
^ger, 444. 
Afa, 58. 
African aboriginal religion, 43. 

Mohammedans, 582. 
Africans, East, 45. 

West, 49. 

North, 60. 
Agni, 181, 183, 186, 191. 
Agnosticism, 896. 
Ahriman, 347, 352, 353, 354. 
Ahuras, 348. 
Akals, 579. 

A Kempis, Thomas, 839. 
Albigenses, 836, 837. 
Alcuin, 787. 
Ali, " the Bab," 575. 
Allah, 503. 
Altar, Eastern Church, 806. 

of Gram, 132. 

Greek, 396. 

of Heaven, 132. 
Ambrose, 759, 802. 
Amen-ra, Hymn to, 463. 
American aboriginal religions, 61. 

Indians, 23. 
Americans, Central, 70. 
Amesha-Spentas, 350. 
Amitabha, 329, 336. 
Amos, 639. 
Amun-ra, 468. 
Ana, 484. 
Anabaptists, 844. 
Analects of Confucius, 115. 

Buddhism, 275, 277. 
Ananda, 263, 264. 



Ancestor worship, 7, 27, 29, 34, 
35, 42, 45, 50, 59, 90, 94, 99, 
100, 112, 120, 124, 134, 158, 
168, 207, 252, 372, 377, 440, 
451. 

Ancestors, Temples of, 135, 136. 

Ancestral tablets, 134, 140, 168. 

Angakoks, 62. 

Angels, 7, 529, 530. 

Animal worship, 230, 468. 

Animals, clean and unclean, 616. 

Animism, 6, 22, 56, 61, 168, 310, 
440, 469. 

Anselm, 815. 

Anskar, 794. 

Anthony, St., 761. 

Anthropomorphism, 8, 348. 

Anubis. 468. 

Anyambia, 49. 

Aphrodite, 380. 

Apis, 467. 

Apocrypha, 650. 

Apollo, 378. 

"Apology" of Plato, 411. 

Apostles, Acts of. 5fee Acts. 

Apostolic times, 717. 

Aquinas, Thomas, 825. 

Arabian, early religion, 501.. 

Arabs, 503, 505. 

Araucanians, 76. 

Archbishop, 753. 

Ares, 383. 

Arianism, 756, 757, 759. 

Aristotle, 415. 

Arius, 756, 758. 

Arjuna, 215. 

Ark of the Covenant, 602, 625. 

Armenian Church, 775. 

Arminianism, 892. 

Arminius, 878. 

Arnauld, 858. 

Artemis, 379. 

Articles of Smalcald, 866. 
The Six, 884. 
The Thirty-nine, 886. 

Aryan myths, 459. 
religions, 176-461. 

and Zoroastrianism, 347. 

Aryaifs, 176, 182, 183, 188. 

Asceticism, 152, 198, 208, 227, 
332. 

Ashantifetishmen, 51. 

Asha-vahishta, 350. 

Ashtoreth, 497. 

Asian aboriginal religions, 83. 

Asoka, King, 294. 
" )-99. 

897 



Assur, 490. _ 

Assyrian religion, 483. 

Astrology, 475, 492. 

Asvins, 184. 

Athanasian Creed, 759. 

Athanasius, 757, 758. 

Atharva-Veda, 189, 190. 

Atheism, 18. 

Athenagoras, 737. 

Athene, 377- 

Athos, Mount, 811. 

Atin-bodun, 58. 

Atman, 193. 

Atonement, Day of, 607, 608, 675. 

Atua, 29. 

Augsburg Confession, 846. 

Augurs, 430. 

Augustine, 7Q6, 785. 

Augustus, The Emperor, 437. 

Aurelius, The Emperor Marcus, 

438, 730, 731. 
Australians, 25, 26. 
Avalokitesvara, 315. 
Avatar, 216, 224. 
Avesta, 343, 347, 356, 357, 361. 
Aztecs, 70. 

B. 

Baal, 497, 498. 
Babel, Tower of, 493. 
Babism, 574. 
Babylonian Captivity, 818. 

religion, 483. 
Bacchus, 383,436,493. 
Bacon, Eoger, 826. 
Badagas, 85. 
Bagdad, Fall of, 542. 
Paginates, 458. 
Bairam festival, 565. 
Baker, Sir S., Conversation with 

African chief, 24. 
Balder, 444. 
Balonda, 46. 
Bancroft, H. H., on Pacific States 

races, 64, 68. 
Banquets, Egyptian customs at, 

482. 
Baptism, 743, 750, 850. 
Baptists, General, 888. 

Particular, 888. 
Barnabas, Epistle of, 709. 
Basil, 762. 

Basilican churches, 779. 
Basilides, 744. 
Basle, Confessions of, 848. 

3 M 



INDEX. 



Bates, Mr., on Indian beliefs, 70. 


Brett, W. H., on Indians of Gui- 


Burial, Egyptian, 475, 478. 


Beal, Prof., Translation of 


ana, 74. 


Fijian, 38. 


Chinese hymn, 328. 


Breviary, Roman, 863. 


of Gold Coast tribes, 51. 


Beatific vision, 818. 


British Church, Early, 785. 


of Gonds, 88. 


Bechuanas, 44. 


Broad Church, 887- 


Hindu, 251. 


Beghards, 834. 


Buddha, Life of, 255, 282. 


Jewish, 616, 680. 


Beguines, 834. 


travels, 258. 


Kaffir, 45. 


Bel and the Dragon, 493. 


enlightenment, 258. 


Karen, 94. 


Belgic Confession, 878. 


temptation, 258. 


of Kukis, 97. 


Bellarmine, 854. 


commences his work, 258. 


Mahometan, 554. 


Bel-merodach, 488. 


Characteristics of, 259. 


Malagasy, 42. 


Benares, 239. 


Alternate rest and travels of, 


Maori, 30. 


Benedictine orders, 779. 


260. 


of Mexicans, 72. 


Benedict, St., 779. 


and the courtesan Ambapali, 


of Mishmis, 99. 


Beni Israel, 669. 


260. 


of Nagas, 98. 


Berne, Theses of, 847. 


his answer to a king, 262. 


New Caledonian, 29. 


Bhagavad-gira, 215-217. 


and socialism, 262. 


Papuan, 39. 


Bharata, 218. 


his principal adhei-ents, 263. 


Parsee, 367- 


Bhils, 85. 


and Brahmans, 266. 


Patagonian, 79. 


Bible, The, 850. 


renunciation, 257, 267. 


Roman, 431. 


Authorised Version, 887. 


his method of teaching, 267, 


Santal, 92. 


Bishops' The, 887. 


268, 270. 


Siamese, 311. 


Revised Yersiou, 887. 


converts a noble youth, 269. 


of S. American Indians, 76. 


Sikh, 246.^ 


prepares for his final discourse. 


Tasmanian, 27. 


Taoist, 155. 


271. 


of Todas, 85. 


Tyndale's, 883. 


his last temptation, 272. 


Yeddah, 84. 


Bik, M., on Papuans, 23. 


his death, 273. 


Burmah, British, 93. 


Births, Brahman, 210. 


his funeral, 273. 


Burmese ceremonies, 308. 


New, 203, 250, 282. 


Doctrines and moral teachings 


monasteries, 302, 303. 


Bisheshwar, 240. 


of, 258,274, 278. 


pagodas, 306, 308. 


Bishopric of Borne, 753. 


his personal claims, 282. 


worship, 307- 


Bishops, 752, 764, 802. 


Reverence for, 289. 


Burning, Chinese ceremony of, 


Bobowissi, 52. 


Images of, 297, 298, 308, 311. 


135. 


Bodhidharraa, 326. 


Relics of, 299: 


of widows, 253. 


Bodbi-satvas, 314, 316. 


impression of his foot, 299, 311. 


Burton, Sir R., on West African 


Bodo, 99. 


Chinese Life of, 324. 


religions, 48, 58. 


Bohsum, 12. 


Buddhas, Solitary, 314. 


Bushmen, 43. 


Bonaventnra, 832. 


Buddhism, 152, 160, 169, 214, 


Butler, Major, on Kukis, 98. 


Boniface YIIL, 818. 


223, 226, 250, 255-336, 337. 




Boniface, St., 786. 


Burmese, 302. 




Book of Actions, 154, 155. 


Chinese, 322. 


C. 


of Blessings, 154. 


Doctrines of, 274-292. 


of Changes, 125. 


Esoteric, 292. 




of the Dead, 476. 


Japanese, 336. 


Caesar, Julius, 437, 457, 460. 


of the Great Decease, 271. 


Modern, 293-336. 


Cairo, Mosque at, 563. 


of Historical Documents, 120. 


Precepts of, 223, 258, 263, 278, 


Calendar, Buddhist, 332. 


of Poetry, 118, 123. 


283, 284. 


of Roman festivals, 432. 


of Rewards and Punishments, 


Reformed sects of, 311. 


Calif ornian tribes, 65. 


154. 


Siamese, 310. 


Caliphs, The first, 539. 


of Rites, 126,127. 


Singhalese, 297- 


in Spain, 542. 


Books, Ancient Egyptian, 476, 


Tibetan, 313, 316. 


Calvin, 868. 


478. 


Buddhist councils, 285, 286, 294. 


Institutes of, 869. 


Sacred Buddhist, 256. 


grades of attainment, 282. 


Calvinistic Methodism, Welsh, 


Zoroastrian, 356, 36 L. 


monks, 262, 278, 282, 284, 300, 


893. 


Borneo, Dyaks of, 39. 


302, 321, 331. 


Cameronians, 876. 


Bossuet, 855. 


nuns, 264, 291, 332. 


Camulos, 457- 


Bo-tree, Worship of, 299. 


orders, 284-292, 298. 


Cardinals, College of, 814. 


Bragi, 445. 


school, 302. 


Car festival, Hindu, 242. 


Brahmanaspati, 184. 


scriptures, 256, 274, 283, 3C0, 


Carmelites, 829. 


Brahmanism, 176, 189, 190, 193, 


325. 


CaroHne books, 790. 


195, 197, 204, 208, 213, 215, 


state of abstraction, 281. 


Carthusians, 828. 


218, 219, 224, 234, 254, 256, 


Biihler, Pmf., on Manu, 200. 


Caste, 190, 196, 200, 203, 210, 214. 


274. 


Bulgarian Church, 798. 


Catechisms, Heidelberg, 872. 


Brahmanism of the Codes, 196. 


Bulloms, 50. 


Luther's, 866. 


Brahman ceremonies, 205, 206, 


Bundahish, 362. 


Parsee, 367. 


220. 


Burial of American Indians, 69. 


Roman, 854. 


morality, 210. 


Ancient Greek, 404. 


Westminster, 877. 


penances and penalties, 200. 


Australian, 26. 


Catechumens, 750. 


philosophy, 193. 


of Bhils, 86. 


Cathari, 836. 


The True, 284. 


Bodo and Dhimals, 99. 


Catholic Apostolic Church, 895. 


Brahmans and Buddha, 266, 270. 


Burmese, 310. 


Catholics, The Old, 863. 


Four orders of, 198. 


Chinese, 127, 163. 


Caturix, 457- 


Brahmo Somaj, 247. 


of Comanches, 70. 


Causal nexus,^276. 


Brazilian tribes, 76. 


Creek Indian, 70. 


Causahty, Buddhist doctrine of, 


Brethren of St. John, 828. 


Dyak, 40. 


277. 


of the Common Life, S39. 


Eastern Church, 809. 


Cave temples, 298. 



INDEX. 



Celsus, Origen's "Answer" to, 

741. 
Celtic Church, 786. 

religion, 45 f). 
Central Americans, 70. 
Centuries, Secoud and Third, 
730-754. 

Fourth, 755-765. 

Seventh to Tenth, 784. 
Ceremonies, Buddhist, 300. 

Burmese, 308. 

Chinese, 120, 126, 133, 134, 135, 
136, 164, 166. 

Hindu, 232, 252. 

Mithraic, 364. 

Parsee, 367, 369. 
Ceylon, 300. 

Chaitanya, 223, 226, 240, 244. 
Chalcedon, Council of, 771. 
Chaldaeau sacred literature, 483. 

tablets, 493. 
Changes, Book of, 125. 
Channing, 895. 
Chao Phya Phraklang, 311. 
Charlemagne, 787- 
Charms, 152, 162, 455. 
Chemosh, 499. 
Cherubim, The, 625. 
Chibchas, 79. 
Children and Jesus, 695. 

Beliefs about, 311. 

Jewish treatment of, 678. 

of the Sun, 80. 
Chinese Buddhism, 322, 326. 

conception of God, 124. 

conservatism, 143. 

feasts, 124. 

modern State religion, 132. 

Mohammedans, 580. 

morals, 142. 

prayers, 135. 

punishments, 120. 

religion, 1U2-132. 

sacred books, 115. 

sacrifices, 124, 132. 
Chin, Marquis of, 123. 
Chin-jin, 151. 
Chow, The dynasty of, 122. 

The great duke of, 122, 123. 
Christ. (See Jesus. 
Christian religion, History of, 

687-896. 
Christians, Influence of, on Arabs, 
504. 

Persecution of, in First cen- 
tury, 719, 727, 729. 
in Second andThird centuries, 
730-754. 
Christianity, 3, 

Advance of, in Seventh to 
Tenth centuries, 794. 

Spread of, in Fourth century, 
763. 

Rainmohun Boy on, 247. 

and the Talmud, 656. 

Spread of, in Second century, 
731. 

as a State Church, 755-766. 
Chrysostom, 762. 
Chung-yung, The, 117, 118. 
Church, The, 749. 

Admission of Gentiles to, 719. 

Celtic, 786. 

Early British, 785. 

Early, foundation of, 717. 

Eastern, 788. 



Church, English. Bee English, 
in Fifth and Sixth centuries, 

Persecution of, 719. 

Unity of, 754. 
Churches, Christian, 748, 805, 824. 
Chwang-tze, 151. 
Circumcision, 552. 
Cistercians, 828. 
Clara, St., 832. 

" Classic of Filial Piety," 125. 
Classics, Great Hall of, 140. 
Classification of religions, 20, 22. 
Clement of Alexandria, 739. 

of flome, 708. 
C 1 ementine,pseudo- , writin gs, 738 . 
Clergy, Power of, 764. 
Clericalism, 778. 

ciovis, m. 

Cluniac Congregation, 828. 
Code of Yajnavalkya, 212. 
Codex, Alexandrinus, 715. 

Bezse, 716. 

Ephraemi, 715. 

Sinaiticus, 715. 

Vaticanus, 715. 
Coelestius, 768. 
Columba, St., 785. 
Columban, 786. 
Comanches, 70. 
Communion, Holy, 751,807. 
Comus, 426. 
Concord, Form of, 867- 
Concordat of Worms, 815. 
Concubinage, 534, 553, 618. 
Confession, 816, 852. , 

and penance, Buddhist, 285. 
" Confessions" of St. Augustine, 

Confirmation, 750. 
Confucianism, 102, 132, 140, 142, 

150. 
Confucius, Life of, 102. 

Birth and early life of, 103. 

and Lao-tze, 103, 145, 146. 

Contemporary opinions of, 104. 

his son Le, 104, 

made a magistrate, 105. 

Manner and demeanour of, 105. 

Dress of, 105. 

his resignation of office, 106. 

his travels, 106, 107. 

his life in danger, 107- 

his pupil Yen Hwuy, 108. 

Eeeall of, to Lu, 108. 

Later years of, 109. 

Death and burial of, 109. 

Tomb of, 109. 

Influence of, 110, 124. 

Personal appearance of, 110. 

his guarded speech, 110. 

Self-confidence of, 110. 

his public views, 110. 

his compromise of principles, 
111. 

doctrines. 111. 

Modern worship of. 111, 138. 

his love of antiquity, 112. 

special themes, 112. 

his belief in Personal God, 112. 

his belief in a future life, 113. 

inconsistency, 113. 

" Family Sayings," 113. 

views respecting the position of 
women, 113. 

on power of example, 114. 



Confucius on filial obedience, 114, 
116. 

and the Golden Eule, 114, 116. 

Dr. Legge on, 109, 112, 114. 

Sympathy of, 127. 

Analects of, 115. 

Discourses and dialogues of, 
115. 

Moral teachings of, 116, 142. 

Sayings of, 116, 118. 

"Rules of Propriety" of, 116. 

on duty of cheerfulness, 116. 

on love and hate, 116. 

on virtue, 116. 

on personal training, 117. 

on family life, 113, 117. 

on spiritual being, 118. 

on antiquity, 112. 

on divorce, 113. 

Idea of virtue held by, 114. 

Idea of revenge, 114. 

on treatment of enemies, 114. 

compared with Mencius, 130. 

Temple to, 138. 

Invocation of, 139. 
Congo tribes, 47. 
Congregationalists, 891. 
Consecration of churches, 780. 

Jewish, 615. 
Constantine, 734, 755. 
Constantinople, 756. 

Council of, 759. 

Mosque at, 563. 
Conventuals, 833. 
Copts, 773. 

Cordova, Mosque at, 563. 
Corpse, Customs of Zoroastrians, 

359, 361. 
Cosmogony, Early, 374, 492. 

of Genesis, 587. 

The Teuton, 446. 
Council, Fifth General, 771. 

Sixth General, 772. 

Seventh CBcume-nical, 788. 

of Frankfort, 790. 

Eighth (Roman), 791. 

Eighth (Greek), 792. 

of Quiercy, 794. 

The First Lateran, 815. 

The Second Lateran, 816. 

The Third Lateran, 816. 

The Fourth Lateran, 816. 

Second of Lyons, 818. 

of Constance, 841. 

of Basle, 842. 

of Trent, 849. 
Countess of Huntingdon's Con- 
nexion, 893. 
Covenant, National, 874. 
Cox, Sir G. W., on Myths, 374. 
Cranmer, 883. 

Creation, Account of, in Koran, 
528. 

Jehovist narrative of, 589. 
Creeds, 782, 850. 
Cremation, 251, 311. 
Crosses, 780. 
Crucifixes, 780. 
Crusades, 542. 
Cybele, 436. 
Cynics, 415. 
Cyprian, 742. 

Cowc-irdice of, 732. 
Cyrenaics, 415. 
Cyril of Moravia, 796. 

of Alexandria, 769. 



900 



INDEX. 



Cyril of Jerusalem, 762. 
Cyrus, 643. 
Czar, 810. 



Dadistan-i-Dinik, 362. 
Daevas, 353. 
Dagobas, 299. 
Dagon, 499. 
Dahomans, 57- 
Dakotas, 65. 
Dalai Lamas, 317. 
Damaras, 44. 
Damascus, John of, 788. 

Mosque at, 563. 
Damooda, 92. 
Dances, Hindu, 230. 
Dancing dervishes, 569. 
Dandis, 244. 
Danh-ghwe, 57. 
Daniel, 646. 
Darazi, 578. 

Darmesteter on Zoroaster, 347- 
Darwin, Definition of religion by, 
2. 

on non-religious races, 23. 
David, 626. 
Dav-kina, 485. 
Day of Atonement, 607, 603 67 

of Judgment, 531. 

of Repentance, 675. 

of Sacrifice, 517- 
Days, Sacred, 495. 
Dazhbog, 452. 
Deacons, 764. 
Dead, Abode of, 30, 32, 172. 

Book of, the, 476. 

Ceremonies for the, 252. 

Disposal of, by Mangaians, 34. 

Egyptian idea of, 476. 

Exposure of, 359, 361, 369, 370. 

Heathen reverence for, 29, 35. 

Immediate fate of, 554. 

Interrogation of, 51. 

Invocation of, 84, 127. 

J ewish treatment of, 679. 

Eecitals for the, 477. 

Sacrifices for, 206. 
Dead-land, Dahoman belief in, 

57. 
Death caused by sin, 34. 

Early Greek idea of, 403. 

Hindu idea of, 251. 

Mahometan idea of, 553. 

penalty for sin, 90. 

Slavonian idea of, 454. 

Spirit of, 87. 
Death-talk, The, 35. 
Decalogue, 598. 
Decius, 733. 

Decretals, Isidorian, 792. 
Deified kings, 470. 

men, 34, 158, 184, 230. 

powers of Nature, 158. 
Deism, 18. 

Deities, Abstract, of Eome, 432. 
Deity, Hindu incarnations of, 

216, 218. 
Delphian Oracle, 379, 397. 
Demeter, 380. 

Demoniacal possession, 12, 40. 
Demonology, 12. 
Demons, 7, 99, 229. 
Dervishes, 568, 569, 570, 574. 



Devadatta, 263. 
Devendra Nath Tagore, 247. 
Devil, 530. 

Dhammapada, 275, 276, 283. 
Dhimals, 99. 
"Dictate," The, 814. 
Diocese, 753. 
Diocletian, 733. 
Dionysos, 383. 
Dioscurus, 770. 

Discipline, Early Christian, 750. 
Discourses and Dialogues of Con- 
fucius, 115. 
Disease, Spirit of, 87. 
Dissenters, 810. 
Dissolution, The final, 355. 
Divination, 14, 42, 46, 78, 119, 120, 

430. 
Divorce, 113, 534, 553, 679, 854. 
" Doctrine of the Mean," 117. 

of Buddha, 274. 

of the Logos 711. 
Dome of the Rock, 562. 
Dominic, St., 830. 
Dominicans, 831. 
Donaldson, Dr., on the Greek 

Theatre, 400. 
Donar (or Thor), 442. 
Donatists, 756. 

Dc-nothiug Buddhist sect, 334. 
Dort, Synod of, 878. 
Doseh, 570. 

Drama, The Greek, 400. 
Dreams, 6, 26, 42, 46, m. 
Driver, Prof., on Isaiah, 641. 
Druids, 460. 
Druj, 353. 
Druses, 578. 
Drvants. 353. 
Dualism, Zoroastrian doctrine of, 

347. 
Duality of soul, Ql . 
Duchoborzi, 811. 
Duns Scotus, 826. 
Durand, William, 827. 
Durga, 228, 238. 
Dutch Reformed Church, 878. 
Duties of the Four Castes, 203. 

of kings, 208. 
Duw, The Welsh, 458. 
Dyaks, 39. 
Dyaus, 178, 182. 

Dying, The treatment of, by 
Damaras, 45. 

by Hindus, 251. 

by Hottentots, 44. 
Dynasty of Chow, 122. 

E. 

El, 484,485. 
Easter, 752. 
Eastern Church, 797. 
Ebionism, 743. 
Ecclesiastes, 632. 
Eeclesiasticus, 650. 
Eclipse, Heathen ideas of, 75, 76. 
Eddas, The, 439. 
Edkins, Dr., on Chinese morality, 
142. _ 

on Taoism, 159. 
Edward VI.'s Prayer-Books, 884. 

Articles, 884. 
Egypt, Israelites in, 595. 

Plagues of, 597. 



Egyptian religion, 462-482. 

El, 497. 

Eleusinian mysteries, 401. 

Elihu, 635. 

Elijah, 638. 

Elisha, 638. 

Ellis, Major, on West African 

religion, 51, 54, 55. 
Elohim, 586. 
Emperor of China as high priest, 

133, 137. 
Emperors, 777- 
Empire, Holy Roman, 787. 
Encratites, 746. 
England, Church of, 881. 
Ephesus, Council of, 769. 
Ephraem, 762. 
Epic of Izdubar, 494. 
Epicurus, 415. 
Epiphanius, 762. 
Episcopacy, Methodist, 892. 
Episcopal Church, 882, 8b7. 
Epistle to Hebrews, 713. 

of James, 714. 

of Jude, 714. 
Epistles of Barnabas, 709. 

of Ignatius, 708. 

Pauline, 705. 

of Peter, 714. 
Erastianism, 886. 
Erastus, 886. 
Erda, 445. 
Eskimo, The, 61. 
Esoteric Buddhism, 292. 
Essenes, 660. 
Esus, 458. 

Etruscan religion, 420. 
Eucharistic doctrine, 699; and 
passim throughout Christie 
auity. 
European Aryan religion, 371. 
Eusebius, 762. 
Eutyches, 770. 
Evangelicals, 887. 
Exarchs, 764. 
Exorcism, 12, 83, 300, 484. 
Ezekiel, 646. 



I"- 

Faber, 856. 

Fa-hien, 295. 

Faith, 691, 724, 726. 

Fakirs, 563. 

Fall, The, 588. 

Fantis, 50. 

Fast, New Year, 675. 

Fasts, 191, 322, 516, 533, 565, 567, 

614, 678, 753, 807. 
Fatalism, 249. 
Father, The Divine, 690. 
Fatimite dynasty, 542. 
Feast of Tabernacles, 613, 676. 

of Trumpets, 613. 
Feasts, Funeral, 97. 

Chinese, 124. 

Jewish, 613, 67Q. 

Pagoda, 308. 

Sacramental, 16. 

Samaritan, 686. 

for spirits, 27, 95. 
Feng-shui, 162. 
Festivals of Creek Indians, 69. 

of Iroquois, 69. 

of modern Islam, 567. 



INDEX. 



901 



Festivals of Peru, 81. 


Ganges,Hindu superstition about. 


Gods of Vedas, 178, 179, 181-185. 


of Santals, 92. 


251. 


Whydah, 58. 


Ancient Greek, 387, 394, 400. 


Gathas, 357. 


Yorubas, 59. 


Bairam, 565. 


Gautama, 198, 214, 257, 282, 297, 


Goddesses, Teutonic, 445. 


Buddhist, 322. 


314. 


Gold Coast tribes, 50. 


Chaldaean, 495. 


Gayatri, 234. 


Gonds, 86. 


Egyptian, 474. 


Geiger, Dr., on Zoroastrianism 


Goodwin, Bishop Harvey, on 


Harvest, 453. 


349. 


Genesis, 587. 


Hindu, 236, 238, 242. 


Gemara, 656. 


Gospels, Origin of, 705-707. 


Parsee, 367. 


Genii, 428. 


when written, 705. 


Roman, 423. 


Gerson, John, 819. 


synoptic, 706, 710. 


Koman Calendar of, 432. 


Geush-urvan, 352. 


The internal evidence to, 709. 


Sacriticial, 101. 


Ghosts, 26, 51. 


the Fourth, 710, 712, 


Fetishes, Forms of, 47. 


Gifts, Sacrificial, 15. 


the Apocryphal, 713. 


Alleged coercion of, 56. 


Gnosticism, 744. 


Yersions of, 716. 


as mediators, 59. 


God, Arab idea of, 502, 503. 


First successes of, 718. 


Fetishism, 10, 54. 


Chinese conception of, 124. 


Goths, 763, Tt^. 


among Congo tribes, 47, 50. 


Definition of, by Matthew Ar- 


Gottschalk, 794. 


among Dabomans, 58. 


nold, 8. 


Grand " customs " of Dahomey, 


Fetish priests on Gold Coast, 50. 


Hindu conception of, 221. 


57. 


Initiation of, 59. 


Karen traditions of, 94. 


Lamas, 316-318. 


Fijians, 37. 


of the Koran, 528. 


''Great Learning," The, 116. 


Filial piety. Brahman, 206. 


Mencius's conception of, 129. 


Greater Vehicle, 296, 314. 


Chinese idea of, 114, 125, 126, 


Moslem idea of, 548. 


Greek Church, 797, 842. 


140. 


Personal, Confucius on, 112. 


morals, 405, 406, 416. 


Egyptian, 480. 


God and goddess of the Wind, 


philosophers, 407. 


Fiuns, The, 101. 


170. 


religion. Ancient, 371. 


Fire, Sacred, 45, 101. 


Gods of Africans, East, 46. 


and Vedic, 176, 179. 


Sacrificial, 191. 


American Indians, 63, 64. 


Greeks and the Magi, 544. 


Walking through, 154. 


Ancient Greece, 371, 375, 386. 


Gregory Nazianzen, 762. 


Fire-god, Egyptian, 487. 


Araucanians, 1<6. 


of Nyssa, 762. 


Fire-worship, 365. 


Aryans, 177. 


Gregory I., Pope, 784. 


Flamens, 429. 


Bechuanas, 45. 


VIL, Pope, 814. 


Flood, Hindu tradition of, 189. 


Bhils, 85. 


Grimm Jacob, on Teuton myth- 


Flora, 425. 


Bodo, 98. 


ology, 439. 


France, Reformation in, 879. 


Celtic, 457. 


Grote, Mr., on Greek myths, 375. 


Franciscans, or Miuorites, 832. 


Congo tribes, 47. 


Groves, Worship in, 92. 


Francis, St., of Assisi, 831. 


Dahomans, 57. 


Guardian spirits, 93. 


Fraticelli, 833. 


Dakotas, 65, Q^. 


Gniana, Indians of, 74. 


Fravashis, 354. 


Damaras, 44. 


Guru, 232. 


French Protestantism, Modern, 


Dhimals, 98. 




880. 


Dyaks, 39. 




Freyja, 443. 


Egyptian, 482. 


H. 


Friendly Islanders, 31. 


Fijians, 38. 




Friends, The, 891. 


Friendly Islanders, 31. 


Hades, 385. 


Frigg (Frigga), 440. 


Gold Coast tribes, 52, 54, 55. 


Haggai, 646, 647. 


Fro (or Frey), 443. 


Hindus, 194, 195, 216, 219, 221, 


Haidahs, 64. 


Fuegians, 79. 


224, 226-229. 


Haji, 559. 


Future life and Judaism, 600. 


Hottentots, 44. 


Hakim, 578. 


Confucius on, 112, 143. 


Household, of Japan, 172. 


Hamza, 578. 


Heathen idea of, 23, 27, 36, 37, 


Iroquois, 63. 


Hanbalites, 544. 


42, 44, 45, 47, 51, 59, 68, 69, 


Japan, 170, 172. 


Hanifites, 544. 


74, 1^, 82, 91, 94, 96, 101, 


Kaffirs, 45. 


Happy hunting-grounds of Ojib- 


143, 185, 312, 354, 403, 412, 


Kalmucks, 100. 


was, ^"t- 


475, 491, 530. 


Kitchen, 164. 


Hardy, Spence, on Viharas, 297, 


Jesus on, 691. 


Kukis, 96. 


300. 


Job on, 635. 


Local, 372, 463. 


Harun-al-Raschid, 540. 


Psalms on, 629. 


Malagasy, 41. 


Harvest festival, Slavonic, 453. 


Socrates on, 412. 


Manu, 203. 


Harvey Islanders, 32. 




Masai, 46. 


Hathor, 468.^ _ 




Mpongwe, 49. -^ 


Haunting spirits, 454. 


G. 


Nagas, 97. 


Heal -worship of Dahomans, 58. 




Patagonians, 78- 


Heaven, The Buddhist, 315. ^ 




Peru, 80. 


and earth as creative powers, 


Gaboon, 49. 


Philistines, 499. 


484. 


Galerius, 734. 


Polynesians, 34. 


Heathen idea of, 27, 36, 48, ^1. 


Galilean Confession, 879. 


Roman household, 426. 


Moslem idea of, 530. 


Gallienus, 733. 


Samoans, 31. 


Slavonian idea of, 454. 


Gall, St., 786. 


Santals, 91. 


Tlie Son of, 126. 


Galton, Francis, on the Damaras, 


Slavonian, 453. 


Hebrews, The Epistle to, 713. 


44. 


Society Islanders, 35. 


Heidelberg Catechism, 872. 


Games, Ancient Greek, 400. 


Suraatrans, 40. 


Heiradal, 445. 


Olympic, 400. 


Taoists, 157, 158, 164. 


Heitjeebib, 44. 


Pythian, 400. 


Teuton, 445, 447. 


Hel and her domain, 446. 


Ganesa, 228. 


Tribal, 375, 501. 


Helios, 378. 


Ganga, 228. 


Tutelary, of Gold Coast, 51. 


Hell, Chinese idea of, 334. 



902 



INDEX. 



Hell, Hindu, 250. 

Mahometan, 530. 

Mandan, %1 . 

i)i Manu, 203. 

Slavonian, 454. 

Teutonic, 449. 
Hellenism, 435. 

Helvetic Confession, The Second, 
870. 

Consensus, 871- 
Henry lY., The Emperor, 814. 
Henry VIII., 882. 
Hephaistos, 382. 
Hera, 377. 
Heraclius, 512. 
Hermes, 383. 

Hermit, The Brahman, 198, 208. 
Hermits, 760. 
Hestia, 382. 
Hicksite Friends, 891. 
Hierarchy of Eastern Ch arch, 803. 
High Church, 887. 
Hildebrand, 814. 
Hillel, 655. 
Hincmar, 794. 
Hindu doctrines, 188. 

ideals, 202. 

morals, 189, 252, 254. 

pilgrimages, 239. 

religiousness, 232. 

ritual, 198. 

sects, 243. 
Hinduism, Modern, 212, 231. 
Hippolytus, 742. 
Hirata, 169-171. 
Hislop, Rev. Mr., on Aboriginal 

Tribes, 87, 88. 
Holy War, 567. 
Horus, 468. 
Hosain, 540. 
Hosea, 639. 
Hospitallers, 828. 
"Host, the," Adoration of, 823, 

851. 
Hottentots, 43. 
House-spirit, Slavonian, 455. 
Hsiao-King, 125. 
Hu, 58. 
Huaca, 80. 
Hueu-Siang, 295. 
Hungary, Heformed Churches of, 

880. 
Hunter, Sir W., on Vishnu woi'- 

ship, 220. 
Huss, John, 840. 
Hvrnus, Babylonian, 491. 

Early Vedic, 178-180, 182-188. 



I. 

Iblis, 530. 
Ibraliim, 576. 
Ideals, Hindu, 202. 
Idolatry, 8, 50, 532. 
Idols, Arab, 503. 

Balonda, 46. 

Malagasy, 42. 

Mpongwe, 49. 

Papuan, 39. 
Ignatius, 728, 790. 

Epistles of, 708. 

Martyrdom of, 729. 
Images, Babylonian, 496. 

of Buddha, 297, 298, 304, 311, 
327, 328. 



Images, Chinese, 166, 327, 328. 

in churches, 780, 788, 805. 

Hindu, 236, 241. 

of Peruu, 452. 

Roman, 854. 

Slavonic, 453. 

Teutonic, 448. 
Imams, 547- 

Immaculate conception, 860. 
Immanuel, 641. 
Immortality, 24, 190. 

Hindu doctrine of, 217. 

Jesus and, 691, 702. 

Job and, 635. 

Moses and, 600. 

the Psalms and, 629. 

Zoroastrian teaching of, 354. 
Incas, 80. 
Independents, 890. 
India, Aboriginal religions of, 83. 

Mahommedans of, 580. 
Indian Mosques, 564. 
"Indian Wisdom," by Monier- 

Williams, 215. 
Indians, Creek, 63, 69, 70. 

of Guiana, 74. 

Korth American, 62, 63. 

South American, 23, 74. 
Indra, 178, 181, 195. 
Infallibility, Papal, 861. 
Innocent III., 816. 
Inquisition, 838. 

Institutes of the Sacred Law, 198. 
Instructions of I-yin, 121. 
Intermediate state, 531. 
Invocation of the dead, 84. 

of the Nile, 474. 
Ipalnemoan, 71. 
Ireuseus, 738. 
Irminsal, 449. 
Iroquois, 63, 69. 
Irving, Edward, 627, 894. 
Irvingites, 895. 
Isaac, Sacrifice of, 594. 
Ibaiah, 639-642. 

The second, 642-644. 
Ise, Temples of, 174. 
Isidorian Decretals, 792. 
Isis, 467. 
Islam, 532. 

Modern, 539, 565. 
Israel, History of, 591. 

Prophets of, 637-648. 

Religious growth of, 626. 
Israelites, 481, 483. 
Istaf, 487. 
I-yin, 121. 
Izdubar, 494. 

J. 

Jabarites, 544. 

Jackson, Dr. H., on Socrates, 408. 

Jacob, 594. 

Jacobi, Prof., on Mahavira, 339. 

Jacobites, Syrian, 773. 

Jagannath, 226, 232, 242. 

Jaimini, 198. 

Jainism, 337. 

Jains, Beliefs of, 339. 

James, St., 726. 

Epistle of, 714. 
Jansen, 858. 
Janus, 423. 
Japan, Deities of, 172. 



Japan, Religion of, 102, 167. 
Japanese Buddhism, 336. 

prayers, 171, 173. 
Jehovah, 586. 
Jeremiah, 645. 
Jerome, 763. 

of Prague, 841. 
Jesuits, 856, 858-860. 
Jesus, 682, 687. 

and the Koran, 531. 

History of, 687-704. 

contrasted with other teachers, 
688_. _ 

the originality of His teaching, 
689. 

the originality of His character, 
689. 

His ideal of love, 690. 

His teaching of a Divine Father, 
690. 

and the future life, 691. 

His teaching about faith, 691. 

and forgiveness of sin, 691. 

and the truth, 692. 

and the law of kindness, 692. 

His relation to God the Father, 
693. 

His relation to mankind, 693. 

the affection He inspired, 694. 

His treatment of women, 694. 

His treatment of children, 695. 

Voluntary limitation of, 695. 

His miracles, 695. 

and salvation from sin, ^^Q. 

and liberation from lower na- 
ture, 698. 

the purpose of His life and 
death, 698. 

the Society He founded, 699. 

the Sacrameuts, 699. 

His mode of teaching, 699, 700. 

His parables, 700. 

His predictions, 700. 

His passion, 701. 

His resurrection, 702. 

St. Paul's testimony to, 702. 

His ascension, 703. 
Jewish modern ritual, 670. 

modern religion, 601-686. 
Jews, Dispersion of, 649, 661. 

and Mahomet, 516, 519. 

Moral condition of, 620. 

Persecution of, 664, 665. 
Jinn, 502. 

Job, Book of, 632-636. 
Joel, 639. 
John, St., 726. 

St., Gospel and Epistles of, 710. 

Chrysostom, St., 762. 

of Damascus, 788. 

XXII., Heresy of, 818. 
Jovinian, 781. 
Jubilee, Year of, 611. 
Judaism after the Prophets, 649- 

669. 
Jude, Epistle of, 714. 
Judgment, Day of, 531, 635. 
Juggernaut worship, 223. 
Julian the Apostate, 758. 
Jummoo Musjid, 564. 
Juno, 422. 
Jupiter, 372, 420. 
Jurupari, 76. 
Justification, 850. 
Justinian, 771. 
Justin Martyr, 709, 735-737- 



INDEX. 



903 



K. 

Kaaba, Eebuilding of, 505. 
Kabbalah, 6S0. 
Kabir, 222. 

Panthis,.244. 
Kabiri, 498. 
Kaffirs, 23, 45. 
Kalevala, The, 101. 
Kali, 87, 228. 
Kalki avatar, 226. 
Kalmucks, 100. 
Kami-no-michi, 168. 
Kang-hi, 141). 
Kanishka, 295. 
Kan-ying-peen, 154. 
Kao-yao, 121. 
Karaites, 6/0, 682. 
Karens, 9-3. 
Karma, 292. 
Kasias, 98. 
Kenaima, The, 75. 
Kerbela, 580. 

Keshub Chunder Sen, 248. 
Khadijah, 504, 5L1. 
Khariiites, 544. 
Khonds, 88. 
Khshathra-varya, 350. 
King-deification, 208, 470. 
Kisweh, 567- 
Knox, John, 872. 
Ko-hung, 152. 
Koran, 527-538, 547. 
Koreish, 514, 519, 520. 
Kotas, 85. 
Kremlin, 798. 
Krishna, 2_15-217, 226. 
Kronos, 373. 
Kshatriya, 203, 204. 
Kuenen on the Prophets, 637 
Kukis, 96. 
KuUavagga, 290. 
Kuraarila, 214. 
Kwan-ti, 160. 

Kwan-yin, 328. 



La, 93. 

La-brang, The monastery of, 319. 

Lactantius, 762. 

Lada, 454. 

Lado, 454. 

Lake, Sacred, of the Egyptians, 

478. 
Lakshmi, 227- ^ 
Lamas, 316, 317. 
Lanfranc, 815. 
Laos, 311. 

Lao-tze, 103, 144-149, 151, 153. 
Lares, 426. 
Latins, The, 419. 
Law of Mann, 200. 

Mosaic, 604. 

Reading of, 675. 
Le, son of Confucius, 104. 
Legge, Dr., 109, 112, 114,124,162. 
Lemures, 427. 
Leo L, 777. 

IX., 814. 

the Armenian, 790. 
" Lesser Vehicle," 296. 
Levites, 624. 
Libitina, 426. 
Lieh-tze, 150. 
Li-ki, or Book of Rite?, 116, 126. 



Linga, 224, 228. 

Lithuanians, 796. 

Liturgies, 171, 360, 684, 782, 783, 

804. 
Lo, Foundation of, 122. 
Local deities, Hindu, 229. 

gods, 372, 375. 

religion, Egyptian, 485. 
Logos, The, 654, 711. 
Loki, 446. 
Lollards, 840, 882. 
Lord's Supper, 751, 869. (See 

also Communion.) 
Louis, St., 818. 
Love-feast, 751. 
Loyola, Ignatius, 856. 
Luther, 627. 843-847, 882. 
Lutheran Churcli, 865-880. 
Lyons, Second Council of, 818. 

M. 

Mabuchi, 169. 
Madras, 244. 
Magi, 343, 361. 
Magic, 151, 483. 
Magistrates and augurs, 431. 
Mahabharata, 215. 
Mahavagga, 285. 
Mahavira, 338. 
Mahmal, 567- 

Mahometanism, 60, 222, 500-584. 
Mahomet, Life of, 500 526. 
Family of, 504. 
birth and early life, 504. 
his marriage, 504, 511, 519. 
the awakening of iiis spirit, 

506. 
and the vision of Gabriel, 506. 
receives the command to preach, 

506. 
his nervous disorders, 507- 
his early adherents, 507- 
and the iirst pledge of Acaba, 

511. 
his vision of Jerusalem and 

heaven, 512. 
and the second pledge of Acaba, 

511. 
leaves Mecca, 514. 
at Medina, 514, 515. 
his later life, 517- _ 
his wars and politics, 517, 518. 
figh<-s at the battle of Badr, 

°518. 
visits Mecca, 520. 
marches on Mecca, 520. 
destroys the Meccan idols, 521. 
Mecca submits to, 521. 
wins battle of Honein, 522. 
and the Coptic maid, 522. 
his domiuion, 522. 
proclaims ban against un- 
believers, 523. 
his last pilgrimage, 523. 
his last illaess, 524. 
his death and burial, 525. 
Personal characteristics of, 525, 
his frailties, 525. 
his character and influence, 
526. 
Maimonides, 662. 
Maitreya, 314. 
Malachi, 647- 
Malagasy, 41. 



Malikites, 544. 
Manes, 427,746. 
Manetos, Ql. 
Mangaians, 32. 
Manichgeism, 746, 836. 
Manju-sri, 315. 
Manu, 189, 200, 203. 
Maoris, 29. 
Maponos, 457. 
Mara, 280. 
Marang Burn, 91. 
Marburg, Conference of, 846. 
Marcion, 746. 
Marduk, 486. 
Mariolatry, 781, 822. 
Maronites, 775. 

Marriages, 199, 206,207,310,311, 
367, 402, 431, 534, 552, 616, 
618, 678, 854. 
Mars, 422. 

Martin of Tours, St., 761. 
Martyrs, Christian, 718, 727, 729, 

731, 732. 
Maruts, 182. 
Masai, 46. 
Mass, 852. 

Massacres of Dahomey, 57- 
Mathurins, 830. 
Matlose, 64. 
Matu, 488. 
Man, 57, 59. 
Maui, 29,34. 

Maxims of Emperor Kang-hi, 140. 
Maya, 249. 
Mayas, 74. 

Mazda (see Ahura), 349. 
Mazdaism, Early rites of, 360. 
Mbwiri worship, 49. 
Mecca, 504, 507, 512, 516, 519, 

520, 521, 523, 556, 559, 576. 
Mediatory animal;?, 85. 
Medicine men, 40, 63, 76, 86. 
Medina, 514-516, 519, 562, 576. 
Megarians, 415. 
Mehemet-Ali, 576. 
Melanchthon, 865. 
Melchizedek, 592. 
Melito, 737. 
Melkarth, 497. 
Mencius, his life and teaching, 

128. 
Mendelssohn, Moses, 660. 
Mennonites, 889. 
Mercy, Orders of, 830. 
Merodach, 486. 
Meshed, 580. 
Mesopotauiians, 496. 
Messianic prophecies, 647. ■ 

hope, 651. 
Methodists, 892, 893. 
Methodius, 796. 
Metropolitan, 753. 
Mexicans, 71- 
Mezuzah, 679. 
Mfumo, 46. 
Mganga. 46. 
Micah, 644. 
Mikado, 168. 
Milan, Edict of, 755. 
Millenarians, 749. 
Minerva, 424. 
Minims, 833. 
Miracle-plays, 238. 
Miracles, 537, 695, 822. 
Mirror, Sacred, 169, 174. 
Mishmis, 99. 



904 



INDEX. 



Mishna, 656. 



Missionary religions, 293. 

Missions, 5, 802. 

Mistletoe, 458. 

Mitliraism, 356, 363. 

Mitra, 179, 180, 351, 352, 360. 

Moharram, 567. 

Mohler, 856. 

Mollahs, 573. 

Moloch, 498. 

Molokani, 811. 

Mommsen on Koman religion, 

434. 
Monarchism, 747. 
Monasteries, 303, 304, 306, 318, 

319, 331, 799. 
Monastic life, 778. 
Monasticism, 827. 
Mongol emperors, 316, 326. 
Monier- Williams, Sir, Quotations 
from, 179, 185, 188, 215, 226, 
293. 
Monks, "Buddhist, 262, 278, 282, 
300. 
of Eastern Church, 805. 
Monophysite controversy, 771- 
Monotheism, 18, 187, 224, 463, 

496. 
Monothelites, 772. 
Montanists, 748. 
Monuments, Mithraic, 363 ._ 
Monumental stones of Kasias, 98. 
Moon-god of Ur, 486. 
Moon, New, Jewish observation 

of, 675. 
Moon worship, 44, 57, 80. 
Moravia, 796. 
Moravians, 841, 842. 
Moscow, 798. 
Moses, 585-600. 
Moslem hell, 531. 

paradise, 530. 
Mosques, Indian, 564. 
Mahometan, 516, 554, 556, 562, 
563. 
Motazilites, 543. 
Motoori, 169. 
Motoro, 54. 
Mount Aba, 340. 
Mountain, Sacred, of Tai-shang, 

141. 
Mourning, 27, 31, 35, 127, 166. 
Mpongwe, 49. 

Muir, Dr.. 179, 180, 516, 517. 
Miiller, Prof. A., on modern 

Islam, 573. 
Miiller, Max, 178, 193, 195. 
Mul-lil, 484, 486. 
Mulungu, 46. 
Mythology, 39. 
Shinto, 168. 
Mysteries, Eleusinian, 401. 
Mystics, 839. 
Myths, Aryan, 459. 
Growth of, 374. 

N. 

Nagas, 97. 

Namaquas, 44. 

!N'anga,-39. 

Nantes, Edict of, 879. 

Napoleon and the Jews, ^^^. 

National covenant, 874. 



Nature gods, 498. 
Nature-personification, 372, 373. 
Nature-religions, 22, 465. 
Nature-worship, 8, 91, 178, 372, 

451. 
Nat- worship, 309. 
Nazarites, 615. 
Nebo, 489. 

Negroes and Mahometauism, 582. 
Neith, 468. 
I^ergal, 487, 490. 
Nerthus, 445. 
Nestoriaus, 769. 
Nestorius, 769. 
New Caledonians, 27. 
Church, 894. 
Year fast, 675. 
Nicsea, Council of, 757- 
Nicene Creed, 850. 
Nicolas of Basle, 839. 
Nicon, 799. 

Nile, Invocation of, 474. 
Nin, 490. 
Nirvana, 258, 273, 274, 277, 282, 

289, 339. 
Njord, 444. 
Noah, 590. 

Nodens, 458. 

Noldeke, Dr., on Koran, 536. 

Nonconformists, 881. 

Non-religious races, 23, 60. 

Nootkas, 64. 

Norwegian worship of Thor, 442. 

Nuns, Buddhist, 264, 332. 

Nyankupon, 52. 

Nyaya, 197- 

Nymphs, Prophetic, 426. 

0. 

Oak, Sacred, 452. 
Oaths, 41, 90, 549, 802. 
Oath-stone of the Kasias, 98. 
Observants, 833. 
Occam, William of, 827- 
Odes, Book of, 123. 

Chinese, Extract from, 124, 
136. 
Odin, 440. 

Offerings, Fruit and drink, 448. 
Human, 81. 
Jewish, 606. 
Trespass, 607. 
Votive, 388. 
Ogmios, 457. 
Oko-kuni-nushi, 171. 
Olaf, 796. 
Old Believers, The, 810. 

Catholics, 863. 
Oldenburg, Prof., on Buddha, 

256, 261, 262, 280. 
Olorun, 59. 
Olympic festival, 400. 
Om, The syllable, 192, 198, 205, 

234. 
Omakuru, 44. 
Omar, Mosqne of, 563. 
Omens, 11, 14, 97, 119. 
Ommyads, 540. 
On, 466. 
Onkteri, 65. 
Onyambo, 49. 
Oracles, 397, 475. 
Order, The Buddhist, 274, 284 
294. 



Orders of Brahmans, 198. 

Modern Islam, 568. 

Roman Catholic, 854. 
Origen, 739. 
Original sin, 850. 
Origin of things, Vedic, 179. 

of world, 193. 
Ormuzd, 347, 348, 350. 354. 
Oro, 59. 

Osiris, 466, 475-477. 
Ostiaks, 99. 
Oukko, 101. 

Outcasts, Brahman, 200. 
Ove, 38. 

P. 

Pachomius, 761. 

Pagahn, The pagodas of, 307. 

Pagodas, Burmese, 306, 307. 

feasts, 308. 
Pahlavi, 343, 361. 
Pale?, 425. 
Pali books, 283, 285. 
Pallas Athene, 377-^ 
Panchen Lamas, 317- 
Pantheism, 18, 187, 193, 194, 203, 

215, 572. 
Papacy, 787- 
Papal infallibility, 861. 

legates, 819. 
Papias on the origin of the Gos- 
pels, 707. 
Papuans, 23, 39. 
Parables, 700. 

Buddhist, 270. 
Paradise, 530, 554. 
Parasnath, 341. 
Parsees, 365-367_, 369, 370. 
Parted spirits, 171. ■ 
Pascal, 858. 
Paschasius, 793. 
Passion plays, 574. 
Passover, 613, ^11 - 
Patagonians, 78. 
Patriarchs, 325, 595, 753, 799. 
Patrick, St., 785. 
Patripassians, 747- 
Patronage, 876. 
Paul, St., 702, 720. 
his early life, 720. 
his conversion, 720. 
his labours, 720. 
at Antioch, 721. 
at Corinth and Ephesus, 722. 
is arrested at Jerusalem, 722. 
' imprisoned at Rome, 722. 
his character, 722. 
his writings, 723. 
his theology, 723. 
his teaching about Christ, 724. 
his teaching about faith, 724. 
on the penalty of sin, 724. 
on the Christian spirit, 724. 
on sacrifice, 725. 
on the church, 725. 
on the sacraments, 725. 
Paul of Saraosata., 747- 
Paulicians, 836. 
Pauline epistles, 705. 
Peai-man, 76. 
Pelagianisra, 768. 
Pelagius, 1^1. 
Pelasgians, 372. 
Penance, 200, 820, 851. 



INDEX. 



905 



Penates, 426. 


Priests, Buddhist, 300. 


Rangoon, The great temple of, 306. 


Penitential psalm, Egyptian, 484. 


Chaldsean, 494. 


Rationalism, 896. 


Pentateuch, 586, 587, 604. 


Chinese, 133. 


Ratramn, 793. 


Samaritan, 684. 


of the Congo tribes, 48. 


Ratumaimbulu, 38. 


Pentecost, 613, 678. 


Dakotan, m. 


Real Presence, 793, 823, 851. 


Perowne, Dean, on Genesis, 587. 


Egyptian, 472. 


Rechabites, 615. 


Perrone, 806. 


Fetish, 50, 59. 


Red Sea, Passage of, 598. 


Personification of Nature, 373. 


Hereditary, 623. 


Reformation, The, 819, 835. 


Peruu (or Perkunos), 452. 


Hindu, 188, 236. 


Refuge, Cities of, 617. 


Peruvians, 80. 


Hottentot, 44. 


Relics, 780, 821, 854. 


Peshito version of Gospels, 716. 


Jewish, 621, 623, 624. 


Religion, Aboriginal, 43, 61, 83 


Peter, Epistles of, 714. 


The Karen, 94. 


Classification of, 20, 22. 


St., 718, 720. 


of the Khonds, 90. 


Definition of, 2. 


Peter the Great, 801. 


of the Kukis, 96. 


Development of, 3. 


Petrobusians, 836. 


Maori, 30. 


Importance of study of, 4, 5. 


Pharisees, 659. 


of the Ostiaks, 100. 


and missions, 5, 293. 


Philaret, 802. 


Parish, 805. 


Nature, 22. 


Philippists, 866. 


Parsee, 366. 


Science of, 20. 


Philistines, The gods of, 499. 


Peruvian, 81. 


Universal, 20, 22. 


Philo of Alexandria, 652-654. 


Eain-making, 28. 


Religious persecution, 835. 


Philosophers, Greek, 407. 


Roman, 429. 


Remission of sins, Taoist idea of,. 


Philosophy, Brahman, 193, 194. 


Samoan, 32. 


160. 


Sankhya, 197- 


of the Santals, 92. 


Renaissance, 842. 


Vedantist, 215. 


Shinto, 173. 


Repentance, Days of, 675. 


Yoga, 198. 


Slavonic, 455. 


Republic of Plato, 414. 


Phoebus, 378. 


Tahitian, 36. 


Revelation, The, 714. 


Phoenician religion, 483. 


Taoist, 154, 162, 164. 


Revenge, 114, 617. 


Phon-gyees, 304. 


Teuton, 449. 


Rewards, 186, 202, 250. 


Photius, 790. 


Primates, 764. 


and Punishments, Book of, 154. 


Phylacteries, 672. 


Prithivi, 178. 


Rhys, Prof., on Celtic Heathen- 


Pictures in churches, 780. 


Processions, 474. 


dom, 456. 


Pilamas, 297- 


Prophetic nymphs, 426. 


Rifayeh, 568. 


Pilgi-images, 239, 240, 340, 502, 


Prophets of Israel, 637-648. 


Rig-Veda, 177, 183, 185-187, 195. 


534, 559, 781. 


of Koran, 531. 


Rimmon, 490. 


Pillan, 76. 


Protestantism, 3, 880. 


Rishis, 178. 


Pirit, the ceremony, 300. 


Proverbs of Solomon, 631. 632. 


Rites, Book of, 126, 127. 


Pisa, Council of, 819. 


Psalms, 627-631. 


Ritual, 170, 175, 198, 205, 206^ 


Plato, 407, 413, 414, 803. 


Psalter of Solomon, 652. 


220, 234, 235, 321, 322, 453» 


Pliny, 727. 


Pseudo-Clementine writings, 739. 


476, 569, 670, 686. 


Pluto, 385. 


Ptah, 468. 


Ritualists, 887. 


Poles, 799. 


Punishment, Brahman, 209. 


Roman books, 862. 


Polybius, 417. 


Chinese, 120. 


Catholics, Number of, 862. 


Polycarp, 729. 


Future, 96, 161, 162, 186, 250 


Church in middle ages, 811-834. 


Polynesians, 23. 


276, 869. 


Congregations, 862. 


Pomeranians, 796. 


Puranas, 220, 222. 


Early Empire, 437. 


Pomona, 425. 


Purgatory, 160, 854. 


Empire, 787- 


Pontiff's, 430. 


Puri, 239, 240. 


Early Republic, 436. 


Popes, The, 777, 818, 819. 


Purification, 191, 198, 616. 


names of Celtic gods, 437- 


Poseidon, 385. 


Puritans, 889. 


Romanisation of Greek gods, 426. 


Prajapati, 187, 195. 


Purity and impurity, Jewish, 656. 


Romanism, Modern, 849-864. 


Prayer Book, 886. 


Pu-sa, 161, 322. 


Rome, ancient. Religion of, 176, 


cylinders, 321. 


Pushan, 183. 


179, 418-438. 


walls and flags, 321. 


Puthen, 96. 


Bishopric of, 753, 765. 


Prayers, Brahman, 200. 


Pyrrho, 416. 


Rongo, 34. 


Chinese, 125, 135. 




Roumanian Church, 798. 


Japanese, 170, 171, 173. 




Russian Church, 797, 798. 


Jewish, 613. 


Q- 


Russians, 799. 


Mahometan, 528, 533, 550, 569. 






Mexican, 72. 


Quabootze, 64. 




New Caledonian, 28. 


Quakers, 891. 


S. 


Teuton, 4i7. 


Quartodecimans, 752. 




to ancestors, 136. 


Quesnel, 858. 
Quiches, 74. 


Sabbath, The, 609, 655, 674,f686.. 


to saints, 854. 


Sabbatic year, 611. 


Praying by machinery, 319, 321. 




Sabbatniki, 811. 


Predestination, 532, 794, 869. 


R. 


Sabellius, 747. 


Presbyterians, Reformed, 876. 




Sacramental feasts, 16. 


United, 876. 


Ra, 465. 


Sacraments, 699, 803, 820, 851. 


Priesthoods, 15, 34. 


Rabbi chief, 670. _ 


Sacred animals, 35, 42, 44, 50, 58, 


Priestley, 895. 


Races, Non-religious, 23. 


84. 


Priestly orders in Early Church, 


Ragnarok, 449. 


books of Chinese, 115. 


752. 


Rama, 218, 226. 


of Karens, 94. 


Priests, Ancient Grecian, 387, 390, 


Ramadan fast, 516, 533, 565. 


days of Chaldeeans, 495. 


392. 


Ramanand, 222. 


fire, 45, 101. 


of the Battas, 41. 


Ramanujas, 243, 


lake of the Egyptians, 478. 


of the Bechuanas, 45. 


Ramayana, 215, 218. 


mirror, 169, 174. 


of the Bodo and Dhimals, 98. 


Rammohun Roy, 247. 


mountain of Tai-Shan, 141. 



3 N 



'9o6 



INDEX. 



Sacred places of the Arabs, 502. 

rivers, 92. 

stigmata, 832. 

syllable OM, 192, 198, 205. 

tree, 44, 58, 230, 452. 
Sacrifices, 42, 65, 123, 134, 267, 
387, 388. 

Animal, 16, 41, 45, 50, 52, 63, 
68, 81, 86, 120, 126, 134, 138, 
188, 189, 447, 474, 495, 498, 
502, 517. 

to ancestors, 124. 

to the dead, 136. 

for the dead, 206. 

Expiatory, 15, 16. 

Household, 191. 

Human, 16, 35, 38, 57, 58, 64, 
72, 87, 89, 90, 189, 242, 447, 
495, 498, 502. 
Sacrificial fires, 191. 

gifts, 15, 63, 503. 
Sadducees, 660. 
Saints, Prayers to. 854, 

Worship of, 571, 781. 
Saktas, 244. 
Sakyamuni, 324. 
Saladin, 542. 
Salagram, 224. 
Samaritans, 670, 683. 
Samas, 487. 
Sama-Veda, 189. 
Samoans, 31. 
Samoyedes, 101. 
Samuel, 626. 
Sandwich Islanders, 36. 
Sanhedrim, 655. 
Sankara, 219. 
Sankhya, 197- 
San-kwan, 160. 
Santals, 91. 
Sasabonsum, 52. 
Satapatha-Brahmana, 189. 
Savitri, 182. 
Savonarola, 843. 
Savoy Conference, 890. 
Scandinavian religion, 439. 
Scapegoat, The, 607. 
Schools, Buddhist, 302, 331. 
Schuyler, Mr. Eugene, on Turke- 
stan, 569. 
Scotch Confession, 872. 
Scotland, Free Church of, 877. 
Scottish B/oformation, 872. 
Scott, Mr. (" Shway Yoe") on 

Buddhism, 302, 307. 
Scotus, John, 793, 794.. 
Scribes, 655. 
Scriptures, Buddhist, 256, 283. 

Christian, 705-716. 

Jewish, 604, 627-648. 

Moslem, 527. 

Tibetan, 314. 
Sculpture, Greek, 395. 
Se, of the Dahomans, 57. 
Sects, Sivaitic, 244. 

of Taoism, 154. 

of Vishnu, 244. 
Seen-jin, 160. 

Self-existent, The Upanishad doc- 
trine of the, 193-195, 211. 

-discipline, Buddhist, 281. 

-repression, Hindu, 202. 
Semi-pelagianism, 769. 
Semitic religion, 462. 
Seneca, 438. 
Sepharvaim, 487. 



Septimius Severus, 731. 

Septuagint, 649. 

Serapis, 467. 

" Servant of the Lord," 642-644. 

Servetus, 870. 

Services of Eastern Church, 804. 

Seven Sacraments, 851. 

Seventh month of the Jews, 611. 

Shafiites, 544. 

Shamanism, 14, 62. 

Shamans of Ostiaks, 100. 

Shamraai, 655. 

Shango, 59. 

Shang-ti, 124, 130, 142. 

Shastras, The six, 197. 

Shayast, 362. 

Shechinah, 608. 

Shiites, 542, 572. 

Shi-king, The, 123, 124. 

Shin-shin, 336. 

Shin-toism, 167-169, 173. 

Shu, 466. 

Shu-king, 120-122. 

Shway Dagohn Payah , 306. 

Siamese Buddhism, 310. 

Sibylline books, 435. 

Sick, The treatment of, 45, 51, 

99, 165, 302, 679. 
Sidgwick, Prof., on Socrates, 410. 
Sikh Bible, 246. 
Sikhs, 247. 
Sikidy, 42. 
Siliditya, 295. 
Silvanus, 425. 
Sin, Ancient Greek idea of, 390. 

Forgiveness of, 691. 

Moslem idea of, 548. 

Original, 850. 

Salvation from, 696. 
Singhalese Buddhism, 297. 
Siva, 219, 224, 227, 240. 
Sivaitic sects, 244. 
Siza, 167. 

Slaves, Jewish, 618. 
I Mahometan, 553. 
Slavonian religion, 451, 453, 454. 
Smalcald, Articles of, 866. 
! Small-pox, Spirit of, 87. 

Smartas, 220. 
i Smith, Mr. George, his discoveries, 
! 492. 

I Smith, Prof. Robertson, on sacri- 
1 ficial worship, 6. 

1 on Isaiah, 641. 
I on the Pentateuch, 604. 
Snake worship, 57. 
Society Islanders, 35. 
Socinus, 895. 
Socrates, 407. 
1 his mode of life, 407. 

his discharge of religious duties, 
408. 

his sign or daemon, 408. 

not a sceptic, 409. 

and the Deity, 409. 

his view of Providence, 409. 

a moral teacher, 410. 

his ardour for knowledge, 410. 

personal appearance, 411. 

and his judges, 411. 

his condemnation, 411. 

his death, 413. 

on the future life, 412. 
Solomon Islanders, 21 . 
Soma, 182. 
" Son of Heaven," The, 126, 132. 



I Sophers, 671. 
! Sorcery, 14, 25, 26, 62. 
I Soudan, 60. 

! Soul, Buddhist doctrine of, 276. 
I " Soul of the Bull," 352. 
I South American Indians, 74. 
! Spenta-Armati, 350. 
Spiers, Diet of, 846. 
Spirit, House, Slavonian, 455. 

of Wisdom, Opinions of 362. 

world. Heathen idea of, 35, 74, 
83, 84, 91. 

worship, 112, 120, 168, 170. 
Spirits, Chinese ideas of, 155. 

of the departed, 6, 84, 172. 

Evil, Chinese dread of, 162. 

Guardian, 93, 125. 

Haunting, 454. 

Heathen idea of, 33, 75, 79. 

Inferior Slavonian, 454. 

of Land and Grain, 136. 

of natural objects, 91. 

Parted, 121. 

Scolding of, by Kukis, 98. 
Spiritual beings, Confucius on, 
118. 

chiefs of Friendly Islanders, 31. 
Spiritualism, 6. 
Srahmantin, 52. 
Sraosha, 352. 
Stanley, Dean, on Abraham, 593. 

on Russian pictures, 809. 
Star-worship, 159, 492. 
State religion of China, 132. 
Stephen, Martyrdom of, 718. 
Stephen, St., of Hungary, 796. 
Stoics, 416. 
Stonehenge, 458. 
Storm-gods, Vedic, 182. 
Sublime way of heaven, 147. 
Substitution, 16. 
Sudra, 203. 

Suffering, Buddhist idea of, 259, 
269. 

Vicarious, 643. 
Sufism, 571, 572. 
Suhman, 54, 55. 
Sumatrans, 40. 
Sun, Brahman idea of, 190. 

gods, 182, 487. 

Spirit of, 64. 

worship, 80, 101. 
Sunnites, 542, 573. 
i Superior man, the, Chinese idea 
of, 115, 117, 120,145. 
Superstitions, 2, 40, 44, 49, 50, 60. 
Supremacy, Royal, 883-885. 
Supreme Brahman, 219. 
Surya, 182. 
Sutras, 196. 
Suttee, 253. 
Svantovit, 453. 
Svarog, 451. 
Svetasvatara, 194. 
Swedenborg, Emanuel, 893. 
Swiss Old Catholics, 864. 

Reformed Churches, 872. 
Symbols of gods, 87. 
Symeon Stylites, St., 761. 
Synagogue, 610, 611, 671. 

government, 670. 
Synod, The Holy, 801. 

" The Robber," 771. 
Synoptic gospels, 706, 710. 
Syriac version of gospels, 716. 
Syrian Jacobites, 773. 



INDEX. 



907 



Tabernacle, The, 602. 

Feast of, 613, 676. 
Tablets to ancestors, 134, 140, 168. 

Chaldaic, 493. 
Taboo, The, 12, 36. 
Tai-Shau, Sacred mountain of, 

141. 
Taj Mehal, 564. 
Talmud, 656-658. 
Tama-dasuki, 171. 
Tammuz, 487. 

Sects of, 154. 
Tando, 52. 
Tantras, 246. 
Tao, 147. 

Taoism, 144, 149, 150, 152. 
Taoist temples, 158, 160. 
Tao-te-King, 146. 
Tashi Lunpo, 319. 
Tashkend, 569. 
Tasmaniaus, 26. 
Tatian, 737, 746. 
Tauler, 839. 

"Teaching of the Twelve Apos- 
tles," 734. 
Tefnut, 466. 
Templars, The, 828. 
Temple of the Accomplished An- 
cestor, 120. 

of Ancestors, 135, 136. 

Delphian, 379. 

of Frey at Trondheim, 443. 

of Herod, 626. 

to Lao-tze, 151. 

to Mencius, 131. 

of Merodach, 488. 

at Pekin, 132, 133. 

The great Rangoon, 306. 

at Eugen, 453. 

to Son of Heaven, 127. 

Tanfana, 448. 

of Zerubbabel, 625. 
Temples, 15. 

of ancient Greece, 387, 394-396. 

Aztec, 72. 

Burmese, 306, 307- 

Cave, 298. 

Chinese Buddhist, 327, 329. 

to Confucius, 138. 

Egyptian, 470. 

Hindu, 235, 239, 240,243, 247. 

of Ise, 174. 

Jain, 340, 341. 

Japanese, 168, 172. : 

at Jerusalem, 624-626. 

MongoHan, 318. 

Mpongwe idol, 49. 

at Palitana, 340. 

Peruvian, 81. 

Private, of ancient Greece, 393. 

Eock, 212. 

Eoman, 428. 

on Sacred Mountain, 141, 142. 

Shinto, 173. 

Siamese, 311. 

Slavonian, 455. 

Taoist, 158, 160. 

Teuton, 443, 448. 

Tibetan, 318, 319. 
Teocallis, 72. 
Tertullian, 742. 
Testament, Nev?, 705. 

Manuscripts of New, 715. 

Old, 586. 



Teushi, 169. 

Teutonic cosmogony, 446. 

goddesses, 445. 

gods, 447. 

mythology, 439. 

religion, 439. 
Thang, The Emperor, 121. 
Theism, 18. 
Themis, 378. 

Theodora, The Empress, 790. 
Theodore of Mopsuestia, 769. 
Theodore, the Studite, 790. 
Theodoric, 771. 
Theology, 20, 824. 
Theophany, 636. 
Theophilus of Antioch, 739. 
Theosophy, 20. 

Theses of Union Conference, 863. 
Thirty-nine Articles, 886. 
Thor, 442. 
Thoth, 468. 
Thummim, 622. 
Ti, 120, 133. 
Tibetan Buddhism, 313, 316, 322. 

Scriptures, 314. 
Tiele, Prof., on Universal religion, 

22. 
Tien-tai, 329. 
Timmanees, 50. 
Tiu, 443. 

Tloquenhuaque, 71. 
Todas, 84. 
Tombs at Cairo, 563. 

Indian, 564. 
Tongans, 31. 

Tongues, Confusion of, 590. 
Tonquoa, 44. 
Torii, 174. 
Tornarsuk, 62. 
Torquemada, 838. 
Totems, 11, ^1. 
Tower of Babel, 493. 
Towers of Silence, 369, 370. 
Tractarians, 887- 
Trajan, 727. 
Transmigration of souls, 84, 160, 

195, 203, 210, 250. 
Transubstantiation, 751, 816, 851. 
Trees, Eeverence of, by Damaras, 

44. 
Tree worship, 58, 230, 452. 
Trent, Council of, 849. 
•Triad, Tibetan worship of, 314. 
Tridentine profession, 854. 
Trinity, Doctrine of, 18, 532. 

The Taoist, 157, 160. 
Troitza monastery, 799. 
Trumpets, Feast of, 613. 
Tsang, 140. 
Tshi- speaking people of West 

Africa, 51. 
Tsze-tsze, 117-119, 140. 
Tu-metua, 33. 
Tuonela, 101. 
Tupanau, 76. 
Turkey, 580. 
Tvashtar, 184. 

Tylor, Dr. E. B., on Animism, 6. 
Typho, 735. 



U. 



Uaupes, 70). 
U-dengei, 38. 
Uji-gami, 172. 



Ulema, 544-547. 

Ulfilas, 763. 

Unam Sanctam Bull, 818. 

Unction, Extreme, 807. 

Under-world of Finns, 101. 

Unitarians, 895. 

"Unity of the Church," 743. 

Universal religions, 20, 22. 

Somaj, 248. 
Universe, Mangaian conception 

of, 33. 
Upanishads, 191, 193-195. 
Ur, 486. 

Urim and Thummim, 622. 
Ushas, 183. 



Yajra-pani, 315. 
Yaiseshika, 197- 
Vaisya, 203. 
Valentinus, 745. 
Valhalla, 447. 

Vancouver's Island, Tribes of, 64. 
Varuna, 179, 180. 
Vassa, 300. 
Vatea, 33. 

Vatican Council, 860. 
Vayu, 351. 

Veda, 177, 199, 202, 203. 
Vedanta, 198. 
Veddahs, The, 83. 
Vedic deities, 179, 181-185. 
hymns, 178-180, 182-186, 188. 
literature, 196. 
religion, 176, 348. 
"Vehicles, The Greater" and 

"The Lesser," 296,314. 
Vendidad, 358. 
Vertumnus, 425. 
Vesta, 382, 424. 
Vestal virgins, 429. 
Viharas, 297, 302. 
Virgins of the Sun, 82. 

Vestal, 429. 
Virgin worship, 781, 822. 
Virokana, 195. 

Vishnu, 185, 215, 217, 220, 224, 
226. 
Parana, 221. 
sects, 243. 
Temple of, 243. 
Vispered, 359, 360. 
Visvakarman, 187. 
Vladimir, 796. 

II., 798. 
Voguls, 101. 
Vohu-mano, 350. 
Volcanic deities, 36. 
Votive offerings, 388. 
Vows, Jewish, 614. 
Vulcan, 382. 



W. 

Wahhabis, 576, 578. 

Wakan, 65. 

Wakinyan, 65. 

Waldenses, 837. 

Waldo, 837. 

Wallace, A. E., on the Uaup^g, 

Wan-chang, 154, 157. 
War, God of, 90. 
The Holy, 567. 



9o8 



INDEX. 



Way, The Sublime, or Tao, 147 

148. 
Weeping songs, 35. 
Wei, 122. 

Welsh Calvinistic Methodism,893. 
Wends, 796. 
Wesley, John, 892. 
West Africans, 49. 
Western Church, 792. 
Westminster Assembly, 874. 
Catechism, 876. 
Confession, 874. 
Whitefield, George, 892. 
Whitney, Prof., on the Vedic 

religion, 178, 183. 
Whitsuntide, 752. 
Widows, Hindu, 253. 
Williams, Eev. T., on Fijians, 37. 
Wilson, H. H., on Hindus, 254. 

on Vishnu Purana, 221. 
Wind, God and goddess of, 170. 
_Wisdom of Solomon," 650. 
Witch-burning, 48. 
Witchcraft, 14, 46, 62, 455. 
Witch doctors, 86. 
Woden, 440. 
Woman, Buddhist, 264. 

Confucius on position of, 113. 
Egyptian, 480. 
Hindu, 199, 207, 252. 
and Jesus, 694. 
Mahometan, 535. 



Woman, Parsee, 369. 
Woods, Worship in, 448. 
World, Origin of, 193. 
Worms, Concordat of, 815. 

Diet of, 844. 
Worship, Early Christian, 751. 

Public, Taoist, 152. 
Wu-wei-Kian, 334. 
Wycliff, 839. 



X. 



Xavier, 856. 
Ximenes, 838. 



Y. 

Yajnavalkya, 212. 
Yajur-veda, 189. 
Yama, 185. 

Yasa and Buddha, 269 
Yasna, 349, 359, 860. 
Yatis, 342. 
Yatus, 353. 
Yazatas, 351. 
Yen, 140. 
Ygdrasil, 447. 
Yi-King, 125. 
Yin-chi-wan, 154. 
Yoga philosophy, 198. 
Yogis, 244. 



Yorubas of Abeokuta, 59. 

Youmala, 101. 

Yuh-hwang Shang-ti, 157, 160. 



Zechariah, 647. 
Zeidites, 575. 
Zend-avesta, 343. 
Zernabog, 454, 647. 
Zeus, 372, 373, 375. 
Zion, 644. 
Ziu, 443. 
Zohar, 681. 
Zoroaster, 343-355. 
Mythical development of, 346. 
Miracles attributed to, 346. 
Contrary opinions about, 347. 
Doctrines of,' 347. 
Zoroastrian books, 356, 361. 
conception of Deity, 349. 
doctrines of good and evil, 352- 

354. 
hymns, 351. 
liturgies, 360. 
Zoroastrianism, and early Aryan 
religions, 347. 
and Vedic religions, 348. 
Zulus, 23. 
Zurich, 844. 
Zwingli, 844, 847. 




Lt.lL 



't^.. 



i 



